Kids like Classical. Old people at Classical Concerts don't like Kids

Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture was originally written for the theatre. It was composed in 1807 for a performance, not of Shakespeare's Coriolanus, but of Heinrich von Collin's Coriolan.  This is a dramatic piece of music with two themes one representing Coriolanus' resolve and war-like tendencies, while the more tender represents the pleadings of his mother to desist.  The music is angular with deep chords illustrating angonized turmoil.

Played by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra as seen on Sunday, June 7^th at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, conducted by Jacques Lacombe. The Coriolan Overture is a very short piece but seems more dramatic and substantial than many longer symphonies. Lacombe brought his own theatrical flair to the conducting building in a measure gradual manner underscoring the tight, concise form of the piece. The orchestra kayoed the staccato notes. There was a taut energy whose momentum seemed to carry through the beautiful lyrical passages and the more bucolic themes on the basses and cellos. The horns played with a respectful ear turned towards the flutes, a rapport which continued throughout the concert.

The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 – the Emperor - was Beethoven’s last piano concerto.  Soloist Marc-Andrew Hamelin played with utter delight and glee with regal touches.  The piece opens with a long piano solo of majestic flourishes which captivate the listener.  The orchestra mirrors the themes and Beethoven returns to them for the masterful conclusion of the piece.  In tandem with the orchestra and conductor, Hamelin brought an energetic, smart performance with lovely resonance and gripping mastery of the charm of Beethoven’s music. 

The afternoon concluded with my first ever hearing of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony live.  Sure we’ve all heard the electronic version from the 1970’s but there is nothing like hearing it live from a real orchestra.  This piece captivated my daughter who stood and conducted from her seat – luckily we’d moved further in the house to not annoy testy patrons around us.  Classical needs a younger audience people, feel free to thank me for exposing her.  But I digress…

This symphony is possibly the most well-know piece of western music in the world with the ridiculously famous opening four notes cascading through the hall. The work’s lesser known middle movements were rendered with skillful, engaged performances and the orchestra emerged energized into its final, regal movement. Hearing it live the piece thrills - no matter how often it’s performed. With its building repetitions and dramatic notes, the music moves us in ways that the more genteel music of other composers doesn’t.  How many other symphonies do people leave the hall humming?

andre watts with nj symphony

Andre Watts is in love with the piano and the piano loves him.  What other musician holds such a fascinating relationship with his instrument, offering a full bodied, playful, passionate, mesmerizing performance of Beethoven’s and Grieg’s Forth Piano Concertos.  His playfulness almost recalls Chico Marx on the keyboard with elegant, caring, zippy flourishes in Beethoven’s lighter movements.  For the more serious tones of the piece, Watts offers a more restrained, sterner touch.

Led by conductor Peter Bay, the New Jersey Symphony with Mr. Watts were in fine form, Friday evening at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. Throughout the night, the orchestra along with André Watts enriched the hall with clear and brilliant sounds, enthralling the audience.

Pianist André Watts rose to fame in 1963 at age 16 when Leonard Bernstein chose him, substituting for Glenn Gould, to play Liszt’s E-flat Concerto with the New York Philharmonic. Five decades later, Watts remains one of today’s most praised and prominent pianists. He regularly performs with the world’s great orchestras and conductors, appearing at distinguished international festivals while also serving on the faculty teaching piano students at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.

The large and welcoming audience were treated to Beethoven’s Concerto No. 4 in G major for Piano and Orchestra. The first movement begins with a short opening phrase of the principal theme in the piano, instead of the traditional exclusively orchestral introduction. Watts welcomed us in a achieves a resonant piano. The orchestra takes over the melody. The movement continues with numerous arpeggios and chromaticism in the piano as the orchestra fluctuates between harmonic areas. Watts’s execution of these types of passages was breath taking and effortless. His playing was energetic as his sound shined over the orchestra, sometimes he seemed to be singing the notes to himself or cajoling the piano to keep up with his technique and passion.

The second half of the program included Stravinsky's ''Four Norwegian Moods,'' adaptations of folk or folkish materials from sketches originally intended for a Hollywood film. The four pieces are sprightly and well performed by the orchestra, handling their lightness and tone with sprightliness.

Grieg’s Piano Concerto is known from it’s opening descending tense flourish and in Watt’s hands.  Together with the orchestra it was masterfully evening with wonderously adroit performances, mixing novel tempi with awesome technique and breathtaking, tingling tension.

The NJSO season continues in Newark with a benefit for the UJA featuring Alon Goldstein on piano this Sunday and a broadway concert featuring Christopher SIeber and Beth Leavel on May 30^th.  More information is available at njsymphony.org

How to Dance in Ohio - as seen at Montclair Film Festival

Remember your first dance, maybe it was at summer camp or school.  And then consider the rash of emotions involved in going and finding someone to go with.  Factor in autism – “a range of complex neurodevelopment disorders, characterized by social impairments, communication difficulties, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior” (National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke)” and the excitement and trepidation of this rite of passage is illuminated in a whole new light.  Alexandra Shiva’s excellent documentary “How to Dance in Ohio” focuses on a series of young adults in Columbus with Autism preparing for their first dance.

