With its magic and wit, beloved children’s book “Matilda” by Roald Dahl should have translated spectacularly to the big-stage spectacle of Broadway. While several of the stunts are superb, a predictable plot keeps the show from being enjoyable at an adult level.

Despite its 12 Tony Award nominations, including a nod for Best Musical, there’s a big puzzle-piece missing from “Matilda.” Primarily, the lines seem a little lackluster, and the comedy fails to provoke many laugh-out-loud moments. Even a large man (Bertie Carvel) cross-dressing as the sadistic, kid-hating Miss Trunchbull is a bit of a one-note joke.

But more to the point, it’s the simplicity of the story: The good guys are good, and the bad guys are bad, and there’s never any doubt of who will wind up winning the day. The only reason to keep your eyes open is for the fun choreography (Peter Darling), largely accomplished by a cast of child actors, the likes of which are hard enough to herd in minor roles, much less giving them nearly three hours’ worth of showtime to shoulder. Four young girls share the title role, but there isn’t one in the world that could possibly endear us to this Matilda Wormwood. She’s a cute little genius with superpowers, to whom nothing unbearably awful happens, and it’s hard to envision this heroine as an underdog. In moments of fitful boredom, we began rooting for Trunchbull.

In summary, “Matilda” is probably most appropriate for kids or those who aren’t already familiar with the tale. We’d be willing to give the soundtrack (Tim Minchin) a shot on its own, however, thanks to the libretto’s quick lyrics that never condescend to the listener.

The Tony nominations it received:

• Best Musical
• Best Actor: Bertie Carvel
• Best Featured Actor: Gabriel Ebert
• Best Featured Actress: Lauren Ward
• Best Director: Matthew Warchus
• Best Choreography: Peter Darling
• Best Book: Dennis Kelly
• Best Score: Tim Minchin
• Best Orchestrations: Chris Nightingale
• Best Set Design: Rob Howell
• Best Costume Design: Rob Howell
• Best Lighting Design: Hugh Vanstone
• Also, Sophia Gennusa, Oona Laurence, Bailey Ryon and Milly Shapiro will receive Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre for their performances as “Matilda” in “Matilda The Musical.”

If you go

‘Matilda the Musical’
Shubert Theatre,
225 W. 44th St.
$32-$167,
www.matildathe
musical.com

The post ‘Matilda’ is Broadway’s most boring appeared first on Metro.us.

My first indication that Lissie is a down-to-earth kind of chick is that, when I call her to check in before her stops in New York and Boston on a tour in preview of her new album (dropping sometime in September) she’s waiting in line at a gas station bathroom. She asks me, with a throaty laugh, if it would be cool if I called her back when she’s done. Never mind that most touring artists travel on pimped out tour buses with bathrooms nicer than those in some Allston apartments I’ve frequented. When I call back — having waited what I hope is sufficient time to allow Lissie to do her business — she confirms this assessment, having just shot a music video in her hometown of Rock Island, Illinois for the second song on her upcoming album, “Further Away ‘Romance Police.’”

What’s the video about?

I feel like where you’re from has such a big part to do with who you are. I don’t want to ruin the surprises, but we just walked around to lots of different sites that were memorable and special to me. A friend of mine is a police officer and once it got dark he turned on his police lights which made some really cool lighting.

What’s your process for writing this album been like?

I’ve had quite a bit of downtime. I needed a break because I was just getting kind of worn out, but was also anxious to make a new record and hadn’t really done a ton of writing when I was on the road. So he last nearly two years I’ve been writing and kind of spending time at home and cultivating some of my other interests.

What kind of other interests?

I just got a road bike and I’m not like a super awesome pro yet but I really got into riding my bike. About 20 miles is the most I’ve written but I’ve kind of become addicted to it. It’s not something I can really do when I’m on the road. And I live in a really beautiful place — I have a dog, I take him out and we go for long walks. I really just like being outdoors, and that was one thing from the first album cycle — it’s like you’re always on a plane, or in a car, or inside a venue, so when I’m home I’m never inside. But I’ve really gotten addicted to so many TV shows. I’ve gotten really into wine (laughs) I drink a lot of wine. I like red because it’s just kind of calm, this warm rush over you…

Melty.

Yes, melty, exactly.

So what TV shows are you into right now?

Oh, it’s like what shows am I NOT into? I love “Game of Thrones,” I’m really excited about “Arrested Development” coming back. I also like Nashville a lot, it’s very good. I made my first record in Nashville and I think they do a good job of showing the city. I watch everything. “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Modern Family.” I just watched “House of Cards” on Netflix, that’s amazing. So yeah, basically I spend a lot of time drinking wine and watching TV. (laughs) Oh! I also can swim a mile now. And I’ve been spending time with my family back in the Midwest.

Speaking of the Midwest — and Midwestern values — do you feel like you’ve changed since gaining some fame and moving to California?

I wouldn’t say I feel like the same person but I don’t think that that’s because anything has changed. I think as you get older you kind of come into your personality and learn from life experiences. I guess in a way I put out the single “Shameless” because it’s me proclaiming that I don’t want to have to be anything other than myself or be underhanded or desperate or shady to find success. Even if I wanted to be all Hollywood I wouldn’t know how to do it. I don’t think I’m socially awkward but I don’t really know how to be mysterious, or manipulative, I don’t really know how to manipulate people’s energy. And I’m glad that I don’t know how to do that.

Have you ever been asked to compromise yourself like that?

Not that it was asked of me, but I’ve seen that other people have done it. Say, you and some other girl really liked a guy and she was just going to be throwing herself at him all night. And you feel like, well, I’m not going to do that. And maybe she gets to go home with him. But I don’t want to stoop to that level. I just want to be myself and if he doesn’t come home with me then he’s not the right one for me.

That’s a cool metaphor for fame.

Thanks! I’m glad it made sense. I think in the song, too, I even acknowledge it. Like, why does it bother me, “why do I react so angrily, it’s just my insecurities acting up.” Because there’s also something where, if you are in a situation, and two people are going for the same thing, my inclination is to sort of retreat a little bit, where I’m like (puts on a bratty voice) “well, I don’t even care, I didn’t want to be part of this stupid club.” (laughs)

What do you prefer playing, big fests or club shows?

I think when I was starting out doing festivals I really liked them because it was new to me and it was really exciting. There were so many bands, and you got the cool backstage area where you got to go see music, and you got to talk to people, and it’s very social. I think that used to be very fun for me. Whereas now, it’s still fun but it’s also really exhausting because you have to preserve your strength a little and it’s too tempting at a festival to just be like ‘oh, I’m just going to have a blast’ and then feel like ‘oh, I can’t sing now because I talked too much.’ But I really like club shows because people are there to see you, and I’m still in a place where we get to play kind of intimate shows, and you get the feeling of who your crowd is and connecting with them.

How would you self-describe your genre?

When I started out I was a singer-songwriter, with an acoustic guitar, and kind of had some folk tendencies — but I kind of wrote pop songs. This next record is not as much showing off my folk sensibilities, I mean they’re still there, but I’ve been playing with my band so much over the past few years and we really kind of rock out. So I think this record is a little more consistently rock/pop. You’ll detect some faint traces of folky, kind of country, gospel-ish vocals, potentially, but the music is pretty much rock music.

I think this is an interesting time for folk music, like how the Lumineers were up for a Grammy — I thought that was sort of unusual.

I did too! I mean I like that song, and I like them — so I don’t mean this in a bad way — but I almost feel like that trend has sort of ended. I think the Avett Brothers and Old Crow Medicine Show started it, and were doing it, and it wasn’t mainstream. And then Mumford & Sons really brought that into the mainstream consciousness. Which is really great, because it opened the doors for a lot of bands to be successful, but I’m not sure that that’s where it will stay.

Right. Well, what do you think is going to be the next wave?

My prediction is that the guitar solo is kind of coming back. And I want to be part of that.

Really?

I’ve been listening to a lot of the Hall & Oates Pandora station, and that music has kind of been resonating with me again. It’s kind of dramatic music, and it’s kind of a little cheesy, and it’s got the epic guitar solos. But I think it’s so emotionally evocative, it makes you really feel like ‘YEAHya!’ So I really feel like there’s going to be a Hall & Oates-esque revival, but who knows?

I was actually about to ask you what I’d find if I looked at your Recently Played playlist on your iPod…

My obnoxious answer is that I really don’t listen to music because it, like, stresses me out. I know that sounds terrible. But I had this shift happen where I used to listen to a lot of music and I used to write a lot just for fun and I of course still love music and still love performing, but it’s taken on a different kind of role in my life now that I have to think about it differently. But one album that I was listening to a lot was Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska”. And I love Lana Del Rey’s album. I think she is someone who I wasn’t really feeling her vibe, because I was just being a bitchy girl. I think I was like, ‘oh she’s glamorous, I don’t like her.’ (laughs) I didn’t want to like her. But then I got her album and I love it, I love the entire thing. It’s like she’s creating a whole world, it’s not just music. I feel like it’s very evocative of another era or something. It haunts you. She’s a good storyteller, I don’t know how much of it is like a character, but I feel like she could write a novel and I’d want to read it.

Did you watch her SNL debacle?

After I saw that, and saw how mean people were being, it made me like her more. Because, you know what, not everyone that is good in the studio is necessarily good live. I think my problem for a long time was that I’m kind of better live than I am in the studio.

