Foot in Mouth

A friend called Thursday night, and I was slow to pick up. When we finally caught each other, he quipped, "Yeah, I know, you've been busy mourning Michael Jackson." But I'd been mourning him for years. A young Michael Jackson (by Kate Simon, via the New Yorker) Every time I saw a photo of Jackson more bleached, more narrow-nosed, more hidden behind glasses and scarves, than ever, I felt incredibly … [Read more...]

Diana Vishneva approaches her roles with a completeness of imagination that makes the usual day-after review--this worked, that didn't--feel especially meager. For example, in Swan Lake most ballerinas identify the swan queen Odette's creaturely gestures with her fear, her guardedness, her vulnerability--the feelings that Prince Siegfried's everlasting love promises to defuse. But last night at … [Read more...]

Dear Reader, In order not to tempt me to write posts, when I have other, less tempting things to do, I am declaring a hiatus here for the next few weeks. But to not leave you completely high and dry, here are the dances in New York I would go see (and likely will go see) in these last weeks of the heavy dance season before the dog days (and the Lincoln Center Festival) set in. For modern and … [Read more...]

This just in: Tonight (Thursday) at 10:30 on WNET/Ch. 13, a documentary on Frankie Manning, the late King of Swing. Sorry for the late notice: I just noticed myself. It doesn't look like it's going to be broadcast outside of the New York area, but the above link says it will be available in streaming media after tonight. In case you're wondering who Manning is and why he's a big deal, read the … [Read more...]

God, did I love the Joe Goode Performance Group's show last week at the Joyce--and I sure didn't expect to from the reviews. So I was trying to figure out how to talk about him in a way that caught his balancing act, how he manages to vault over cornball sentiment while honoring it. A tricky accomplishment--and I don't know whether I did it justice in this review for the Financial Times (I never … [Read more...]