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In this week’s Films.Dance release “DADU”, captured on Super 16mm film and utilizing natural light, four dancers explore abstraction through the framing of movement set against the terrain of the Dutch hamlet of Spaarnwoude. Ian Robinson, former dancer with Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company, directs Kele Roberson, Annika Verplancke, Jesse Callaert, and Mikaela Kelly, members of Nederlands Dans Theater, with cinematography by Amsterdam-based Sam du Pon and music composed by Awir Leon, singer songwriter, producer and former dancer with Emanuel Gat Dance.
This is the seventh film from Films.Dance, a groundbreaking new global film series produced by and under the creative direction of Jacob Jonas The Company and in partnership with Somewhere Magazine. Streaming now at TheWallis.org, TheSoraya.org or on the films.dance Facebook and Instagram pages. New Films premiere for free each Monday through May.
Center Theatre Group’s digital stage presents “Christa McAuliffe’s Eyes Were Blue” accessible through April 4, 2021. The video is free to Center Theatre Group subscribers and supporters or $10 for all others. Part of Center Theatre Group’s L.A. Writers’ Workshop Festival: New Plays Forged in L.A., the virtually produced reading of “Christa McAuliffe’s Eyes Were Blue” is written by Kemp Powers and will be available at www.CTGLA.org/ChristaMcAuliffe.
“Christa McAuliffe’s Eyes Were Blue” follows Bernard and Steven Gentry, twins who have lived starkly different lives. One is plagued by racism because of his dark skin while the other passes as white. Steven spent his childhood trying to fit in and is now a successful attorney. Bernard was a star student who dreamt of space, but his current prospects are about as dismal as the Challenger Space Shuttle that once inspired him. Moving between their 80s New York City childhood and a Minnesota courthouse in 2006, “Christa McAuliffe’s Eyes Were Blue” is a haunting meditation on race and privilege in America.
Directed by Jennifer Chang, the cast of “Christa McAuliffe’s Eyes Were Blue” features Giovanni Adams,Jovan Adepo, Amaia Arana, Lorena Martinez, Connor Paolo, Adam J. Smith, Cory Michael Smith,Larry Bates and Justin Lawrence Barnes.
Also at Center Theatre Group, The Stratford Festival’s “King Lear” premieres Thursday, March 11 at 2 pm Pacific and will be available on demand through June 9, 2021. The lavish Stratford Festival film is free to Center Theatre Group subscribers and supporters and $10 for all others at www.centertheatregroup.org/digitalstage/videos/the-stratford-festival-king-lear/.
An aging monarch resolves to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, with consequences he little expects. His reason shattered in the storm of violent emotion that ensues, with his very life hanging in the balance, Lear loses everything that has defined him as a king – and thereby discovers the essence of his own humanity. Directed by Antoni Cimolino, “King Lear” is one of five Shakespeare plays captured at North America’s leading classical theatre company which will be presented on CTG’s Digital Stage.
MetOpera.org offers Puccini’s “TOSCA” on Sunday March 14, available for 25 hours. Sir David McVicar’s bold, new staging of Tosca, Puccini’s operatic thriller of Napolionic Rome, thrilled Met audiences when it rang in the New Year in 2018. In this performance, Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva is the passionate title diva, opposite the charismatic tenor Vittorio Grigolo as her lover, the idealistic painter Mario Cavaradossi. Baritone Zeljko Lucic is the meancing Baron Scarpia, the evil chief of police who employs brutal tactics to ensnare both criminals and sexual conquests. On the podium, Emmanuel Villaume conducts the electrifying score, which features some of Puccini’s most memorable melodies.
Hershey Felder, renowned pianist, actor and playwright known for his portrayals of classical composers, is back with a Live performance from Florence, Italy of his latest show, “PUCCINI”. Directed for the screen by Stefano de Carli, PUCCINI is the story of a young musician in love with the world of opera, and in particular Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. When, through a series of unusual circumstances, the young musician meets the musical master himself, secrets are revealed that send the young musician soaring. With special guests, baritone Nathan Gunn, soprano Gianna Corbisiero, tenor Charles Castronovo, and soprano Ekaterin Siurina, PUCCINI features music that is beloved and known throughout the world, from “Nessun Dorma,” to “O Mio Babbino Caro” and more. The production was filmed on location in Lucca, Pisa, and Florence, Italy, in the very locations where events took place, including the home of Puccini’s birth. This new work promises to bring you the story and music of one of the world’s most beloved composers. Live stream premiere is on Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 5:00pm PDT. Purchase includes a full week of on demand viewing access through Sunday, March 21. TheWallis.org/Puccini. $55 per household.
