"Newsies the Musical" at Paper Mill Playhouse. Photo Credit: Sara Krulwich.
There is something extremely special about the movie, Newsies, that was released in 1992. It was a box office bomb, yet it became the #1 most requested movie-stage adaptation ever from Disney. After over 18 years, Disney Theatricals announced they would be producing the show, Newsies the Musical, for Papermill Playhouse‘s first show of their 73rd season. As this became a huge deal in the theater world, I had to see for myself the magic of the most anticipated show Disney has ever produced! [click to continue…]
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Andrew Keenan Bolger,
Jeremy Jordan,
Kara Lindsay,
Newsies,
Paper Mill Playhouse
Daniel Radcliffe in "The Woman in Black." Photo Credit: Nick Wall.
Saturday morning matinees aren’t usually my thing. My friend and I, gigantic Harry Potter fans, thought we’d support our favorite wizard Daniel Radcliffe in his latest post-Harry Potter role. The Woman in Black is about a widower named Arthur Kipps who’s a lawyer who is assigned to Eel Marsh to handle property that has to be sold.
Before watching, the trailers made the movie seem like a suspenseful thriller that leaves you on the edge of your seat. Instead, I found it be a movie that had lots of hype but didn’t meet up to it’s expectations.
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The Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio performing at the Jazz Standard in 2010. Photo Credit: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
On one of the most bone-chilling winter nights of the year, Dr. Lonnie Smith’s organ spirit reached exhilarating heights in trio with guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and drummer Jamaire Williams. Though this arrangement lies on the intimate end of Smith’s quintet and nonet spectrum, the band enveloped the Jazz Standard as would a full-sized orchestra. Stirred about by a gently permeating stream of chords off Kreisberg’s guitar, the set began its ascent toward whole-body catharsis with the tune “River Walk”.
The evening eased in with a reflective vibe in the hands of Smith’s bass-like organ hum and Williams’ tenderly rhythmic drums. The mellow piece, featured on Smith’s 1991 release The Turbanator, took an explosive turn a few minutes in, clearing the aural sinuses with an acidic yet soulful flavor. [click to continue…]
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Dr. Lonnie Smith,
Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio,
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Frank Wess playing with (from left to right): John Lee (bass guitar), Yotam Silberstein (guitar), and Jimmy Heath (sax). Photo credit: Fran Kaufman
The best way to ring in a new year? A party, of course. If Frank Wess’ 90th birthday celebration at Dizzy’s Club is any indication of what’s to come in 2012, this year is bound to be a great one. Roy Hargrove’s crisp trumpet launched the festivities with “Dizzy’s Blues”, echoing the pungent, nuanced touch of Gillespie himself. As conductor of the aptly named Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, Hargrove ebbed into rich tandem with the collective swell of over nine strings, saxophones, and trombones, and a powerhouse dose of five outspoken horns.
Once Wess graced the stage on “Without You, No Me” (composed by saxist Jimmy Heath, who also performed throughout the evening), the powerful set infused with vivacious complexity. [click to continue…]
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Roberta Gambarini
In a single word, Yotam Silberstein’s recent release Resonance is captivating. But with a dictionary’s worth of words, the descriptions of his poignant artistry are infinite. Over the course of eleven tracks, Silberstein plucks the heartstrings as he does his guitar, crafting a record of alluring charm that resonates in every cranny of the soul.
Silberstein makes no haste in the album opener “Two Bass Hit”, immediately jolting alive with electric wit. Pianist Aaron Goldberg echoes his speedy streams of guitar, propelled by Christian McBride’s rolling bass rhythm. Gregory Hutchinson’s cymbal-drum swoops tie the aural scene with succinct harmony, carrying the piece into swelling union. The air soon unravels, however, expanding into an eclectic sprawl of tinny cymbal variations and swift piano gymnastics, punctuated by an offbeat switch to bowed bass. Silberstein’s elaborate guitar ribbons weave through with cool ease, assuming lightning velocity one second, and delicate sparseness the next. [click to continue…]
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RESONANCE,
Yotam Silberstein
7 Fingers Production presents "Traces". Photo Credit: Michael Meseke.
There are none of the typical signs onstage at Union Square Theater indicating that a circus-type show is about to start, except for two vertical poles dead center. Replacing carnival rings and nets and clowns are everyday objects such as chairs, a piano, a wooden desk, and…a screen with my face on it? I recognize myself in surveillance footage that was taped a few minutes earlier of people entering the theater to see Traces. It is a shock to the system to realize that I was unknowingly being filmed minutes before, but it breaks the barrier between the stage and the audience and foreshadows how personal Traces will be. Then seven performers burst onto the stage unexpectantly and begin an energetic modern dance sequence with a few components of the more-daring acrobatic feats that lie ahead. Over the next 90 minutes, the performers risk their lives to impress the engaged audience, and achieve their goal of making the circus art form sophisticated and creative. [click to continue…]
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Les 7 Doigts de la Main,
Theater,
Union Square Theatre
Rez Abbazi. Photo Credit: Jazz Music Archives.
“I’m having a brain…you know,” sighed guitarist Rez Abbasi, out of breath and close to speechless after a full-throttle rendition of “Onus on Us”. After such a wildly evolving piece, a bit of brain freeze is understandable – perhaps even inevitable. Under the band name Invocation, Abbasi’s five-member powerhouse took the Jazz Standard by a storm in a CD release concert for the new album Sonu Sonu, echoing a soul-drenched heartiness truly akin to invocative prayer.
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Jazz Standard,
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Rez Abbasi
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