That’s not a terrible problem to have.

But that doesn’t make me a better artist or more of an artist. I also like how Kristen Wiig went on as her and defended her, I thought that was really cute. I love Kristen Wiig. Oh, I like the new Tegan and Sara album. That’s kind of my feeling about pop music even, like they’re onto something, they might be a little bit ahead of the trend. I feel like their kind of pop music is going to be considered credible again because it makes you feel good…it’s fun to listen to. I’ve gotten into exercising again, taking care of myself, and I couldn’t really get myself motivated to run — and then I put on the Tegan and Sara record and I was like ‘ok, I can run.’

Yeah, they’re great. And they’ve been great for awhile. It’s funny how one hit song can suddenly propel an artist into the public consciousness — I hope it lasts for them.

It’s a tricky thing. When I look at what I’d like my career to be like, I’d just like to be respected and financially stable, it’s pretty much all I can ask for. And anything else is kind of a pleasant bonus. Even at the level I’m at now — I mean, I got a cold, I keep getting sick because I think I’m not used to being busy, and I have interviews, and have to do a show… and I think to have an overnight hit and be on that trajectory would be so stressful. Maybe I’m afraid of success or something, but I’m kind of really happy where I’m at right now.

I love your cover of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness.” Who would you want to cover one of your songs, if you could pick anyone?

I think it would be cool if Asap Rocky covered me. I guess he did cover me, he sampled me, but somebody in a totally different genre. Like Metallica, but that would never happen. (laughs) I love Metallica.

Haha ok. What else?

Just that if people aren’t sure, just come to our show! I can probably give you, like, a 90 percent guarantee that they’ll enjoy themselves. (laughs)

GO SEE HER:

New York
June 3 @ 8 p.m.
Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St., New York
$18
ticketmaster.com

Boston
June 5 @ 9 p.m.
Brighton Music Hall
158 Brighton Ave., Allston
$18
ticketmaster.com

The post Q&A: Lissie on red wine, wishing Lana Del Rey would write a novel, Metallica, and not being able to be “all Hollywood” appeared first on Metro.us.

No matter how much applause you get at curtain call, it’s never been easy to “make it rain” as a performer. Adam Huttler, the founder and executive director of the arts nonprofit Fractured Atlas, says it can be challenge for performers and artists to see the business for what it is: a business.

“That is what they are — even if they don’t always think of themselves in those terms,” he says. At talks and events, the company helps guide arts organizations toward the financial and nuts-and-bolts incentives that can keep them afloat. This evening, Huttler will lead a panel for Internet Week New York, titled “Revenge of the Art Geeks: How Tech Can Help you Build Audiences and Raise Funds.”

• 
  View Video

  VIDEO: “Made Here,” Reggie Watts, Cherry Jones and others share their stories

From the other side of the curtain, actress Cherry Jones is clear about the struggles of getting paid and making art. “It’s intoxicating working downtown — then you have to pay your bills.” she says of the artsy lifestyle in the online documentary series “Made Here.” The relationship between making money and making art in the scrappy downtown performance scene is just one of many topics covered in the series’ three seasons, including health and wellness, raising a family and more.

For Jones, who is most known for her recurring role on the television show “24,” she says television made it possible for her to continue doing the work in the theater that sustains her artistically. “I don’t know anyone left who’s done just theater for the last 30 years. But I have overwhelming respect for them if they have,” she says, with a laugh.” ”I did those two seasons and I made more money than I ever thought I would in my life, and now I can work in the theater any time I want to,” Jones says of her time in TV.

The issues raised in “Made Here” dovetail with the things Huttler encourages arts organizations to address. He says artists need to learn how to “speak business.” “The word ‘customer’ tends to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths,” he says. “People think ‘McDonald’s has customers, we don’t have customers,’ but they do.” Huttler believes that arts organizations that get real about the bottom line have the biggest shot at seeing their art — and their business — succeed.

Huttler has good news for the scrappy artists in “Made Here” and beyond, though:  “For the little guy, I think things are looking brighter than they ever have,” he says. “They have more opportunities to engage with their audiences directly and they can use technology and powerful new ways.”

The post Making art and making a living: Artists on the business appeared first on Metro.us.

New York City Ballet’s Spring Gala kicked off on May 8 with a crush of limos disgorging socialites in spring finery, including one woman in a fluffy pink gown so huge she could barely squeeze into the lobby. Bored husbands hovered in their tuxes.

Onstage, an early Christopher Wheeldon ballet, “Soiree Musicale” to music by Samuel Barber, mobilized a dozen men, 10 of them from the corps, to tango with soloist Brittany Pollack. Wheeldon’s latest, the pretty duet “A Place for Us” for Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild, paired ornate movement with virtuoso playing by clarinetist Richard Stoltzman and pianist Nancy McDill.

The rest was basically snippets: There was a number from “West Side Story Suite” by Jerome Robbins and Peter Gennaro to Leonard Bernstein’s music, a shard from Robbins’ “Glass Pieces” and one song from George Balanchine’s “Who Cares?” featuring guest performer Queen Latifah crooning Gershwin’s “The Man I Love.” The grand finale was bits of Balanchine’s “Stars and Stripes” to John Phillip Sousa marches; Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette paced the mostly young cast.

Afterward, the regal audience dined and danced on the theater’s promenade. Outside the stage door, a select few were standing by to watch Queen Latifah, her tall silver sandals swapped for comfy slippers, hop into a limo and head into the night.

The Spring Gala was a sight, but there’s still more to see from New York City Ballet before the season’s through. The American Music Festival is still running for a limited time, followed by 33 ballets on 21 programs, featuring a new piece by corps member Justin Peck to music by Philip Glass.

If you go

New York City Ballet
Through June 9
David H. Koch Theater,
Columbus Avenue at 63^rd Street
$29-$155, 212-870-5570,
www.nycballet.com

The post Dance: New York City Ballet shows its strong suits appeared first on Metro.us.

And, thank the gods of comedy and Internet buzz, it looks like it’s still funny. (What is also funny is how few people gave a crap about this show while it was on the air and how many, many, many people became invested in it once it was gone. But such is the way of these things.)

The gang’s all here in this trailer that looks like it picks up right where it abruptly left off seven years ago — Gob, Buster, Lucille, George Michael and co. haven’t missed a beat in their knack for dysfunctional hilarity and talent for non sequiturs. Plus, the awesome Judy Greer is back as Kitty Sanchez. It’s safe to say we’re as pleased about this as the rest of the world.

Now if only the cast of ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ would make good on those long-standing prequel rumors…

The post VIDEO: Arrested Development trailer is live and, oh good, it still looks funny appeared first on Metro.us.

Even if you’re not gifting mom with hot sex from a young mustachioed stud today (your dad might not be so into it, you should check with him first) you should still call her up let her know she’s appreciated.

Because, no matter what maternal flaws she might have, she’s still probably a better mom than these ladies.

Because your mom probably let you use whatever hangers you wanted.

Because your mom probably didn’t try to kill you before the big dance.

Because your mom…well, actually, Kathleen Turner as “Serial Mom” is just awesome.

The post [VIDEO] Happy Mother’s Day from two mother lovers and three moms much worse than yours appeared first on Metro.us.

To hear Youngblood Hawke’s Sam Martin talk, you might imagine him some kind of environmentalist, rather than the frontman of a swiftly rising indie-pop outfit. “I think it’s important to conserve nature and take care of our earth, because we’re blessed and fortunate to have it,” he says. “I feel like one day we’re going to look, and it’s going to disappear on us, and we’re going to wish that we had lived a little bit differently.”

He’s talking about the inspiration for the music video for the band’s single “We Come Running,” which was filmed entirely underwater and features the band members swimming alongside live sharks. “At the time there were a lot of shark attacks in California and we wanted to shed light on these animals because they were getting slaughtered by the millions,” he says. “We wanted to show people that they weren’t these man eating killers. They attack surfers occasionally because they think they’re fish … but once they know what you are, they’re not evil manhunters. We can’t keep slaughtering these animals at the rate we’re doing it because we’re going to completely wipe them out. And the ocean would die.”

Indeed, Martin says that if he weren’t making music he’d probably be working in the great outdoors, “maybe a tour guide in a national park or something.” Luckily for Martin (if not visitors to Yellowstone) he’s otherwise employed — making infectious, up-tempo electro-rock with one of his best college buds, producer Simon Katz.

Martin and Katz have been collaborating musically ever since the two decided to move from their college town of Boulder, Colo., to L.A. and start their first band, Iglu & Hartly. The band enjoyed moderate success, scoring a Top 5 hit in Europe, before dissolving suddenly — and painfully, says Martin — due to strained relationships with the other band members. “Simon and I felt like we didn’t really have a voice in the project … and it wasn’t a happy environment for us to be in anymore,” he says. “When you’re making music, but it’s not the music you want to make, there’s really no point. We felt like we could no longer express ourselves, and everything just fell apart.”

The two took the considerable angst of that loss and channeled it into the songs that would become Youngblood Hawke’s debut album, “Wake Up.” “We were really in a dark place and I think, looking back, we really wrote these songs to cheer ourselves up,” he reflects. “We were sitting in our living rooms, dead broke, trying to figure out what to do with our lives. We’d invested eight to 10 years of our lives [in Iglu & Hartly] and then one day it was completely gone. I think it was important to lift ourselves up, I think it was a cathartic experience. We were writing to make ourselves feel better. Definitely the songs have kind of an upbeat feel but I think that if you listen to the lyrics it gets really dark at points.”

