Here's a contrast. A few days ago I went to see Woody Allen's new film, "To Rome With Love," and yesterday evening I saw Rick Elice's play, "Peter and the Starcatcher." Both comedies, but of a very different sort.
In "To Rome With Love," Woody Allen continues his progression through various European locales (he has in recent years shot films in England, France and Spain), now focusing on Rome – both the Rome of the … <Read More>
Here's a contrast. A few days ago I went to see Woody Allen's new film, "To Rome With Love," and yesterday evening I saw Rick Elice's play, "Peter and the Starcatcher." Both comedies, but of a very different sort.
In "To Rome With Love," Woody Allen continues his progression through various European locales (he has in recent years shot films in England, France and Spain), now focusing on Rome – both the Rome of the … <Read More>
U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall (S.D. Ga.) released an Order in Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley, CV 110-099, on June 22, granting the defendants' motion to dismiss a claim by a student that her constitutional rights were violated when she was dropped from the graduate Counseling Program at Augusta State University. The court ruled that Jennifer Keeton, a self-described Christian who refused to undergo a Remediation Program aimed at equipping her to provide non-discriminatory professional counseling … <Read More>
Last night I attended the NY Philharmonic's 15,394th concert (!!), part of the final week of the 2011-12 subscription season. Rather than going out with a big bang calling for a huge orchestra or semi-staged opera as per the last few years, they went with a reduced orchestra in an all-Mozart evening, beginning with the 22nd Piano Concerto (Emanuel Ax), and concluding with the incomplete Mass in C MInor.
Both works come from what might … <Read More>
A unanimous four-judge panel of the New York Appellate Division, 2nd Department, ruled on June 20 that a property-owner being sued by an HIV-positive individual who claims to have been injured in a fall on the owner's property is entitled to a hearing on its demand for disclosure of HIV-related information in the plaintiff's medical records. John Doe v. Sutlinger Realty Corp., 2012 WL 2330560, 2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 04969.
The court explained that "during … <Read More>
New York Supreme Court Justice Alice Schlesinger ruled June 11 that Alini Brito is entitled to a new administrative hearing on her claim that she was wrongfully discharged by the New York City Department of Education from her position as a Spanish teacher at James Madison High School in Brooklyn. Vacating a decision by Hearing Officer Mary Crangle, Justice Schlesinger found that Ms. Brito's due process rights were violated by the hearing officer's handling of an issue … <Read More>
This past week, the New York Philharmonic's subscription program included Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, Korngold's Violin Concerto, and Nielsen's Symphony #3, with music director Alan Gilbert on the podium and the excellent violinist Leonidas Kavakos as soloist in the concerto. The Philharmonic is in the midst of a multi-year project to perform and record all six Nielsen symphonies, but performing the 3rd this year was especially fitting, as it is the centennial of this work's premiere.… <Read More>
Last week I attended a performance of "Cock," a play by Mike Bartlett, directed by James McDonald and presented at the Duke Theater on 42nd Street in Manhattan. The prissy folk at the NY Times couldn't bring themselves to call the play by its given name, so they called it The Cockfight when they reviewed it. And, in fact, the producers have placed a picture of a fighting rooster on the cover of the Playbill, … <Read More>
The ACLU has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina seeking a declaration that North Carolina
The York Theatre Company at St. Peter's Church (Lexington & 54th Street in Manhattan) has been running a series of revivals of off-Broadway musicals. The current offering is "Closer Than Ever," a musical revue by Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire, which had an off-Broadway run in 1989 and generated a cast recording that has kept the show alive for those who know it. (I don't.) My regular theater-going companion was eager to see this, … <Read More>