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Gardenia. (Photo by Luk Monsaert.)

When I attended a performance of Gardenia in Montreal during the groundbreaking Festival TransAmériques, I was humbled by the gripping authenticity of the show’s performers and the intimately personal quality of their performances. Much of theater is predicated on fooling an audience into believing a staged reality. But what happens when the performers live a life of pretend in order to be accepted socially? 

In shows like La Cage aux Folles, men play women for effect, for entertainment, and only passing reference is made to the dilemmas of cross-dressing. Movies also have won large audiences when leading men have found it expedient to play women (think Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie and Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire). But what happens when a man chooses to be a woman in order to survive, to be real, and being entertaining is what is demanded of them by those who are watching—that is, by us? Read more »

Tamara Pullman in The Matter of Origins. (Photo by George Hagegeorge.)

The earthquake, resulting tsunami, and subsequent overheating of nuclear power rods is often commented on as Japan’s greatest disaster since World War II. And what was that? Does everyone know? Why is there no mention of Hiroshima and Nagasaki when framing the magnitude of the Japanese disaster? 

In her poignant new dance work, The Matter of Origins, the American choreographer Liz Lerman cultivates the beginnings of an idea and connects the proverbial dots between physics and poetry to celebrate the creative purpose in all people. 

To make The Matter of Origins, Lerman pursued the thinking and actions of contemporary physicists seeking answers to enduring questions: Where do we come from? How did it all start? Why do we care? She traveled to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to see the incredible tunnel where particles collide and create conditions mirroring those of the big bang. She talked to Hubble scientists and came to understand that they are studying parts of the universe that are billions of light-years old. And intimately linked to their quest for this supreme knowledge was the shadow of Los Alamos.  Read more »

Director/choreographer David Gordon

When you think about things to dance with, what comes to mind…other than your beloved? Gene Kelly’s umbrella is a good first bet. Canes, of course. Hoops work nicely as partners. What about a black metal folding chair? Ouch!! 

David Gordon has made his way successfully through the hard-knock life of a cutting-edge choreographer by defying expectations. Consider his use of objects—ready-made set pieces of found objects morph from a door to a table to a book. Or, fragments of language that zing from one corner of a stage to another—Shakespeare with the iambic pentameter excised. This in service of a signature postmodern movement philosophy that is a mélange of all things performance—music, dance, theater, and fragmented declarative sentences. 

But David’s claim to ongoing fame may well hinge on his romance with the metal folding chair. In fact, it may be a fetish to be researched. The productions he brings to the Alexander Kasser Theater, UNCIVIL WARS (Nov. 5–8) and Shlemiel the First (Jan. 16–24), both reveal David’s stellar chair-dance technique. UNCIVIL WARS concludes with a rhythmic choral number using 25 folding chairs, in what I call a postmodernist’s tribute to Busby Berkeley, while Shlemiel has seven men with beards and black hats kicking up a storm to traditional klezmer music and the clatter of rapidly unfolding folding chairs. 

There are many reasons to focus on an artist in this dissecting way. In general, artistic achievement in the course of a career is the most often cited rationale. This is true for Mr. Gordon, whose work with the seminal Grand Union at the formidable Judson Church in Greenwich Village set the barre for excellence in dance. His work has been seen on stages as varied as St. Mark’s Church and the Metropolitan Opera. Mikhail Baryshnikov speaks of working with him as though Gordon were secretly George Balanchine. 

The most reasonable thing to say about David is that he often leaves his audience (and myself) speechless.  Although his dance works use text and objects generally associated with theater, Gordon is a choreographer. He choreographs people and things and ideas. ”Acting” is not the focus, but everyone performs at often-breakneck speed. Stationary objects—whether people or things—are foreign to David. Despite his use of folding chairs, no one sits down for very long. 

Jedediah Wheeler is Executive Director of Arts & Cultural Programming at Montclair State University.

Montclair native Nicolle Rochelle as Josephine Baker.