When asked to describe the band’s sound, Martin hesitates. “I feel like describing music is like trying to describe a color,” he says. “There’s rock, there’s dance, there’s definitely synth, and there’s some pop elements to it, definitely. But I think what separates us is that we have some weirder lyrics that we balance out with the pop choruses.”

Martin might find their genre difficult to define, but he clearly articulates the band’s unofficial mission statement. “We’re all kind of excited about life,” he says. “In a live show we just like to give people a great experience. I feel like, they come to a show and buy a ticket, they should walk away feeling like we gave all of our effort to entertain them. We walk offstage and we have nothing left. We like to leave it all on the stage for the audience.”

When asked if he ever fears the specter of the one-hit wonder, a fate that befalls many young bands who burst onto the scene with that one catchy hit single and just as quickly fade away, he’s quick to dismiss it. “I feel confident in our album and our songwriting abilities. I think we’re just fortunate to be in this position right now, we’re taking it one day at a time,” he says. “Some bands don’t even get a song. We’re going to continue to write and evolve and get better, so I don’t think that’s something that really freaks me out at all.”

Youngblood Hawke stops in Boston and New York on a club tour before hitting the festival circuit this summer.

NEW YORK
May 13, 8 p.m
Santos Party House
96 Lafayette St., New York
$13-$15
ticketweb.com

BOSTON
May 14, 9 p.m.
Brighton Music Hall
158 Brighton Ave., Allston
$12
ticketmaster.com

The post Youngblood Hawke soars high and swims in the deep appeared first on Metro.us.

We’re suckers for a good photobomb.  And we’re even bigger suckers when it’s awesomely irreverent Jennifer Lawrence doing the bombing. Add Sarah Jessica Parker in a ridiculous freaking hat (that’s not “punk,” by the way. We’re talking to you, Sarah Jessica Parker’s stylist) to this frothy potion of awesome photobombery at last night’s Met Gala in NYC and we. are. SO INTO IT.

One of our fave celebs who just DGAF, Lawrence did her best to blow the feathers off of SJP’s misguided headgear at the punk-themed gala — an event that, in our opinion, far too many celebs take far too seriously. Not this gal. (Check out how much Marion Cotillard over there, stage left, is digging this.)

And, incidentally, not Joshua Jackson a/k/a Pacey from ‘Dawson’s Creek’ a/k/a one teen actor who grew up into a major babe. He had a photobomb of his own:

WE ARE ALL FOR THIS. Sorry, sorry — we know Anne Hathaway is a totally legitimate actress and totally killed it in Les Miz and is most likely a totally pleasant and likable gal, a peach even — but she really just irks us. Ruffles our headfeathers, you might say. (See what we did there?)

Bravo, you two. Y’all should get together and make beautiful photobombing babies.

The post Jennifer Lawrence photobombs SJP at Met Gala, reaffirms awesomeness appeared first on Metro.us.

What do you ask a woman who interviews others for a living? A woman who has forged a lengthy and venerable career out of posing often tough questions to strangers, who have included the likes of Lynne Cheney, Tracy Morgan, Bill O’Reilly and Jay Z, to name just a varied few. Well, to start, you ask her what it feels like to have the tables turned. Does she feel compelled to lead the interview or direct the conversation? “No, no,” says Terry Gross, producer and host of NPR’s “Fresh Air.” “I let the interviewer do the driving.” You’re relieved because, frankly, you were a little worried that you were going to end being the interviewee in this scenario. Tables thusly leveled, you proceed.

(Terry Gross stops in Boston on Friday as part of the Celebrity Series for “Terry Gross: All I Did Was Ask.”)

You’ve been the host of ‘Fresh Air’ for some 30+ years. Does it ever become routine, interviewing people?

Well, you know, although I’ve been doing interviews for a very long time, the people I’m interviewing always change. So it never gets tired, it never gets old for me, in the way that having friends or talking to new people — it’s just like how people never get tired. There are always new people to talk to and the conversation is always changing, the subject matter is always changing. There are always new movies and TV shows and music and books that I’m exited about. There’s always important — and often terrifying — things happening in the news to talk about. It doesn’t get old.

How do you choose your subjects?

Well, we have several producers who work on the show and they spend their days just poring through things, looking for good ideas. They often call people up and talk to them just to see what they would be like as interviewees. We have these super long meetings on Fridays in which we go over all the potential guests we’ve been thinking of and narrow down the list.

Do you do a lot of the research yourself?

I don’t gather the research; the research materials are given to me. So I’m not, like, on the Internet looking for things that I should read, but I’m the one who does the reading. I watch the movies, I listen to the music. I think that if I don’t have a firsthand knowledge of the material myself that I can’t do it. I have to feel some commitment to the subject matter and to the person, and I have to know as much as I can about it.

Can you think of anyone you talked to recently that you were particularly excited about?

Okay, several! I interviewed Matthew Weiner, the creator of “Mad Men.” I love the series so it was a lot of fun to talk with him and talk about why things were happening to Don that are happening to Don. (laughs) I interviewed Matthew McConaughey and he is just really smart and interesting and funny, so that was a lot of fun.

He is? I always had the impression that he was sort of … a surface-level type of guy.

No, no, he’s really very interesting. And very funny. Oh, and I interviewed David Sedaris recently, that was a lot of fun. We had had a drink together a long time ago and then we went out to dinner afterwards. … Actually this is a long story, it’s too long to tell.

How about a bad interview, do you ever have one that’s failing horribly?

Yeah, we kill interviews sometimes. By that I mean we record them and then decide not to run them. Our interviews are prerecorded and edited, but if something is especially confusing, or boring, or we don’t trust the facts in it, we won’t run it. And then sometimes guests walk out on me. I mean Lou Reed, who I’m a big fan of, many years ago just walked out on the interview. I don’t think he really likes being interviewed in the first place, and then I was talking about some early recordings and he said he really hated talking about old music of his. And I think he was in a cranky mood.

Have you ever found yourself at odds with an interviewee or had the whole thing devolve into a fight?

I try not to argue with my guests. I try to let them have their say and ask them challenging questions when I think that’s appropriate. My interview with Gene Simmons is probably a good example of him saying kind of crude things to me and me accusing him of being obnoxious, and then it devolving from there.

How do you handle a bad interview like that?

I don’t take it personally. If someone is being crude, or obnoxious, or insulting to me, I don’t take it personally. Because usually when that happens it’s somebody who doesn’t know who I am, and they don’t know the show, and they’re just working with some stereotype in their heads, some stereotype of what NPR is or who I am. So I just hope that it’s going to sound like good radio. (laughs) Because sometimes when things are going really bad, it’s actually good theater.

Have you ever had to interview somebody whose philosophy or morals were just totally oppositional to your own? I ask because we recently ran an interview with a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, during which our reporter remained very calm and objective, and I’m not sure I, personally, could do that.

Well, you know, I’ve interviewed somebody from the Klan and I can’t remember whether I pointed out to them that I was Jewish or not, but they didn’t say anything anti-Semitic to me, to my face. I’ve interviewed people who I totally disagree with, and I’ll ask them totally challenging questions, but again I won’t take it personally. Even if they’re insulting me, I won’t take it personally.

I imagine you’ve had to develop a thick skin over the years. Did it take a long time?

Yes, yes. I think it took, I don’t know … Well, say Lou Reed had walked out on me early in my career? I think I would have just been heartbroken. And so upset.

What about the best interview you’ve ever had?

I kind of prevent myself from thinking that way because if I had a best interview I’d ever done, then I’d listen to it and I’d go, ‘Really? That’s the best interview you’ve ever done?’ So I don’t. Wait, I’m looking up Matthew McConaughey

I’m on IMDB now too. It’s not ‘Tropic Thunder’ is it?

No, no.

‘Killer Joe’?
‘Killer Joe,’ yes! That’s it. It’s a weird movie, kind of not to everybody’s tastes, kind of a perverted movie. (laughs) He plays a very perverted character, let’s put it that way, but he plays it quite well. It’s a side of him I had no idea was there.

Have you ever been really scared or anxious about interviewing somebody?

Yeah. An example I often use is Stephen Sondheim because I admire him so much and he’s very critical of the interviewers, I think. So it’s not a breezy, relaxed conversation. But I just love his work so much. But I always get a little edgy before interviewing him.

So did it end up being as scary as you thought it would be, the first time you interviewed him?

Well, I’ve interviewed him several times and sometimes I’ve thought it went very well and sometimes I’ve thought he’s been very unhappy with it. Or he’s moderately unhappy with it. There have been times he’s been more forthcoming than others.

I think the way interviews go just depends on people’s moods too.

Yeah, yeah. I think it does. And some people are more often in that mood than others.

Who are some people who you really admire, who do what you do?

I really love Jon Stewart’s interviews. I think he does terrific political interviews. And he manages to be kind of gracious and charming and funny and hold people’s feet to the fire at the same time. And he manages to have pretty big disagreements with guests but still do it in a very friendly, respectful way. I think he’s amazing. I think Ira Glass is a terrific interviewer. I mean he does more hosting, but I think when he does do an interview it’s fantastic. I think Scott Simon is a terrific interviewer.

What would you be doing right now, if you weren’t doing this? In a dream world.

