Theater
Loneliness and inhumanity are the themes of stark but elegant conception by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne of a pastiche of Beckett mood pieces designed for Brook’s Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris. They are dark and yet sometimes comical, as if one should not take the dreariness to seriously, a combination of Commedia dell’ Arte and Mime, with an acting team at the top of its form. They show happiness and unhappiness dependent on oneself and on circumstances and on how one uses those circumstances.
Cabaret & Jazz, Theater
I saw Maureen McGovern at Birdland, the iconic jazz club on West 44th Street in New York. It always amazes me to hear her smooth mix of jazzy, a soupçon of folk, and lyrics that are as smartly political as they get. These are not the standards you might expect at a cabaret. At 61, McGovern channels the 60s and 70s, and her rendition of the Beatles When I’m 64 is the best I’ve ever heard. She presents an ethereal version of Up, Up and Away (Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon.) She also conveys a feminist idiom: A woman is a fighter, a mighty force of nature. On the folk side of the era, this very versatile performer does a powerful If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song), noting that Pete Seeger has always been a hero of mine. And McGovern has long been a favorite of mine.
