Gossip Central

Five Presidents at Bay Street Theater

The fun of watching the new play, Five Presidents in its east coast premiere at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, is knowing the history moving forward from the momentous day, April 27, 1994 when the most exclusive club in the world, consisting of living presidents, comes together in a suite preparing for the funeral of one of their own, Richard Nixon. Under Mark Clements’ fine direction, first Gerald Ford (John Bolger) who is on the wagon but circles the bar like a vulture, then Jimmy Carter (Martin L’Herault) who gets a tall pour of scotch from his predecessor, then a slicked wigged Ronald Reagan (Steve Sheridan), George Herbert Walker Bush (Mark Jacoby) and “the new guy,” Bill Clinton (Brit Whittle), arrive one by one swapping stories about women they have nailed, the conflicts of going to war and sending young men and women to die, the economy, a rehash of everything you know about their presidencies meshed with their individual personalities and leavened by liquor. As these were the years before the name Monica Lewinsky entered the public consciousness, the name Gennifer Flowers is a reminder of that president’s pre-election dalliance. A Reagan verging on his famed senescence speaks inappropriately of a particular intimate act with Marilyn Monroe.

Requiem for the Dead: American Spring 2014 on HBO, and Now

When HBO had a launch for the new documentary, Requiem for the Dead: American Spring 2014 last Monday, a gunman had not yet joined the prayer group at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina, ending in the shooting deaths of nine parishioners including Pastor Clementa Pinckney, not only a spiritual leader, but a prominent African American political presence. A who’s who of non-fiction filmmakers including D. A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, and Nancy Buirski, marveled at the film’s ingenuity: the documentary, the brainchild of HBO’s Sheila Nevins, and directed by Nick Doob and Shari Cookson, providing a numbing account of the number of gun-related deaths in just one American season, is created of text messages, recordings of emergency calls to 911, news footage, home photos of a selection of such random deaths that all go back to the one common denominator: the availability of guns. By Wednesday, when the horrible killing in Charleston occurred, no more examples were needed to make the point. And yet, as many mourn, with memorial services now underway and the 21 year old gunman in custody, community leaders are saying this is the “never again” moment, the call for restrictions on guns.

Kate Winslet in A Little Chaos

Kate Winslet in a smart ponytail and slinky black skimmer posed for selfies with fans as I approached MoMA this week for the New York premiere screening of her new film, A Little Chaos, directed by Alan Rickman. Finally prying herself loose from the crowd she joined the audience for this period piece in which she portrays Sabine De Barra, a self-possessed woman with a career as a landscape designer—from—most improbably—the 17^th century, the time of Louis XIV (Rickman is both imperious and human in this role as king). A Little Chaos describes her mode of design which impresses Andre de Notre (Matthias Schoenaerts) to hire her for the work at Versailles, and from there, the rest is history, as they say, or more to this film, historical fiction. There is much to say about Ellen Kuras’ stunning cinematography. The film was shot in the castles near London, exteriors in gardens, and interiors in bedrooms where the emerging love affair is swoon-worthy.

Sam Waterston: A Temperate Prospero in The Tempest in the Park

A storm threatened. Not the one that opens Shakespeare’s late life play, The Tempest. On the evening I ventured into Central Park, to the Delacorte Theater for the always delightful experience of seeing Shakespeare under the night sky, rain was in the forecast. It would have been appropriate: not a downpour which would have cancelled the performance, but a melding of real nature with the teeming waters of the Public Theater’s ocean backdrop (Riccardo Hernandez’ design) for this season’s The Tempest, directed by Michael Greif, with Sam Waterston as Prospero.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Julie Taymor’s Splendid Shakespearean Romp in Film

Julie Taymor’s latest triumph is the movie version of the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, she debuted in 2013 at the Theater for a New Audience in Brooklyn. Her film of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is a mesmerizing and indeed, dream vision composed of the Shakespeare’s scenes and characters, made into a surreal at times, slapstick at times, genuinely delightful version of this, one of the bard’s most popular comedies. Composer Elliot Goldenthal’s whimsical music enhances the dreaminess and shenanigans of the carnival of lovers, spirits, royals and workmen in this gorgeous confection.