If I could do anything else in the world? OK, I like what I’m doing, I feel so lucky to be doing what I’m doing. Because I wanted to fall in love with work. I wanted to find some form of work that I could love. And I was afraid that it wasn’t going to happen. You know how some people are afraid that they’ll never get married? I was afraid, like, I’m never going to find work I really care about, that’s meaningful to me. So when I found it, I developed a pretty monogamous relationship with it. But if I could make a fantasy come true? I’d be able to sing really well.

Do you ever find your work slipping into your social life, interviewing people at parties, that kind of thing?

Well, first of all, I don’t go to parties often. (laughs) Usually if I’m at a party, it’s like a benefit or a station event or something like that. I go to very few parties outside of official events. But when I’m at an event and I’m being introduced to people I’ve never met before, I feel really lucky that I know how to talk to people now, because I’ve talked to so many people and I know how to get a conversation going. Because I used to be really shy and would have been very uncomfortable doing that.

As a formerly shy person, what made you think that this was the career for you?

Well, actually, it’s a good position for a kind of shy or formerly shy person because the spotlight isn’t on you. It’s on somebody else. And, in fact, in radio, there isn’t even a spotlight. No one is seeing you and what you’re doing is asking questions. You’re not holding forth and you’re not the one who’s the storyteller. Mostly you’re listening and asking questions. So, eventually over time, people get to know who you are and people can read things into the questions you ask and intuit things about who you are, and what you may think, and so on. But when I started in radio I was still pretty shy, but it suited me just fine. And I was used to reading a lot and being curious about what I’d read and so on. And I was always interested in movies, books and television, so having a natural curiosity about that and then wanting to learn and read more, that came really easily. And now, I think, I think it would be wrong to describe myself as shy now — I’d say I was self-conscious describes me now. Because I’m used to making speeches and going to meet-and-greets and things like that, I’ve learned how to do all that and I’m comfortable doing all that. But it took me a while to learn. I’m still a very self-conscious person.

What’s one great interview question, if you were only ever allowed one?

There’s no generic one question to me. It would depend who the person is. I think one of the things about interviewing is that you don’t ask the same thing of everyone. The exceptions to that rule are things like the Proust questionnaire in Vanity Fair, which I really enjoy reading. It’s fun to see all the different answers that people you’re really interested in give to those same questions. But that’s different. It would really depend. Is that person a painter? Are they an avant-garde jazz musician? Are they a politician, a priest? Who are they? Do I want to know about life and death, do I want to know about the cure for cancer? Do I want to know about what they believe the afterlife is? It just really depends.

Who’s on your bucket list of dream interviews?

I kind of no longer have that list in my head because we’ve gotten a lot of the big “gets.” When we first became a national show we had our list of, you know, the 10 people we most wanted. And we’ve gotten them. And Lou Reed was one of those people. And he walked out on me. Robert DeNiro was one of those people. And he’s never been on the show, but I don’t think he’s a great interviewee from what I’ve seen. I think he’s hard to get because I don’t think that’s where he really shines. I think he’s a great actor — I don’t think he’s a great guest. So, at this point, a lot of what’s exciting is finding, you know, the actor that’s just emerging and becoming really wonderful. Or somebody who’s a character actor and you’re realizing how great they are. Or, like, Matthew McConaughey. During his romantic comedy period — I tend to not see a lot of those films — I wasn’t paying attention to him, but he’s gotten so interesting lately.

Well, what about if you could interview anybody, alive or dead, what would your dream interview look like then?

If I could bring back people from the dead, and do a series? Yes, the series I would do would be a series of songwriters, mostly people who did the American Popular Songbook. And they’d be at the piano while I interviewed them. So it would be like the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Harold Irwin, Duke Ellington would be there. You know, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein. I would be asking them about their lives and their songs and they’d be performing their songs as I talked to them. Don’t you think that would be fun?

My professor, on the very first day of journalism school, told us all that, well, you know you’re never going to make any money…

Was that the right thing to say? Well, it might be a way of discouraging people who aren’t really serious about it. You know, so many music teachers and acting teachers say that unless you really, really want this, don’t do it. It’s going to be too hard, it’s not going to pay well … unless you’re really super lucky and really super extraordinary.

And sometimes not even then.

Yeah, exactly. Talent is not always recognized.

Well, as you said, I guess you consider yourself lucky if you get to do something you enjoy every day.

Oh, I feel so lucky. So lucky.

If you go

Terry Gross: All I Did Was Ask
Friday, 8 p.m.
Sanders Theatre
45 Quincy St., Cambridge
$30-$40
celebrityseries.org

The post Turning the tables on NPR’s Terry Gross appeared first on Metro.us.

Robin Amos Kahn is the mind behind “Scrambled Eggs,” a new, women-focused comedy now running off-Broadway. We sat down with the playwright, a former screenwriter for daytime soap operas, to chat about how much of this narrative — starring Amy Van Nostrand, and co-written by Gary Richards — comes from her own life experiences. Plus, how did she face the challenges of transitioning from writing major drama for the small screen to getting big laughs from a live audience?

What is “Scrambled Eggs” about?

For me, it’s really an everywoman’s story about this one character that’s very universal, about this certain crossroads that causes her to look back over her life. … She is physically going through certain symptoms that she doesn’t understand, and she’s at a place in her life where she’s wondering if she’s losing her mind.

How much of it is drawn from your own experiences?

Some of it is based on my own life. I’ve always had a lot of close girlfriends; so I’m always saying to them: “Are you going to do this? What happened to you? When you were dating, did you do this?” So all of those stories inform this play, because we are our relationships and friendships. … A lot of this is based on shared memories and shared experiences.

Is it just targeted to middle-aged women?

No. This character goes back over her entire life, [from] family life with her parents to her dating life. My daughter, who is 25, really relates to the younger period of dating. And men seem to love this play because it gives them insight into women in a way that they don’t usually have, and they also get to laugh at themselves and laugh at some of the foibles of women — at some of our craziness. … It definitely seems to touch people at different stages of their lives.

Did working with Gary Richards help add the men’s point of view?

The original story was that I was writing a solo show, and I was going to perform it. And I worked on it with a dramaturge. Then I completely chickened out and said, “Just give it to a good actress – I don’t want to get onstage and do it!” So we had an actress do a reading, and Gary, who’s a writer and a director said, “I think this would make a great play. Let’s bring all the characters to life.” So the two of us did that, and it evolved.

How was it moving from writing dramas for TV to a comedic play?

Comedy is much less challenging for me. Soaps are much more challenging. My analogy for writing soaps was that I was a ballerina with 30 pound weights attached to my feet. Everything I wrote, I wanted to be funny. There was one show I could be funny on, and that was “Guiding Light.” But every other show was very serious, and every time I wrote something funny they’d cross it out. … I admire great drama. I worship Tony Kushner, I wish I could write “Angels in America.” But I’m going to be me — it’s going to come from a much more humorous place, because that’s just who I am.

What’s your favorite moment in the play?

There’s a scene with the parents when the character was a child — and for me its about growing up in a family that’s really dysfunctional, and how do we do it as a child, and how do we feel good about ourselves when we’re in dysfunction. I actually wrote about it in a writing group once [and] tissues were passed around the room, and then I wrote it as a funnier piece now. [It’s] extremely poignant. So for me, that’s the moment. But there are a lot of them.

Where did the title come from?

The title actually came from [actor/writer] Eric Bogosian, who is one of my comic heroes. [He] read an early version, and he said, “I have the perfect title for you: ‘Scrambled Eggs.’” It just stuck. And when you see it, you’ll know why it’s a good title.

The post Theater: Making ‘Scrambled Eggs’ appeared first on Metro.us.

The post VIDEO: Andrew the Pizza Guy [deep] dishes on Daft Punk in Funny or Die spoof appeared first on Metro.us.

There are things that everyone knows about Mike Tyson. The weird stuff. The frightening stuff. The flat-out insane stuff. The stuff of legends. Holyfield’s ear. Years of domestic strife. Bouts of volatility and violence (an occupational hazard, perhaps). That face tattoo.

But there’s also other stuff. Like an inexplicable fondness for pigeons, arguably the most common bird in the aviary hierarchy. You’d have guessed maybe peacocks. Or bald freaking eagles. But no, Iron Mike loves pigeons. He also loves theater. All kinds of theater. He digs Porgy and Bess and cites the little known (among non-theater heads, at least) Cuba and His Teddy Bear – the Reinaldo Povod-written play starring Robert DeNiro that enjoyed a 53-show Broadway run in ‘86 — as one of his favorites. The dude is a little bit enigmatic. He’s also a known hot-head, though not these days, as both recent behavior and self-testimony indicate that Tyson is a changed man, maybe even a bit of a Zen man.

Still, when you’re tasked with calling Mike Tyson up on the phone to interview the champion heavyweight boxer-turned-actor about his one-man play Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth (directed by similarly legendary Spike Lee) — for which he’s currently wrapping up a 19-date tour with a stop at the Kimmel Center in Philly and a penultimate stop at the Wang Theatre in Boston — you’re a little nervous.

This writer was tasked with just that. The following are excerpts from a conversation held over a very bad connection on an iPhone, from the cafe car of a southbound Amtrak. Excerpts because the other thing Iron Mike is known for is that signature lisp. If you’ve ever tried to talk to anybody on a cell phone with a bad connection on an Amtrak cafe car, you’re likely aware that it is….difficult. (A seventh listen to the recorded transcript of this interview revealed that Mike Tyson did not, in fact, tell this writer that he once watched Ben and Jerry perform A Bronx Tale. Though that would have been amazing.)