The highest rates of autism in the country are reportedly in New Jersey— 1 in 45 children are diagnosed.  Experts do not know if more are being caught through better screening or an uptick in cases.  Nationally, one in every 68 children — nearly 1.2 million children under 21 years old — are estimated to have it.  According to the Center for Disease Control - boys are diagnosed in higher numbers — 1 in 28 boys in New Jersey and 1 in 42 nationally are on the autism spectrum.

The level of male diagnosis makes Shiva’s film even more potent- as it largely concerns itself with three females and their families.  The formal dance is the brainstorm of Doctor Emilio Amigo who runs a family counseling center with social skills classes in Ohio.  Over the course of the film he leads them through dancing, manners, how to ask someone to the dance, corsages and even crowns a king and queen. 

Shiva and her editor Toby Shimin create a brilliant montage that introduces us to a variety of teens at Amigo’s center and focuses on their interests – anime, electrical circuitry, and animals.  This allows us to see both the level of intellect, interests, and auto-didactic fixations typical of Autism.  They balance this with an explanation of the difficulty of reading and creations emotions by the Autistic while a male teen explains this he shows how he’s practicing to show emotion by raising his eyebrows.  Amigo brings this point home by stating, “If you’ve me someone with autism, you’ve only met one person with autism.”  While the young adults comment “we like to socialize, we just don’t know how.”

The film narrows the focus to three young women – Marideth (16 who loves computer time), Jessica (22 who has some independence through a job in a bakery), and Caroline (a college student who wants to work with 3 -5 year-olds and go to Japan).  Marideth’s parents crave their two minutes of daily interaction.  There is a touching scene between her and younger sister where they discuss Miley Cyrus and men with long hair while the younger girl brushes her older sister’s hair.  Ultimately, there is gown selection, fretting about whom to dance with or ask to the dance, a tender kiss, and crowning of prom king and queen.

This is a moving film that will get a larger audience through viewing later this year on HBO.  Shiva and her team place a loving lens on their subjects and craft an honest, affecting look around growing up with autism. Funny, engaging, and entertaining, How to Dance in Ohio celebrates a rite of passage and all the thorns on the roses along the way especially for those who don’t always read emotions but feel them anyway.

The Montclair Film Festival including a talk with Festival Director Tom Hall

Film festivals are multi-day events staged by arts organizations, universities, private organizations, and/or film societies. They provide an opportunity for filmmakers of all ages and backgrounds and films of all genres to get screened in front of a real live audience and sometimes get professional reviews and prizes. Filmmakers whose movies get accepted into a festival receive press attention, wider exposure to an audience that could include prospective agents, funders, and distributors.  New Jersey has the now four year-old Montclair Film Festival running May 1^st through 10^th in a variety of venues in Montclair. This year’s festival features over 150 films and events over ten days, includes awards, and expands to include two weekends to offer more repeat screenings and more films.

Festival Director Tom Hall who is in his first year in the role remarked that he is “looking for great films.  Half documentaries, half fiction, local, foreign, politics, character studies.  We aren’t trying to compete with Tribecca or Sundance.  We want to reflect the diversity of Montclair with savvy, smart, films that push the envelope but also connect with an audience.”

To that end, Hall and his committee traveled to other festivals to meet filmmakers, view films, and began an open submission process where anyone can submit an entry.  His committee “trusts one another’s taste in what makes a good movie and with each other’s point of view.  Selecting films was very much a collaborative process.”

The Montclair Film Festival is a nonprofit organization with a mission to unite, educate and celebrate the region’s diverse community and artistic heritage. Hall was brought on to help grow the nonprofit with year round education in filmmaking and he said, “see growth in New Jersey and support the whole film community.  We want to be a leader and an important stop for films and give attention and care.  We want to build community where people stay and connect with each other and the medium.  Long term we will use film as professional development, using tax incentives to build jobs in the film industry through educational programs in screenwriting, photography, and film making. While expanding into year round educational programs and screenings.”

An example of this mission proving itself is director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s “ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL”  Said Hall “the producer lives in Montclair.  I saw the film at Sundance and it was built to destroy an audience with tears and laughter.  I begged to get us the film. It is the closing night film and it is perfect for Mother’s day weekend.”  The cast includes Connie Britton and Molly Shannon and the plot is about a teen getting through his senior year of high school unscathed and unsociably while his mother has other plans for him including an unplanned friendship with a girl with Leukemia.

