AN EVENING OF SHORT PLAYS DIRECTED BY BOB BALABAN

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Bob Balaban, photo courtesy of Guild Hall.

Tag: Performing Arts

Nightly Met Opera Streams: Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur

Visit the Metropolitan Opera’s homepage to view this stream for 23 hours after it premieres

A gem of the verismo repertoire, Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur has only appeared a handful of times on the Met stage. When it has, however, it has often showcased some of opera’s greatest divas in the commanding title role, including Renata Tebaldi, Montserrat Caballé, and Renata Scotto. During the 2018–19 season, superstar soprano Anna Netrebko joined the ranks of these incomparable artists, starring opposite mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili, as the fearsome Princess of Bouillon, and tenor Piotr Beczała, as her ardent lover, Maurizio. In this performance, recorded as part of the Met’s Live in HD series, Gianandrea Noseda conducts Sir David McVicar’s new staging, which teems with lurid backstage intrigue and political maneuvering.

Nightly Met Opera Streams: Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (Viewers’ Choice)

Visit the Metropolitan Opera’s homepage to view this stream for 23 hours after it premieres

Anthony Minghella’s stunning production of Puccini’s opera opened the Met’s 2006–07 season and was seen by thousands of people around the world as part of the company’s Live in HD series. Patricia Racette is Cio-Cio-San, the trusting and innocent young geisha of the title, who disastrously falls in love with American Navy lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton (Marcello Giordani), only to be abandoned by him. Maria Zifchak is her loyal servant Suzuki and Dwayne Croft is Sharpless, the sympathetic American consul who does all he can but is unable to avert tragedy.

Nightly Met Opera Streams: Rossini’s Le Comte Ory

Visit the Metropolitan Opera’s homepage to view this stream for 23 hours after it premieres

Rossini’s rarely heard comedy receives a brilliant performance in Bartlett Sher’s Met premiere production, with a trio of today’s greatest bel canto stars in the leading roles: Juan Diego Flórez is Count Ory, a handsome rogue who finds women—all women—irresistible. Diana Damrau sings the virtuous Countess Adèle, and Joyce DiDonato is Isolier, the count’s page, who is also in love with the countess. Jokes, misunderstandings, and gender-bending disguises—including knights dressed as nuns— abound in this hilarious tale of deception and seduction. Maurizio Benini conducts.

Nightly Met Opera Streams: Puccini’s La Rondine

Visit the Metropolitan Opera’s homepage to view this stream for 23 hours after it premieres

Puccini’s achingly beautiful score charmingly conveys the plight of Magda (the “swallow” of the title) who unexpectedly finds true love with the handsome young Ruggero. But their idyllic and happy life comes to an premature end as she is haunted by the fear that her checkered past will ruin his future. Real-life couple and operatic stars Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna portray Puccini’s star-crossed lovers. Ezio Frigerio’s elegant and sophisticated art deco sets add a dazzling touch to Nicholas Joël’s production, which premiered in 2008.

 

 

 

Make it Together!: Two People Find Treasure

Guild Hall is thrilled to be joining Make It Together!, a new national script-to-video project designed to bring young writers’ imaginations from the page to the theatrical screen. Each week Guild Hall will be accepting scripts from young playwrights to be realized, rehearsed, and produced by a team of professional directors, actors, and designers collaborating on Zoom, culminating in the sharing of a professionally edited short film online, both on Guild Hall’s and the Make it Together! platforms.

Joins us as we imagine, create, and Make it Together!

How it works:

Young writers ages 7-13 and their families are invited to submit scripts of up to three minutes in length (about five pages) based off a weekly theme. For an example of a submitted script/guidance on how to begin your writing, please see the sample script.

All scripts should be sent to Josh Gladstone, Artistic Director of the John Drew Theater at joshgladstone@guildhall.org. Please be sure your script includes your name, age, and hometown as well as the playwright’s contact information. If selected, writers will be asked to send a short video introducing themselves and their play to be edited into the start of the video.

This week’s theme: Two people find a treasure. What’s inside? How do their lives change?

Make it Together! originated at Middletown Arts Center. This project is produced in collaboration with Middletown Arts Center and a growing number of regional theaters, artists and organizations.