Mike Tyson on deciding to do a one-man play.
Me and my wife was watching [not Ben and Jerry] do a Bronx Tale onstage and it was just so amazing, you can’t even imagine. Inspiration is an understatement. We was hanging on every word they said and I said ‘Baby, I think I can do this.’ Because, I mean, when I’m in Europe, and in Asia, I’m onstage talking about myself. People ask me questions from the crowd. But when I do it in America, I feel like it’s coming from an artistic point of view. And so we did it for two weeks at the MGM Grand and sold out every night….mostly foreigners. Every night, foreigners! And then Spike Lee called me when I was in Poland and asked me to take it to Broadway. And now we’re on a nationwide tour.

On pre-stage ritual.
I make sure I’m in the best physical and spiritual shape I can possibly be in. I just think of myself as being, like, one of the great stage performers. Like, you know, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Julie Garland, and all those guys. Frank Sinatra. I’m talking about real entertainers, I’m talking about really explosive entertainers. The dancers! That kind of stuff.

On a bomb threat that got called in to his New York show.
Yes, there was a bomb threat. But they caught the guy, they caught the guy. But that’s okay. And they’re going to do that to me? Can you imagine me dying on a Broadway stage?! Holy Moley! Well they got the guy…I think it was fake. He wanted to do another, um, Colorado movie theater shooting….online….and that helped the FBI catch him.

On his favorite story to tell onstage.
When I had my street altercation with Mitch Green. I had a street fight with Mitch Green — a boxer – and I’m explaining to the crowd what happened. Oh, amazing. It’s not meant to be, but it gets a lot of laughs.

On the suggestion that that’s good, because isn’t his show meant to be half-comedic and half-serious?
No! I don’t want to be anything comedic. Nothing comedic! But sometimes people laugh.

On his favorite city on the tour.
I’ve been to….man. I’ve been to St. Louis, I’ve been to San Francisco, San Diego, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Francisco. Where else? San Diego. Where else? San Jose, Atlanta, North Carolina, Mississippi, Miami, Tampa, all over the place.

On his favorite city on the tour to hang out in, though.
Hey, I don’t do no hanging out. But I did like Durham, North Carolina, that was a nice town.

On whether he had to read Fifty Shades of Grey to “research” for a scene in Scary Movie 5.
My wife reads that stuff, I don’t read that stuff. They just told me what to do. I don’t listen to my wife about no Fifty Shades of Grey. Yeah, I don’t want to read that stuff.

On stage versus screen acting.
I love stage acting, I don’t love anything more than stage acting — that’s instant gratification right there. You have people breathing, you have instant gratification.

On his favorite sports movies of all time.
Gentlemen Jim and Raging Bull.

On the best Rocky movie.
Big time Rocky fan. The one with Mr. T in it was the best.

On the one question he never wants to be asked again.
I don’t know…I’m so accustomed to answering any question anybody asks me. I’m not afraid to answer any questions.

On Zach Galifianakis.
He’s a really good guy. I think he’s a good guy. He’s a very normal person. He’s more normal than I am! He’s real normal, a good guy.

On the funniest actor in The Hangover.
Zach was the funniest. Zach. Zach. Zach. Zach. Number one, Zach. Zach was funnier than everybody.

On pets.
I just love animals, you know. They need people to take care of them. It’s a cold world out there. They live longer under the care of human beings than they do in the wild, in the care of the nature. Nature is harder on them.

On pigeons.
That’s just what I do. That’s my culture, that’s where I come from. You do that.

On his favorite pet pigeon.
No favorites, I have a lot of pigeons I like.

Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth        

PHILADELPHIA
May 2 @ 8 pm
Kimmel Center, 300 S Broad St.
$20-$500
tickets.kimmelcenter.org

BOSTON
May 4 @ 8 pm
Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont St.
$33.25-$503.75
citicenter.org

• 
  View Video

  VIDEO: Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, and Sugar Ray Leonard on the Arsenio Hall Show

The post Mike Tyson’s Truth: Iron Mike talks pigeons, ‘Rocky,’ Zach Galifianakis, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ and other stuff appeared first on Metro.us.

Here’s your millionth reminder to quit smoking: A smoker’s lung on display at Body Worlds: Pulse.
© Gunther von Hagens, Institute for Plastination, Heidelberg, Germany, www.bodyworlds.com.

Become a culture vulture by soaking up some of the latest city offerings.

Whales: Giants of the Deep
Through Jan. 5
American Museum of Natural History
200 Central Park West
212-769-5100
If the ginormous blue whale hanging in the museum’s Hall of Ocean Life isn’t enough for you, hit this new exhibition — open since March — to learn all about the massive mammals that inhabit our oceans. Did you know, for example, that whales once had feet and existed on land? Discover more rich history by examining the two sperm whale skeletons (one nearing 60 feet long!) that hang in the center of the room, listening to real whale sounds and letting kiddies jump inside a model blue whale’s heart (about the size of a small car). Don’t leave without checking out the conservation efforts to save these beautiful behemoths.

Body Worlds: Pulse
Discovery Times Square
226 W. 44th St.
866-987-9692
Though similar to that other NYC cadaver roundup, “Bodies: The Exhibition,” this look at human life at its most basic level comes with a warning label — our bodies won’t perform at their best if we continue harming them. The long-term effects of smoking, obesity, stress and alcohol are put under a microscope at this display in creative ways, such as a side-by-side comparison of a healthy lung and a smoker’s lung, and a cross-section of an obese person, where the layers of fat are clearly visible. One especially interesting portion is a photo essay of families all of the world pictured with their groceries for the week. Guess which country’s table was overflowing with soda and pizza? Not Mexico or India, that’s for sure. Before leaving, get a reminder on what really matters in life by watching a TED Talk from Ric Elias, a passenger on the “Miracle on the Hudson Plane,” and broadcast your own “Before I die, I want to…” aspirations on a projector for other passersby to see.

Don’t miss
Snug Harbor’s Harbor in Bloom Festival
May 4-5
Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden
1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island
718-42-3504
Staten Island’s horticultural hot spot will give away trees in partnership with the New York Restoration Project and the MillionTreesNYC initiative on Saturday from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Throughout the afternoon, there will also be an orchid sale, live music, workshops on composting and hourly guided garden tours. If you can’t make it on Saturday, the sales continue on Sunday.

The post New NYC exhibitions worth checking out appeared first on Metro.us.

Is it hyperbole to say that David Byrne has reinvented the stage musical with his thrilling “Here Lies Love” at The Public Theater? Byrne’s foray into the theater world is a breath of orchid-scented fresh air as he recounts the story of everyone’s favorite Filipina, the ever-fascinating fashionista Imelda Marcos, with a disco-infused beat and help from co-composer Fatboy Slim. Jumpsuited young traffic cops shepherd the dancing audience – seating is nonexistent in the main section – out of harm’s way as the shoulder-level turntable swings round to accommodate the flow of actors between the two stages at either end of the rectangular space and on to the catwalks on the side.

Virtually sung-through, “Love” follows its heroine from her early days as a rural beauty queen to her zenith as jet-setting first lady and subsequent fall from grace. We learn that she was first the girlfriend of Ferdinand Marcos’ most strident opponent, Benigno Aquino, and that she suffered deeply through her husband’s much-publicized affair with American actress Dovie Beams. We feel for Imelda when she plaintively asks, “Why don’t you love me?”

As if the driving music were not enough of an invitation, the MC encourages the audience – strongly – to dance along, but don’t be intimidated. If you can do the bunny hop at a wedding, just jack up the rhythm and you’ll be fine. Director Alex Timbers and his crackerjack design team execute Byrne’s vision with breathtaking flair. It’s a hell of a good time.

If you go

‘Here Lies Love’
Through June 2
The Public Theater,
425 Lafayette St.
$89-$94, www.publictheater.org

The post Theater review: Is the future of staged theater “Here Lies Love”? appeared first on Metro.us.

Jews celebrating Christmas, without a Chinese restaurant in sight: It would seem like a premise without much promise. But in “The Assembled Parties,” at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, playwright Richard Greenberg turns gossamer into gold, with a healthy dose of warmth and humor. Sparkling performances from Jessica Hecht and Judith Light make his witty Yuletide banter shine all the brighter.

In a rambling apartment on the Upper West Side, Julie (Hecht), sister-in-law Faye (Light), son Tim (Alex Dreier or Jake Silbermann), and family friend Jeff (Jeremy Shamos) share two Christmas dinners 20 years apart. The first, in 1980, is widely attended; in 2000 it’s just the foursome. Both are hosted by Julie, who gave up a brief but brilliant film career to raise a family. And family is what the play’s about. Julie and Faye have known the joy and especially the pain of marriage and motherhood, with their attendant compromises, disappointments and losses.

Greenberg gives acerbic Faye a string of zingers, which Light delivers impeccably. She’s a riot. But the play belongs to Julie, the woman-child both knowing and naive. Hecht captures all her contradictions with gentle grace. And Shamos, as a friend of Julie’s older son half in love with her, adds a note of quiet, steadfast support.

