Scenes through the Cinema Lens

2011-2012

“Scenes through the Cinema Lens” is a film retrospective focusing
on the performing arts (such as jazz, dance or musical theater)
curated by Krin Gabbard. The viewing includes an informal Q&A.

Krin Gabbard is Professor of Comparative Literature and English at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is the author of Hotter Than That: The Trumpet, Jazz, and American Culture (Faber and Faber, 2008), Jammin’ at the Margins: Jazz and the American Cinema (U of Chicago Press, 1996), Psychiatry and the Cinema (2nd edition, 1998), and Black Magic: White Hollywood and African American Culture (Rutgers U Press, 2004). He has edited two collections for Duke University Press, Jazz Among the Discourses and Representing Jazz (both 1995).

Charlie Chaplin

If you remember the comedies of the Silent Era as nothing but herky-jerky slapstick, take another look. We’ll see some beautifully restored footage of the silent clowns, many of whom were original, even brilliant filmmakers. Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton are the best known, but Charles Chase, Harold Lloyd, Bert Williams, and many others made films that are still as funny as they are ingenious.

Ray Charles

Just in the last few years a treasure trove of video has appeared with great performances by jazz singers. Some of this footage takes us back to early cinema and old concerts, but much of it is recent. This program includes memorable footage of Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Jane Monheit, Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett, Joe Williams, and Anita O’Day.

"Poor Liza is an original, stimulating, and powerful work of dance theatre."
– The Moscow Times
 
Chulpan Khamatova, one of today's most talented and renowned Russian actresses, and Andrey Merkuriev, the leading soloist of the legendary Bolshoi Theater, combine forces onstage in a modern rendition of “Poor Liza,” the Russian classic Nikolay Karamzin’s story of love, seduction, betrayal and social conflict. Showing the immortality and transcendence of these themes through the combination of theatre and dance, this celebrated duo pushes the limits of both in a sophisticated production by the renowned choreographer and stage director Alla Sigalova and composer Leonid Desyatnikov. The play has been nominated for the Russian National Theatre Award “The Golden Mask” and is regarded by public and critics as the most provocative, brave and sophisticated work of theatre arts in recent years. 
 
Liza: Chulpan Khamatova 
 
Erast: Andrey Merkuriev
 
Stage Director & Choreographer: Alla Sigalova
 
Music by Leonid Desyatnikov
 
Set designer: Nikolai Simonov
 
Musical director Alexey Goribol