Josephine Baker’s story attracts me not just because she was a major talent and a bold human being, but also because she embodies a very sad story about America’s support of its artists.  To this day, Europe is still a safe haven for American artists who don’t fit the creative status quo.  Merce Cunningham and Robert Wilson are two artists who found notable careers in Paris before being considered for canonization by the cognoscenti of New York City. 

With Ms. Baker, both race and artistic content converge.  The French propelled Baker to stardom by embracing the stereotype of the exotic African.  Baker knew her audience well and played to it.  It was not merely her semi-nude shenanigans that shocked but also her deliberate use of African and even monkey-inspired moves that both entranced and repelled French audiences. Read more »

While conceding that responses to entertainment differ wildly from person to person, I’m going to boldly assert that, in my judgment, the 09/10 season of Peak Performances is the most playful and therefore the most entertaining season offered since MSU’s Alexander Kasser Theater opened in October 2004. For a taste of what’s to come, watch the clip below: 

 

We had a stellar start this past Saturday: the Shanghai Quartet and special guests from the Tokyo String Quartet performed a rousing, emotionally complex evening of Brahms, Beethoven, and Dvorák. Up next, Looking for Josephine re-creates the saucy Folies Bergère revue that made Josephine Baker a star in 1920s Paris. In October, Fête de Louisiane! turns the Kasser into a dance party, as the newest generation of Louisiana-based artists play the latest in Zydeco and Cajun music. Then, with UNCIVIL WARS (November), director/choreographer David Gordon channels Bertolt Brecht and spotlights the music hall compositions of Hanns Eisler, whose subversive work was banned in Nazi Germany. Gordon follows up this piece of sharp political satire with an absolutely joyful musical theater novelty based on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s play Shlemiel the First (January). And unless laughing out loud is too self-conscience an act, Doug Elkins & Friends promise a delightful Fräulein Maria (March), an irreverent dance send-up of the Rogers and Hammerstein classic The Sound of Music, set to the original score of the Julie Andrews film.

Part of the Peak Performances mission is to bring to your attention extraordinary artists whose originality doesn’t fit any mold. October ‘09 features Marino Formenti, an irrepressible piano virtuoso whose performance of a musical dialogue between works by Czech composer György Kurtág and a wide range of seminal composers is a showcase of Formenti’s dazzling understanding of both his instrument and the richness of compositions created for it. Paul O’Dette, a master of the lute, plays the music of Renaissance maestro John Dowland with incomparable beauty. Neither the lute nor Dowland are prime entries in today’s grand concert halls; yet Dowland was the Sinatra of Renaissance England! Margaret Jenkins, a pioneer of new dance from San Francisco, kicks off a slam-dunk dance season with Other Suns (A Trilogy), her company’s trans-Pacific collaboration with China’s Guangdong Modern Dance Company, featuring original music performed live by Paul Dresher and his ensemble.

Dance continues in the winter and spring with Los Angeles-based Lula Washington Dance Theatre and UK choreographers Wayne McGregor and Charlotte Vincent. To celebrate her company’s 30th anniversary, Lula Washington looks both forward and back with a vibrant program that includes the world premiere of a new work, WWW.CONNECTIONS.2010, as well as high-energy pieces from the company’s repertoire (January). McGregor’s company, Random Dance, brings ENTITY (February), the hottest dance work I’ve ever seen! Vincent and her company return like gangbusters with a double bill that includes a reprise of Broken Chords (a smash hit in our 07/08 season) and the North American premiere of If We Go On, a new piece co-commissioned by Peak Performances (April).

Rounding out our musical offerings, Kronos Quartet (February) dives headfirst into multi-ethnic compositions, and Miguel Zenón (February) extends the musicality of the saxophone by exploring his Puerto Rican musical heritage. The season concludes with a boom from Dublin’s Crash Ensemble (May), conducted by the profoundly talented Alan Pierson and featuring a rare stateside appearance by Ireland’s leading Sean-nos singer, Iarla Ó Lionáird.

We believe in the capacity of both the artist and the audience to excel. Despite the woeful economy and the global prognosis for disorder, these times are more creative than ever before.

The Peak Season is upon you!

Jedediah Wheeler is Executive Director of Arts & Cultural Programming at Montclair State University.