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'Grenfell' listens to the survivors of a towering inferno
NEW YORK, NY.- The notion of creating a safe space for an audience to experience a work of theater tends to provoke the tough-guy purists, because it sounds like coddling. Shouldn’t the stage be a place of daring, unhampered by any content revelations that might spoil the surprise? Presumably, anyone who arrives at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn to see “Grenfell: in the words of survivors,” a tense and enthralling documentary play about a 2017 residential fire in West London that killed 72 people, is aware of the potentially upsetting subject matter. But before the storytelling even starts, the actors in this National Theater production set about making a safe space with a preamble whose clear language and kind tone are not the least bit soppy. “We do want to reassure you that we will not be showing any images ... More

Marjane Satrapi on resistance in Iran: 'A Real Revolution Is Cultural'
NEW YORK, NY.- Marjane Satrapi, whose graphic novel series, “Persepolis,” about growing up in and leaving Tehran, Iran, won her international acclaim and millions of book sales, turned away from the form two decades ago and hadn’t looked back since. Then, in the fall of 2022, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman named Mahsa Amini was detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s hijab law, which requires women and girls to cover their hair. A photo of Amini bruised and bloodied in a hospital bed after her encounter with police went viral. Days later, she died, and her country erupted. The Iranian government has said she died because of underlying health issues, but her family said that she had none, and that she died because she was beaten by police. Women took to the streets and tore off their ... More

'Patriots' review: What happened to the man who made Putin?
NEW YORK, NY.- “In the West, you have no idea.” So begins Peter Morgan’s play “Patriots,” which opened Monday at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. The line is spoken by Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, referring to the foods, sights and music that supposedly feed the great Russian soul. These are represented, in Rupert Goold’s entertaining if overcaffeinated production, by boozy singing and balalaikas, sometimes even fur hats. But “Patriots” also sets out to demonstrate how little the West knows about the real world of realpolitik: the grudges, enmities and insulted dignities that in the post-Soviet 1990s, with casino capitalism rampant in Russia, created Vladimir Putin. If you could ask Berezovsky, though, he’d tell you it was he who created Putin, a 10th-rate provincial nobody he eased into power, first as prime minister ... More

It's all right to groove to Huey in 'The Heart of Rock and Roll'
NEW YORK, NY.- It’s 2024, and Huey Lewis is having a moment. Just let that sink in. Lewis was an unexpected highlight of the recent Netflix documentary “The Greatest Night in Pop,” about the star-studded 1985 session where “We Are the World” was recorded. An everyman rocker, Lewis was amazed (and still is) that he was rubbing elbows with Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner and Bruce Springsteen. He even got to sing the part originally intended for Prince. Now comes the new Broadway show “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” which is not so much a Huey Lewis (and the News) musical as the Huey Lewis of musicals: not taking itself too seriously, doing what it does well, and just happy to be on Broadway, keeping company with starrier productions. Like most jukeboxes, “The Heart of Rock and Roll” shoehorns big hits, ... More

Phyllis Pressman, luxury superstore matriarch, is dead at 95
NEW YORK, NY.- Phyllis Pressman, the matriarch of the family that founded Barneys New York, the discount menswear store turned luxury emporium — and the creator of Chelsea Passage, the store’s home goods bazaar, a pivot point in its evolution from a suit merchant to an elite lifestyle behemoth — died April 16 in Palm Beach, Florida. She was 95. Her death, in a hospice facility, was announced by her son Gene Pressman. Barneys was always a family affair. It was named for Barney Pressman, who in 1923 pawned his wife’s ring, at her encouragement, for $500 to buy the lease of a small store on Seventh Avenue and 17th Street in Manhattan. There, he built an empire selling brand-name suits at cut-rate prices. His son, Fred, who took over in the 1950s, transformed the place into an haute men’s retailer that included ... More

PEN America cancels literary awards ceremony amid Gaza fallout
NEW YORK, NY.- Free expression group PEN America has canceled its 2024 literary awards ceremony following months of escalating protests over the organization’s response to the war in the Gaza Strip, which has been criticized as overly sympathetic to Israel and led nearly half of the prize nominees to withdraw. The event was set to take place April 29 at Town Hall in Manhattan. But in a news release Monday, the group announced that although the prizes would still be conferred, the ceremony would not take place. “We greatly respect that writers have followed their consciences, whether they chose to remain as nominees in their respective categories or not,” the group’s chief officer for literary programming, Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, said in the release. “We regret that this unprecedented situation has taken away the spotlight ... More

For her Met Opera debut, Lileana Blain-Cruz directs 'El Niño'
NEW YORK, NY.- When Peter Gelb, the Metropolitan Opera’s general manager, asked director Lileana Blain-Cruz what she wanted to stage, she didn’t need any time to think about her answer: “El Niño.” A couple of years ago, she had already been hired to direct Missy Mazzoli’s “Lincoln in the Bardo,” an adaptation of the George Saunders novel that will premiere in the 2026-27 season, but Gelb was curious about what else she might be interested in. Long a fan of John Adams and his collaborations with director-librettist Peter Sellars, Blain-Cruz particularly loved their 2000 oratorio “El Niño,” a blending of the Nativity story with ancient and modern texts, like poetry by Rosario Castellanos and Gabriela Mistral. “It makes you weep, and you don’t expect it,” Blain-Cruz said of the piece. “It shook me and stayed in my imagination for ... More

Lourdes Portillo, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker, dies at 80
NEW YORK, NY.- Lourdes Portillo, an Oscar-nominated Mexican-born documentary filmmaker whose work explored Latin American social issues, died Saturday at her home in San Francisco. She was 80. One of Portillo’s best-known works is her 1994 documentary “The Devil Never Sleeps,” a murder-mystery in which she investigates the strange death of her multimillionaire uncle, whose widow claimed he had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In 2020, the Library of Congress selected the film for the National Film Registry. “Using vintage snapshots, old home movies and interviews, the film builds a biographical portrait of Oscar Ruiz Almeida, a Mexican rancher who amassed a fortune exporting vegetables to the United States and went on to become a powerful politician and businessman,” Stephen Holden, a New ... More

Fine Art and Furniture & Decorations Departments lead April Gallery Auction
ALAMEDA, CA.- Michaan’s Auctions April Gallery Auction, held on Friday, April 19th realized a strong sell-through rate as Michaan’s Auctions orchestrated another successful sale for its consigners. The sale was headlined by the Jewelry Department, as its modernist jewelry suite and selections of diamond, gold, and platinum pieces inspired intense action from bidders, while several items from the Furniture and Decorations Department also achieved significant prices. The Jewelry Department was led by a Modernist Henri Leighton 14k Yellow Gold Jewelry Suite a beautiful collection of pieces that reached $9,750 after sustained interest by absentee bidders throughout the week. The department continued its strong showing with the Diamond, 18k White Gold Tennis Bracelet, which reached $5,525, and a Diamond, Platinum Ring, which ... More