The festival includes special events include a discussion between Festival committee member Stephen Colbert (Late Show, Colbert Report) and actor Richard Gere around homelessness.  Gere’s latest film TIME OUT OF MIND centers on a homeless man struggling with life on the streets and a system that offers no comfort.  Hall chose the film and the forum with Colbert as a means of “using movies that address issues in the community.  The film and conversation between Stephen and Richard is a perfect platform to discuss what it means to the city.  The film humanizes issues and doesn’t place them on a soapbox.  It depicts a deep immersion into homelessness and focuses on people, not politics.” 

Mr. Colbert will also lead a discussion with the legendary singer and civil rights activist Mavis Staples.  A documentary will screen that highlights performances, her career, and her message of equality. Hall is excited for the discussion and proud of the role Colbert and his wife Evelyn play in the development of the festival.  “They are a real gift, generous with their time.  We are lucky they live here and I never take it for granted.”

Hall and his committee have chosen a wide array of films that include documentaries on the development of the National Lampoon magazine, WFMU radio station, autistic teens going to a prom, Kurt Cobain, Barry Crimmins (the godfather of the Boston comedy scene), and fictional films including one featuring the late great actor Robin Williams (Boulevard). 

The ten day festival also includes talkbacks with director Jonathan Demme, actor Patrick Wilson leading a discussion with an artist to be determined shortly; documentary legend Barbra Kopple, actor/comic/film makers Michael Ian Black and Bobcat Goldthwait in conversation; and THE LOVE SONG OF R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER a "live documentary" by Academy Award-nominated director Sam Green (THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND) featuring a live score by the legendary indie rock band Yo La Tengo.

Film has clearly touched Hall from a young age.  His first film viewing was Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, which he saw at age four and remembers because “Wake Up Little Suzy” came on the radio and he and his father were late to get home to his mother Susan. 

A Kids of all ages short film festival with films made by local artists is as Hall sees it as a natural extension of the nonprofit’s educational programming with future classes providing an avenue for local students to make films that may screen as part of the festival.  “It is important for young people who don’t spend time with film to fall in love with it and inspire them to care about film,” he remarked.  “We want to be a leader and an important stop for films and build attention, care, and community.  We want this festival to be a home for great film and filmmakers.”

From the array of programming – special events and films selected – Hall, the Colberts, New Jersey, and Montclair are well on their way to presenting a durable, lasting, memorable program that offers education and community for those who love film.

For more information of the Festival, go to montclairfilmfest.org

Take The Stage With Broadway Stars - Carnegie Hall

As a kid, a grand aunt gave us tickets to the Young People’s Concerts at Lincoln Center.  While these concerts were great shows that exposed me to a lot of classical music, they never made me want to be a musician or performer. Music Director Leslie Stifelman and Director/Choreographer Melissa Rae Mahon, Director and Choreographer, brilliantly and successfully inverted the formula at Carnegie Hall with Take the State with Broadway Stars on Saturday, April 18^th.

Their noble mission packed the stage with a chorus of 18 singers and dancers, a group of teen performers, and Tony winner Jessie Mueller.  Co-host Thomas Cabinass and Stifelman frankly laid out the game plan, if you want to be on Broadway you have to sing, dance, and act.  And what better way to draw an audience in than “Hand Jive” from Grease – complete with learning the words and choreography.  Every audience member was on their feet, doing the moves and also singing along to “We Go Together.”

Once you can dance, you’ve got to sing. Jessie Mueller led the way with a rendition of “Do-Re-Mi” from Sound of Music.  If you want to inspire a generation of future Broadway performers, there is no talent more enthusiastic and vocally arresting than Ms. Mueller.  Looking not much older than the teens of the Celia Cruz High School who assisted from the audience, Mueller’s energy and bubbly, and joy for performance personality is infectious. 

Mahon introduced the audience to the concept of harmony through Jonathan Larsen’s “Seasons of Love” (Rent).  The adults learned one line, while the kids took another. Dan Scully’s video projections and animations lent a hand with both lyrics and for those who can read music – the notes. Tamika Lawrence (If/Then) added the finishing touches with her glorious voice.

Ms. Mueller talked about creating the character of Carole King, while also introducing her as someone who’d performed at Carnegie Hall.  She treated us with her winning chops with King’s “Beautiful.”  Kids of all ages surrounded her for a loving rendition of “You’ve Got a Friend.”

The afternoon’s highlights included kids from the audience being asked to come on stage to learn some choreography from “Hairspray.”  They then joined the entire cast and much of the audience in singing and dancing the just learned choreography to “You Can’t Stop the Beat.”  The adults seemed just as excited as the kids to be on stage performing with spirit and care.  The hall rang with a fairly tight production number.

“Hairspray” would have been a fitting conclusion and capped a glorious afternoon.  But there was more, as Mueller along with her sister, Abby, and Haven Burton performed a little Les Miz, and the afternoon concluded with the cast marching through the audience singing.