A Fashion Elite Turns Out for The True Cost, A Documentary About What We Wear

If the title of the compelling documentary, The True Cost, directed by Andrew Morgan, sounds a little mercantile, it is. Dealing with the dreadful reality behind “fast fashion,” the greed behind low cost clothes, the exploitation of a work force in underdeveloped countries, and the marketing of unnecessary, non-biodegradable, expendable tee-shirts and other splurge purchases to a population that does not need them, the documentary makes you want to avoid H&M, Forever 21, and Zara. (This last, in particular is in a much-publicized suit regarding racism and anti-Semitism, but I digress.) The film makes it hard to rationalize patronizing these retailers, knowing that the low prices passed along to consumers are the result of dire costs in human lives.

Alec Baldwin and Laurie Metcalf in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons at Guild Hall

The first rate revival of Arthur Miller’s tragedy, All My Sons, at Guild Hall’s John Drew Theater is a reason to celebrate theater out east. With a cast led by Alec Baldwin and Laurie Metcalf, under Stephen Hamilton’s direction, the drama moves quickly through the moral dilemma of an American family, post World War II. The sons, one presumed dead, one alive, ask for accountability, a heavy load for Joe Keller—that’s Alec Baldwin, his baggy trousers skimming an ample belly held up by suspenders—who is boss, businessman, and bully. When son Chris (Ryan Eggold) asks the big questions about his possible role in the deaths of 21 fighter pilots, and the ruin of his partner’s family, Joe defends himself. He’s got a wife Kate, submissive, damaged, but spiritual, performed by the formidable Metcalf, and family to support, a good enough reason to risk sending out faulty airplane parts from his factory—and, in fact, to lie. To his sons, Chris and Larry, his ordinariness is crushing, tragic—he was Father, better than this moral slide. They could accept no less in Miller’s classic drama.

Ornette Coleman and the Beat Generation Literati

A Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur Fellow, jazzman Ornette Coleman died this week at age 85. Ornette Coleman’s extraordinary career as an alto saxophone performer dovetailed with several poetry movements in America including his friendship and collaborations with the Beat Generation writers. He made the soundtracks on David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch (1991), based on William Burroughs’ classic novel, featuring a sequence in the “Interzone” marketplace, a stand in for Tangier, and Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Sheltering Sky (1990), based on Paul Bowles’ book about a Western couple travelling in Morocco.

Mark Ruffalo in Infinitely Polar Bear

Maya Forbes’ autobiographical film, Infinitely Polar Bear, about her family coping with her father’s bipolar disorder, is set in the late ‘70’s, a time when few understood the impact of this mental malfunction. This smart feature may coincide with a hot topic in the Zeitgeist. Particularly as portrayed by Mark Ruffalo, there’s no question that Cam Stuart was infinitely charismatic and fun to be with, at the same time, questionable as a stay-at-home parent. Maya Forbes’ daughter Imogene Wolodarsky plays Amelia, the daughter most like her mother. When their mother Maggie (Zoe Saldana) goes to business school in New York, she leaves Amelia and little sister Faith (Ashley Aufderheide) with dad in charge in Boston, and all hell breaks loose in this very winning comedy.

The New Sincerity at Bay Street Theater: The Revolution Will Not Be Sold

Alena Smith’s smart play, The New Sincerity, in its world premiere at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, is perhaps the first drama to deal with the idealism of the Occupy Movement. Championed for its revolutionary goals, Occupy opened a dialogue about the ills of capitalism and social injustice. Many came to Zuccotti Park to camp out in support, like Django, one of four characters in The New Sincerity, expertly directed by Bob Balaban, who keeps the flow of characters in and out of the offices of a literary journal brisk for its 85-minute duration. Keep your eye on the word “sincerity” of the title, a playful take on the currency of authenticity.