A little light in substance, “The Assembled Parties” is sometimes heavy-handed in exposition. But its spirit — Julie’s embrace of life as beautifully embodied by Hecht — transcends its minor flaws.

If you go

‘The Assembled Parties’
On sale through June 2
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre,
261 W. 47th St.
$67-$120,
www.manhattantheatreclub.com

The post Theater review: ‘The Assembled Parties’ shines with warmth, Light appeared first on Metro.us.

Ballet Hispanico launched its 25th annual Joyce run with one work from the ‘80s and another about the decade. Artistic director Eduardo Vilaro has attracted both new and older Spanish choreographers, as well as a lively young audience.

On the opening bill, Nacho Duato’s barefoot “Jardi Tancat,” a prizewinner from 1983, displays six of the troupe’s strong dancers, including the terrific Jamal Rashann Callender, a local product who recently won the Princess Grace Award. The piece is easy to read: People cultivate a garden and care for one another with strong, simple, shapely partnering.

The season’s world premiere is a trifle by comparison: Cayetano Soto, a native of Barcelona, offers a duet, “Sortijas,” for Callender and Lauren Alzamora, both wearing black socks and costumes (including a glittery black and silver sweater) by designers Talbot Runhof. A brief encounter, it ends abruptly when paper airplanes attack the performers.

The grand finale, “A vueltas con los ochenta,” has crowd-surfing choreography by Meritxell Barbera and Inma Garcia, but is noteworthy primarily for Diane Ruettiger’s costumes — punk-style outfits mostly in black, with studs and chains and leather and fishnet stockings, big hair and jazz shoes — and Joshua Preston’s lighting, which sends fixtures climbing up and down, bursting into strobe explosions and flooding the nightclub atmosphere with moody dust.

Set in  ‘80s Madrid in the months just after the long Franco dictatorship ended, it opens in silence, the dancers wearing big headphones attached to tiny iPads, which is strikingly anachronistic. But the European pop score, overlaid with the sound of a phone being dialed, makes it clear that we’re watching history.

If you go

Ballet Hispanico
Through April 28
Joyce Theater,
175 Eighth Ave.
212-242-0800
$10-$59,
www.joyce.org

The post Dance review: ’80s Spain comes to life through Ballet Hispanico appeared first on Metro.us.

Photographer Richard Corman called her “the pied piper of the Lower East Side” because when she sang and danced, others followed. And that was still a year before the release of her first album, when the rest of the world got to meet Madonna Louise Ciccone for the first time.

Now, for the first time, they’ll get to see his photos too. Corman’s street-style photos of a fresh-faced, 24-year-old Madonna taken when she was living on the Lower East Side in the 1980′s were revealed to the public on Thursday in a free exhibit at the W Hotel in Times Square.

The photos show Madge dancing on a rooftop with neighborhood kids and sporting an early version of the unique style she would become famous for: bright red lips and torn jeans, dripping with studded bracelets and chains.

The exhibit, organized by Rock Paper Photo, will be open to the public until May 12.

The post Never-before-seen photos of 80′s Madonna revealed in free exhibit appeared first on Metro.us.

At first glance, it might appear as ”La Grande Odalisque” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, the famous painting featuring a posing naked woman. But wait — the naked woman has a beard.

A series of 22 photos by French-born artist 2fik is coming to Brooklyn gallery Invisible Dog on April 20, and many of the works will seem familiar to the everyday art fan, except for one element — 2fik’s own image appears in each of them, a message of identity born straight from the past of the man himself.

“There is this type of weird notion of identity that society tends to have,” 2fik explained to Metro. “They always make a link between what you look like and what you are.”

2fik’s idea to recreate well-known works using his image stems from his own identity has a multicultural person who doesn’t seem to “fit in anywhere.” His parents are from Morocco and he was raised Muslim. He was born in France. He is openly gay. He has Mediterranean features. He has been living in Canada for the past 10 years.

“Instead of trying to fit in one culture and be totally grounded, I perceived that identity is actually a pile-up of identities and a mix of experience and views, personality, skin type, religion, body type,” 2fik said.

Each image of 2fik that appears in his work is a different character with a personality, fears and goals, he said. He works almost entirely alone, shooting the images on his own, with the exception of a lighting assistant from time to time. He has been working on this series, the second of his art career, for the last three and a half years. His work tends to prompt a chuckle, as 2fik often appears nude or  dressed as a woman in the photos — but humor is a big part of his message.

“Having been through some crazy struggles, I think humor saved me a lot,” 2fik said. “Making people laugh is making people open their hearts.”

He pursued an exhibition at Invisible Dog after a friend from Montreal first visited and told 2fik about this “crazy place in Brooklyn” he must go and see.

“I say this in a humble way, but I think [my work] can be seen refreshing because I am not at all from the art world, originally,” 2fik said. “My father was a baker and my mother was a stay-at-home mother. I did this series as I felt, doing it. I didn’t bend my views, my photos, my visions about how it could be potentially seen.”

The exhibition will be at Invisible Dog from April 20 to May 18. It will then be featured at the French embassy in Washington, D.C.

The post PHOTOS: Artist 2fik showcases recreations of famous paintings at Brooklyn gallery appeared first on Metro.us.

It’s sad to hear that “Hands on a Hardbody,” written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Doug Wright, will be shuttering its doors on Broadway this Saturday after just 28 previews and 28 performances (it officially opened March 21). Standing out amid a season of revivals (“Pippin”) and jukebox musicals (“Motown: The Musical”), this was a somewhat original work, albeit technically an adaptation of the 1997 documentary by the same name.

Onstage, this endearing portrayal of small-town Americana belies its early closure, which came after poor attendance despite solid reviews and discount ticket sale initiatives. Some numbers — by Phish’s Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green — elicit sheer rapture (“Joy of the Lord”), while others tackle national social conditions, such as immigration and racism (“Born in Laredo”). Our favorite was the powerful rock ballad “Stronger,” showing Anastasio’s strengths best employed. Despite a convention that’s seemingly stale, as the contestants must always keep their hands on the central set piece, a full-sized red Nissan “hard body” truck, the play has more to offer through the characters’ unique story arcs and solos. It does take a few numbers to warm up, but soon has even cynical New York City audiences hooked (perhaps because for once they aren’t sure what the ending will be or already have the tunes memorized from 20 years ago). One major problem is the story’s pat resolutions and flat platitudes, including a synopsis of how each character’s life turns out.

While we’d love to urge theater aficionados to catch this novelty before it closes, those with limited funds are better off investing in “Kinky Boots” — another new musical with celeb involvement (Cyndi Lauper) that’s based on a film based on a true story, but practically guaranteed to stick around for more than a month.

If you go

‘Hands on a Hardbody’
Through Saturday
Brooks Atkinson Theatre,
256 West 47th St.
$47-$197,
www.handsonahardbody.com

Follow Theater Editor T. Michelle Murphy on Twitter: @TMichelleMurphy, or email her your thoughts at tmichelle.murphy@metro.us.

The post Theater review: ‘Hands on a Hardbody’ hits the brakes appeared first on Metro.us.

Top choreographers flock to university dance programs because that’s where the money is. Dance departments pay artists to set works, new or vintage, on good student dancers; they provide theaters, costumes, lighting and publicity. Nobody pays the dozens of dancers, who fork over tuition in exchange for the chance to perform.

About to graduate from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, members of the Second Avenue Dance Company have honed their chops and are ready for prime time. This weekend they’re showing works by local luminaries Mark Morris, Kyle Abraham and Andrea Miller, as well as San Franciscan Alex Ketley and several classmates.

For the most part, the big new pieces are overdressed and under-lit, and they have sound scores generated by machinery. The gray and black outfits by Ari Fulton (for Abraham’s speedy new “Continuous Relation”) and Brooke Cohen (for Ketley’s “Five Objects (in Isolation and Solitude)”) are attractive and ingenious, but their sheer profusion of design ideas distracts from the dances’ gestural sequences.

Both men and women wear Martin Pakledinaz’s long, tubular skirts in Morris’ “Pacific,” a pointe piece with overtones of religious ritual. To music by Lou Harrison played live on cello, violin and piano, the dancers bob and bow. The 1995 work looks rather stilted. An excerpt from Miller’s “Wonderland” gives the performers permission to go wild, and they do.

The most satisfying dance on the bill turns out to be MFA candidate Shannon Gillen’s sharp, clear quartet “Deep Sequencing,” brightly lit with the performers dressed in tights and tank tops. Sometimes the simplest solution is best.

If you go

Second Avenue Dance Company
Through Monday
Fifth Floor Theatre
111 Second Ave.
$5-$10, 212-998-1982
www.tisch.nyu.edu

The post Dance review: Second Avenue Dance Company is a mixed bag appeared first on Metro.us.

Cory Michael Smith, left, plays Fred to Emilia Clarke’s Holly Golightly in the play adaptation of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
Credit: Joan Marcus

It’s not so much that Emelia Clarke dispels the ghost of Audrey Hepburn in her portrayal of Holly Golightly – how could she, or anyone else or that matter? But, slighter and younger (closer in age to Holly as written), Clarke imbues the role in Richard Greenberg’s adaptation of Truman Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” with her own brand of naive sophistication. She’s quite credible, if not quite Hepburn, as the young woman who supports herself in $50 increments (in the 1940s) donated by male patrons for “trips to the powder room.