The audience was treated to a really professional, well put together master class with Broadway talents in a beautiful, classical hall.  The accessibility of the artists, their generosity both of spirit and talent, was infectious and made for a wonderful performance. My daughter, on the commute home, felt the afternoon was “awesome” wants more singing and dancing lessons and see “Hairspray” as soon as possible. 

West Side Story - Westchester Broadway Theater

It is incredibly difficult to a make a production of “West Side Story” your own.  The legendary show features a deft score by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a now dusty book by Arthur Laurents based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  What makes the production at the stalwart dinner theater Westchester Broadway Theater is Barry McNabb’s choreography.

This is a production that soars through dances and is visually arresting.  McNabb creates dynamic pictures through his athletic ballet moves, which evoke rape, torment, romance, and love.  The young cast moves gracefully and powers the story to another dimension.

Set in Hells Kitchen in the waning summer of 1957 the neighborhood is patrolled less by Officer Krupke (Mike Boland) and Schrank (Ed Romanoff) than by the rival gangs of The Jets and Sharks.  Owning and controlling turf is important to both groups.  The Sharks are Puerto Rican who are fighting for their piece of the American dream while the Jets – sons of immigrants take the newcomers for granted.  Modern day social workers would advocate for increased schooling or jobs to keep these kids off the streets.  Alas, toughened up by pride, these boys defend that which they know.

There’s artful Tony (Zach Trimmer) yearning for something more while working in Doc’s and painting a sign.  Off the streets and largely retired from gang life, Tony is compelled to help his friends by Riff (Adam Soniak) who’s itching for a fight to prove his leadership and supremacy over Berndardo (Brandon Contreras) and his Sharks.

Squaring off at a high school dance with a comic turn by Ed Romanoff as the ineffective principal, the boys agree to rumble.  Tony meets Maria (the beautiful Carly Evans) and romance becomes more important than turf.  McNabb’s choreography nice turns from athletic and macho in the early scenes to awkward, teen hormonal in the school dance.  His cast rewards the audience with individualized performances that create both character, motivation, and propel the story forward.  You really believe these Sharks and Jets love their territory, one another, and fear for being pushed around and out.

The production is also well sung particularly in group numbers like “Gee, Officer Krupke”, “I Feel Pretty” and “Tonight.”  Trimmer and Evans craftily evoke first love and tragic romance.  Allison Thomas Lee’s Anita tormented by Bernardo’s death turns on Maria after being overwhelmed by the Jets at Doc’s – she’s a tremendous actress whose actions bring on the tragic conclusion.

As well danced as the production is with McNabb’s choreography beautifully and deftly syncopated with Bernstein’s score.  Laurent’s book feels dated and cheesy.  One wishes for a fuller sounding orchestra to match the robust dynamism that dances before you. 

The production dances through July 5^th.  Jet on up to Elmsford, have the chicken marsala and enjoy a robust, taut production of “West Side Story.”

Love American Style -- Almost, Maine - Hoboken, NJ

Love, amour, distance, commitment, hope, loss, pain – these are the elements at play in Hudson Theater Ensemble’s charming production of John Cariani’s “Almost, Maine.”

Set in the not quite a town or on a map area of Almost, Maine, the show is a series of nine scenes about love.  Powered by a charming cast and graceful direction from Laurie Brongo, the play mixes whimsy, laughter, and heart. 

The offbeat, adorable residents -- fall in and out of love one enchanted Friday night as the Northern Lights crosses, exchanging unsolicited kisses, awkward confessions and a yearning for connection. Their brief stories are laced with magic realism, uncanny coincidences, metaphors taken literally and idioms come to life.  Some work better than others but all are short and (bitter)sweet.  This is a world beyond Tinder, OKCupid, or Match and one where people carry their broken hearts in bags and deliver bulging sacks of love.

Cariana’s light touch is evident in scenes like “They Fell” in which a bromance turns unexpectedly complete with physical falling for one another.  Victor Andres and Doug Schneider deftly handle the physicality and uncertainty of a new possibility.  A bit more heavy handed is “Where it Went” which tackles a marriage that goes south despite a wife (Laura DiCerto) trying to bring romance to the spot of a first kiss.

Victor Andres’ malleable facial expressions capture a tremendous mix of emotions especially in the prologue and “This Hurts” in which he plays a main who feels no pain. 

The cast of six plays a wide variety of characters in the town, as well as visitors to it hoping to see the Northern Lights.  They adroitly avoid cutesiness or  cloying, steering with balance. And the evening ends with the possibility of seeing the romance before you, accepting, and emphatically embracing it in a nice turn from actors Steve Yates and Jessica Sherr.

After a long winter, a fine spring romance as evoked by the Hudson Theater Ensemble’s production makes for a pleasant outing.