Examples produced by Middletown Arts Center:

Participating Institutions:

Charles River Creative Arts Program
Dover, Massachusetts
www.crcap.org

HamptonsFilm presents NOW SHOWING: Once Were Brothers

Directed by Daniel Roher

ONCE WERE BROTHERS: ROBBIE ROBERTSON AND THE BAND is a confessional, cautionary, and occasionally humorous tale of Robertson’s young life and the creation of one of the most enduring groups in the history of popular music, The Band. The film is a moving story of Robertson’s personal journey, overcoming adversity and finding camaraderie alongside the four other men who would become his brothers in music, together making their mark on music history. ONCE WERE BROTHERS blends rare archival footage, photography, iconic songs and interviews with Robertson’s friends and collaborators including Martin Scorsese, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, and more.

We at HamptonsFilm and Guild Hall are committed to connecting our audiences with terrific new films through our popular Now Showing series. Until we can safely meet again, we’re delighted to announce that our weekly model will continue, moving from our recent screenings at Guild Hall onto your personal screens in the privacy of your own home.

HamptonsFilm presents NOW SHOWING: Slay The Dragon

It influences elections and sways outcomes-gerrymandering has become a hot-button political topic and symbol for everything broken about the American electoral process. But there are those on the front lines fighting to change the system.

We at HamptonsFilm and Guild Hall are committed to connecting our audiences with terrific new films through our popular Now Showing series. Until we can safely meet again, we’re delighted to announce that our weekly model will continue, moving from our recent screenings at Guild Hall onto your personal screens in the privacy of your own home.

National Theatre Live at Home: A Screening of One Man, Two Guvnors with James Corden

Featuring a Tony Award-winning performance from host of the The Late Late Show, James Corden, the hilarious West End and Broadway hit One Man, Two Guvnors is National Theatre At Home’s first free YouTube stream.

Fired from his skiffle band, Francis Henshall becomes minder to Roscoe Crabbe, a small time East End hood, now in Brighton to collect £6,000 from his fiancée’s dad. But Roscoe is really his sister Rachel posing as her own dead brother, who’s been killed by her boyfriend Stanley Stubbers. Holed up at The Cricketers’ Arms, the permanently ravenous Francis spots the chance of an extra meal ticket and takes a second job with one Stanley Stubbers, who is hiding from the police and waiting to be re-united with Rachel. To prevent discovery, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart. Simple.

HamptonsFilm presents NOW SHOWING: Saint Frances

Directed by Alex Thompson
(2019, 101 minutes)

Flailing thirty-four-year-old Bridget (Kelly O’Sullivan) finally catches a break when she meets a nice guy and lands a much-needed job nannying six-year-old Frances (played by a scene-stealing Ramona Edith-Williams). But an unwanted pregnancy introduces an unexpected complication. To make matters worse, she clashes with the obstinate Frances and struggles to navigate a growing tension between Frances’s moms. Amidst her tempestuous personal relationships, a reluctant friendship with Frances emerges, and Bridget contends with the inevitable joys and shit-shows of becoming a part of someone else’s family.

We at HamptonsFilm and Guild Hall are committed to connecting our audiences with terrific new films through our popular Now Showing series. Until we can safely meet again, we’re delighted to announce that our weekly model will continue, moving from our recent screenings at Guild Hall onto your personal screens in the privacy of your own home.

HamptonsFilm presents NOW SHOWING: Bacurau

Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
(Brazil/France, 2019, 131 minutes)

English and Portuguese with English subtitles

A few years from now… Bacurau, a small village in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants (among them Sônia Braga) notice that their village has literally vanished from online maps and a UFO-shaped drone is seen flying overhead. There are forces that want to expel them from their homes, and soon, in a genre-bending twist, a band of armed mercenaries led by Udo Kier arrive in town picking off the inhabitants one by one. A fierce confrontation takes place when the townspeople turn the tables on the villainous outsiders, banding together by any means necessary to protect and maintain their remote community. The mercenaries just may have met their match in the fed-up, resourceful denizens of little Bacurau.

We at HamptonsFilm and Guild Hall are committed to connecting our audiences with terrific new films through our popular Now Showing series. Until we can safely meet again, we’re delighted to announce that our weekly model will continue, moving from our recent screenings at Guild Hall onto your personal screens in the privacy of your own home. This week, please join us in watching the exceptional Brazilian film BACURAU, which is available to screen at this link. We appreciate Kino Lorber’s innovative decision to make the film available on demand earlier than anticipated, and for agreeing to share the revenue with select non-profit organizations. A rising tide lifts all boats, and we as a film community are in this together.