Clarke is nicely paired with Cory Michael Smith as the upstairs neighbor Holly calls Fred because he reminds her of her brother. Smith’s layered ambiguity suits Fred, a gay man utterly infatuated with elusive Holly. The pair vacillates between affection and hostility as Fred watches Holly woo, intending to wed, an American playboy and a would-be Brazilian president, only to scare off the latter with the whiff of scandal.

Greenberg’s script, truer to Capote than the bowdlerized Hollywood treatment that Hepburn rose above, is solid but lacks the novella’s magic. Capote’s tale, like Holly, is evanescent: It floats gracefully through her haphazard, elegant exploits. Greenberg’s work seems episodic. Every set change calls attention to itself, giving the work an uneven, choppy quality. What Capote lightly lets us surmise (such as Fred’s sexual preferences), Greenberg heavily proclaims. For all its carnal subtext, Capote’s wisp of a novel is ethereal; Greenberg’s play is earthbound.

If you go

‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’
Cort Theatre,
138 W. 48th St.
$37-$132, www.breakfastattiffanysonbroadway.com

The post Theater review: Not Audrey Hepburn’s ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ appeared first on Metro.us.

According to Gothamist, Tilda Swinton, actress and noted androgyne — whose resemblance to David Bowie was solidified by her appearance in the video for “The Stars (Are Out Tonight),” off his new album — will be spending part of the next month sleeping a glass box at the Museum of Modern Art. A source tells the site, “Museum staff doesn’t know she’s coming until the day of, but she’s here today. She’ll be there the whole day. All that’s in the box is cushions and a water jug.”

Adds the source: ”Tilda Swinton will be doing unannounced, random performance art pieces sleeping in a glass box in the museum [...] Today is the first performance. Each performance lasts the whole day the museum is open.”

Today Swinton is today interred near the ticket collecting booth. She may move to other places in the museum on future dates.

A collaboration between Swinton and artist Cornelia Parker, the performance piece, entitled “The Maybe,” was first put on in 1995 at the Serpentine Gallery in London.

For more, read the full piece over at the Gothamist. And then head over to MoMA before Swinton decides she’s had enough and presumably jumps over to Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen and Bar for Guy-talian Nachos.

The post Tilda Swinton is sleeping in a box at MoMA this month appeared first on Metro.us.

Paul Taylor’s opening night at Lincoln Center primarily evoked exasperation. The last modern-dance master standing, Taylor boasts a troupe of superlative performers and witty designers, but the material onstage was mostly lightweight.

The gala bill mingled samples from early to new works. The recorded music (Bach, New Orleans jazz, Heinichen, Offenbach) sounded a bit tinny on the speakers at what used to be the New York State Theater; its original tenants always worked with live orchestras.

The show opened with “Junction,” an athletic piece from 1961 designed by painter Alex Katz. To a transcendent Bach cello suite, eight dancers in color-block leotards tumbled and strode across the large stage; sometimes a woman balanced precariously on the body of a crouched man. The juxtaposition of sleek physicality with the somber tones of the music was groundbreaking in its day.

Taylor’s legendary “3 Epitaphs” is set to New Orleans funeral-march jazz. In dark leotards and helmets that totally obscured their faces, five dancers shrugged and shambled and leaned on one another, striking odd, simian poses that might be construed, if one were feeling testy, as racist portrayals. The outfits sported tiny round mirrors on gloved hands and heads; this 1956 work prefigures later, better dances in which mirrors also flash light into viewers’ eyes.

The pastoral “Perpetual Dawn” is a new piece that set peasants gamboling in a meadow. For the most part men pursued maidens, though a couple of guys did hold hands and Michelle Fleet often found herself alone. We’ve seen this structure and these sentiments before from Taylor.

The jokey “Offenbach Overtures” completed the program. Twenty-one dances are showing this season, including Taylor’s unique take on Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.”

If you go
Paul Taylor Dance Company
Through March 24
David H. Koch Theater
Columbus Avenue at 63^rd Street,
$10-$160, www.ptdc.org

The post Dance review: Paul Taylor presents playtime at Lincoln Center appeared first on Metro.us.

In the arts, certain themes resonate through time. One of these is the madness of betrayed women. Yasuko Yokoshi’s grand new project, “Bell,” fuses elements of an 18th-century Kabuki dance play and the 19th-century French ballet “Giselle,” but its most startling, telling aspect is a rendition of Lady Gaga’s 2009 hit “Bad Romance.”

Yokoshi, the first resident artist at New York Live Arts, has had access to unprecedented resources in developing the 70-minute piece, which features three American modern dancers, two Japanese Kabuki performers and six musicians, with the choreographer herself in a central role. A native of Hiroshima based in New York for more than 30 years, her eyes, ears and sensibilities are carefully tuned to contrasting emotional landscapes and their odd similarities.

Between the unfamiliar cadences of the Japanese music, performed live on traditional instruments, and the lilting melodies of the ballet score hovers the strange chanting of Gaga’s heavily synthesized recording, oddly similar to the Japanese sound. Yokoshi finds the feeling-tone of madness and despair that plays through all her sources. She and her cast illuminate it, referencing the buttoned-up formality of Kabuki and the romantic swirl of ballet simultaneously, juxtaposing these elements against the bratty behavior of girls guarding a Buddhist temple.

Akiko Iwasaki’s costume designs — and the hair, wigs and makeup by Koji Kasai — draw our eyes as dramatically as the fusion of sounds, ranging from Western and Japanese singing to viola, flute, drums and shamisen, plus recorded natural noises. We may not understand what’s going on, but we are held rapt by the beauty of the cultural collision on the wide stage.

If you go

Yasuko Yokoshi’s ‘Bell’
Through Saturday
New York Live Arts
219 W. 19th St, 212-924-0077
$15-$30; www.newyorklivearts.org

The post Dance review: Going gaga for Kabuki appeared first on Metro.us.

Glacial pace notwithstanding, there’s a lot to be said for “The Flick” at Playwrights Horizons. Sam Gold’s production of playwright Annie Baker’s latest effort has a likeable plot with clever flourishes, offbeat characters and excellent acting. Its downfall is that both playwright and director have mistakenly confused realistic with real, resulting in a theatrical experience that’s true to life but deadly in its lack of momentum.

Baker and Gold meticulously detail the workaday exploits of Sam (Matthew Maher) and new recruit Avery (Aaron Clifton Moten) as they clean up between shows at the Flick, a single-screen movie house in Massachusetts. Sometimes joined by projectionist Rose (Louisa Krause), they reveal themselves haltingly. The play’s truth is unassailable, but real life in real time can be a real drag. Sam desperately pines for Rose, who in turn is drawn to Avery. Avery, who attempted suicide a year ago, hesitates but ultimately joins Sam and Rose as they skim the theater take every night for “meal money.” And Rose learns that the theater is about to be sold.

“The Flick” picks up in the second act, but the overall pace makes “The Three Sisters” look like it’s on speed. The plot here achieves an emotional crescendo as Avery, subtly played by Moten with an almost flat affect, reaches out to his co-workers, only to be shot down. But it’s too little too late. The purposeful monotony preceding it deflates its impact.

If you go

‘The Flick’
Extended through April 7
Playwrights Horizons,
416 W. 42^nd St.
$70, www.playwrightshorizons.org

The post Theater review: ‘The Flick’ fails to ignite appeared first on Metro.us.

After Demetri Martin left New York for California a few years ago, he realized the reason he does the thoughtfully silly type of comedy he does.

“I would go for these long beach walks, and bring my notebook, daydreaming and writing,” he says. “I do like going for walks and kind of escaping, which is probably why I don’t do a lot of topical material, if any: I just don’t feel as inspired by any of that. But it was this beautiful day and I was walking home and it was like the end of the day and it was sunset and there was hardly anybody on the beach. The ocean was on my left, I had flip-flops in my backpack and the water was hitting my feet and I remember thinking, ‘I’m gonna freaking die!’ I got all the distractions away, all the New York stuff that keeps me from worrying about really big stuff, so I had to escape into some stupid line drawings or jokes or whatever, because it’s just kind of too much.”

The tools he uses to hold his existential crisis at bay enables his audience to also stop thinking about their own mortality. His brand new book, “Point Your Face at This” is a compilation of these self-described “stupid line drawings” that mine a similar life-affirming absurdity as the “The Far Side.”

“I do remember, as a kid, Gary Larson being one of my first favorite things that I found funny,” says Martin. “I used to just pop into the bookstore and not have any money to buy books or anything, but I would just flip through a ‘Far Side,’ probably like a lot of kids, and just think how funny they were. And it was an interesting experience, looking at something on a page — often something without words — and find it funny. There was something so powerful about that for me.”

Martin is humble about his skill as an artist, however, saying he doesn’t think his drawing is on par with that of Larson.

“A lot of my stuff, I think there’s a simplicity to it, whether it’s by design or just the best that I can do,” he says. “It’s funny how your style often is really just the upper limits of your own effort. I know people who are kind of virtuosos and style for them is a different thing: It’s a conscious choice. But for me it’s like, ‘Here’s the best I can do with where I’m at right now.’”

Though “Point Your Face at This” features the sort of drawings that Martin has been injecting into his standup for years, his current show does not feature extra emphasis on drawing. He says although he likes to dabble in drawing, music and longer-form writing , standup is still his first love.

“Standup is so fun because you get immediate feedback,” he says. “You can think of stuff and improvise it right there onstage, or think of it earlier in the day and then you get to say it and see what the audience thinks.”

The post Demetri Martin keeps his worries at bay appeared first on Metro.us.

BROOKLYN

The Tours Soundpainting Orchestra presents their opera about the lives of serial killers this spring at the Irondale Center.

Irondale Arts Center
Theater lovers can come worship their emerging artist deities at the former Fort Greene church that’s been home to the Irondale Center since 2008. This spring, there’s high drama and psychopathy in an opera about the lives of serial killers presented by the French company, Tours Soundpainting Orchestra. In April, the newly minted Royalty Free Theater Collective will get their shot at presenting their very first work, “The War of the Roses,” and in May, Niles Ford’s Urban Dance Collective will somehow make movement out of class values and President Obama’s re-election.

Bushwick Starr 
Like rents in Bushwick — which have gone totally bonkers off the charts — this active, vibrant theater has gone from scrappy upstart to small-scale theatrical powerhouse, with puppetry festivals and outreach initiatives to boot. This spring, Eliza Bent explores the inane hijinks that transpire at an Italian hostel in “The Hotel Colors”, and the theater’s annual Big Green Theater festival gives local kids a chance to stage their eco-centric plays.

BRIC Rotunda
This spring, the city’s hippest borough celebrates… itself. With the exhibit “Cultural Fluency: Engagements with Contemporary Brooklyn,” artists whose work pivots with the double helix of Brooklyn’s DNA use guerilla opera, text-based art and found maps (as in this piece, by British artist Martin McCormack) to give visitors the ultimate sense that the best art is on the other side of the Brooklyn bridge.

British artist Michael McCormack used found maps from tourist guides, take-out menus and so on to play cartographer.

QUEENS

Queens Museum of Art
NYC’s most diverse borough is thoroughly represented in its titular museum, which is muscling through a gigantic expansion set
to finish in October. Meanwhile, the galleries and programs are steeped in the surrounding community with an eye towards inclusion: There are sensory art events for people with autism, family art classes and open studio time for adults with special needs. The museum’s panorama of the city is also hypnotic — it’s NYC without the insane bustle (or occasionally crazy people, natch.)

The Chocolate Factory
Dance lovers sweet on innovation are in luck this spring. Expect provocative performances by Ursula Eagly, Milka Djordjevich and Keely Garfield. Garfield’s “Telling the Bees” examines environmental destruction from the viewpoint of honeybees.

THE BRONX

Bronx Museum
With the recent announcement of its free admission policy to celebrate its 40th anniversary, there is no good reason to skip the Bronx Museum. Still need convincing to hop that northbound train? “Honey, I rearranged the collection,” puts the museum’s 40 years of gifts on display, from abstract and contemporary art to photography and mixed media.

STATEN ISLAND

Culture Lounge at the St. George Ferry Terminal
Hurricane Sandy pushed back plans for the eye-catching and stylized Staten Island Council on the Arts and Humanities’ lounge at the S.I. ferry’s arrival terminal, but this June, get excited for the 2,500-square-foot space that will bring visual art and events to the borough’s 21 million ferry riders.

The post Discover arts in the outer boroughs appeared first on Metro.us.

Art galleries have to stake a balance between the old and the new: celebrate (or unearth) the past while revealing fresh work. As ever this season brings forth a mix of both.

In 1966, after working on it for eight years, the late artist Jay De Feo threw in the towel on “The Rose,” a gargantuan painting that had grown to 12 feet and a ton in weight, crammed inside her apartment. A rent increase forced her to move, and the avant-garde filmmaker Bruce Conner (“A Movie”) was there to film the deconstruction. Today, “The Rose” is interred at the Whitney. Meanwhile, Conner’s short film — called “The White Rose” — will briefly be available on a constant loop from April 25 to May 12 in the Whitney’s ongoing De Feo retrospective.

In addition to being one of the world’s preeminent minimalist sculptors, Richard Serra has also dabbled in filmmaking. A number of his films will be available in the program “Richard Serra: Early Work” (April 12-June 15) at David Zwirner, which focuses on works from 1966, the year of his first solo show, to 1971. At this point, his obsession with steel and nontraditional materials — neon, lead, vulcanized rubber — was first piqued, as was an interest in playing with gravity. Lehmann Maupin will also feature a series of work by Billy Childish (Mar. 28-Apr. 27), the English renaissance man whose work focuses, in part, on the sexual abuse he experienced as a child.

Among the upcoming exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum is one on John Singer Sargent, best known for his portraits of the Edwardian era, who was also a prolific practitioner of watercolors. “John Singer Sargent Watercolors” (April 5-July 8) offers 38 of these, most of them collected by the Brooklyn Museum during his 1909 debut exhibition in NYC, and many of those not seen for decades. There will also be a survey of the paintings of Ted Stamm, the New York artist who died in 1984, at the Marianne Boesky Gallery (through April 27). The time range spans from 1973 to 1981, and includes work that aims for the spontaneity of his conceptual works.

The Museum of Modern Art will turn to a more modern artist, Mateo López. From 2008 to 2010, López travelled through his native Colombia, a country torn between guerillas, cartels and rebels, drawing all that he saw. “A Trip From Here to There” (March 15-July 30) collects the results from his nomadic wandering.

The Hugh Boss Prize has gone to luminaries like Matthew Barney. Last year it went to Danh Vo, whose sculptures and collections of objects comment on displacement, a feeling he experienced when his family fled Vietnam for Denmark. Vo gets a solo show at the Guggenheim, allowing his work to travel and be placed in a different context.

The post Spring Guide: The season in art exhibitions appeared first on Metro.us.

Broadway’s big, flashy musicals tend to get a lot of press. There are definitely several that we’re looking forward to this spring (“Pippin,” “Kinky Boots,” “Hands on a Hardbody,” to name a few). But we also wanted to devote some page space to the historically less glitzy genre of the Great White Way: straight plays, which refers — without irony — to standard nonmusical fare, be it comedy or drama. Here’s a look at some of the those upcoming shows.

‘Lucky Guy’
One of the most buzzed-about plays of the season marks Tom Hanks’ Broadway debut in “Lucky Guy,” written by the late Nora Ephron. Despite the duo’s history working on such titles as “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail,” don’t expect a witty rom-com to unfold onstage. This work by the former New York Post employee returns to her roots, focusing on the role of journalism in the 1980s — specifically, the career of real-life, ill-reputed tabloid columnist Mike McAlary. Opens April 1, www.luckyguyplay.com

‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’
This interpretation of Truman Capote’s classic novella stars Emilia Clarke (TV’s “Game of Thrones”), Cory Michael Smith (“The Cockfight Play”) and George Wendt (TV’s “Cheers”). The plot follows “it” girl Holly Golightly, immortalized on film by Audrey Hepburn, as she navigates the complicated intersection of love, money and self-discovery in 1940s Manhattan. The adaptation is penned by Tony-winning playwright Richard Greenberg (“Take Me Out”). Opens March 20, www.breakfastattiffanysonbroadway.com

‘Orphans’
You may have heard about this one already largely thanks to the upheaval caused when Shia LaBeouf abruptly left the cast last month, to be replaced by Ben Foster. Foster joins
original cast members Alec Baldwin and Tom Sturridge in this dark play about desperate and disparaging orphan siblings who commit an emotionally weighted kidnapping in the City of Brotherly Love. “Orphans” is written by Lyle Kessler and directed by Daniel Sullivan. Opens April 7, www.orphansonbroadway.com

‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’
After a sold-out run last year at Lincoln Center, Christopher Durang’s latest comedy returns to Manhattan. It follows three siblings who are reunited in their childhood home — with the controversial addition of the movie star sister’s new boy toy. The original cast returns for this limited engagement, including David Hyde Pierce and Sigourney Weaver. Now playing, www.vanyasoniamashaspike.com

The post Theater guide: Playing it straight appeared first on Metro.us.

Scrawny and self-centered, David (Jesse Eisenberg, who’s also the playwright) arrives at the cramped flat of his elderly second cousin Maria (Vanessa Redgrave) in Szczecin, Poland, with a chip on his shoulder and a yen for a quick hit of weed. He tokes away with door closed and window open in Eisenberg’s beautifully crafted “The Revisionist” at the Cherry Lane. David traveled to Poland to end his writer’s block, believing, or at least hoping, that a less comfortable landscape would set his creative juices free.

But we soon see he is almost as indifferent to the hard work of writing as he is to his cousin’s feelings. In contrast, Maria seems uncomplicated. With no family in Poland, she’s thrilled with her houseguest — but not afraid to put him in his place when appropriate.

One night David breaks out the vodka and convinces Maria, who never drinks, to join him. We learn that David is not the only one with secrets. But some things are best left unsaid — at least that’s what Maria thinks, come the morning after.
“The Revisionist” draws its considerable emotional clout from its characters’ ability to rewrite their own histories. Skillfully played by both leads, they deceive themselves as much as they deceive each other. We take David’s self-involvement and Maria’s blend of strength and vulnerability at face value, but there’s more there than meets the eye. Maria’s implacable survival instincts surprise us with their intensity — even as they leave her lonely and proud.

If you go

‘The Revisionist’
Through April 21
Cherry Lane Theatre,
38 Commerce St.
$85, www.therevisionistplay.com

The post Theater review: No need to revise ‘The Revisionist’ appeared first on Metro.us.