Attention Tommy, age 8, and sister Erica, age 11! Start badgering your parents and your loving grandpa, Larry Gusick, to take you to the American Museum of Natural History. There’s a killer show there of the latest paleontological (get the dictionary) evidence.
Dinosaurs appeal to all ages and the museum’s fourth floor is filled with them. I was fascinated and as wide-eyed as any youngster with the new exhibition, “Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries.” It sports big videos, interactive installations, a looming T-rex next to a six-foot robotic model displaying biomechanics, and a small predator dug up in Montana by a 14-year-old boy who found the dinosaur bones on his family ranch. Imagine the thrill of discovering something brand-new about a creature that lived millions of years ago – how they lived, moved and behaved.
The first thing you see as you walk into the show is a spectacular full-size cast of T-rex. This cutting-edge exhibition reveals how current thinking about dinosaurs biology has changed dramatically since the time my folks took me as a tot to the American Museum of Natural History – thanks to advanced imaging technology like digital x-rays and cat-scans.
Tommy and Erica, your family might not be able to answer some of your questions. But you might become so-o fascinated by the apparitions from the past that you might consider becoming a dinosaur paleontologist (did you look it up?).
As a P.S., the museum has a Diner Saurus Café with all the foods most children enjoy. The menu includes a “Dino Meal”: Dino chicken nuggets, Dino tater tots and juice or milk. And, don’t worry Grandpa Larry, there are several offerings that you can enjoy too.
Broadway meets ballet – and I’m not referring to Bayonne’s Broadway nor to New York City’s Broadway. Five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman’s latest hit isn’t on Broadway – it’s at the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. What a wonderful surprise!
An homage to the silent film era, “Double Feature” is two shows in one. Up first is a thrilling melodrama – “The Blue Necklace” – set to, surprise, the classic songs by Irving Berlin. You and I probably know them all. Among the songs used are “Let Yourself Go,” Blue Skies,” “Always,” “What’ll I do?” and “Steppin’ Out With My Baby” (plug: the Bayonne Senior Orchestra plays them all!). Director-choreographer Susan Stroman is a genius to have created “Double Feature.”
After the thrilling melodrama comes a raucous, hilarious romp – “Makin’ Whoopee!” – filled with familiar Walter Donaldson tunes: “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby,” “Love Me or Leave Me,” “My Blue Heaven,” “My Buddy” and, of course, “Makin’ Whoopee!” (yes, the Bayonne Senior Orchestra plays all these too but not quite like the 62-piece New York City Ballet Orchestra). As the curtain opens the orchestra launches into a giddy, irresistible rendition of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” with the City Ballet Dancers dressed as chorus girls. The exquisite choreography (thanks to Ms. Stroman) is colorful and engaging – the music the most upbeat and dance-delicious songs in Broadway history. Why? Well, those are the songs that make one want to sing, hum, whistle – songs that make me want to dance.
Susan Stroman’s “Double Feature” is a balletic parody of silent films and the vaudeville stage. The costumes are lavish, the sets inventive. Although this ballet is completely different from anything usually danced by the New York City Ballet, it’s obvious that I enjoyed every minute.
“Saving Face” has a most improbable film plot. I simply never heard a story like this one. Follow this: There’s a love affair between a workaholic surgeon and a ballet dancer. That in itself doesn’t sound so different, does it? But wait! The surgeon is a Chinese-American lesbian – and that’s not all. Her 48-year-old mother is disowned (at 48!) by her deeply traditional Chinese father – and that’s not all. The surgeon’s mother discovers that she is pregnant (at 48!) and refuses to name the father. Having no place to live she ends up staying at the home of her lesbian daughter.
Actually, “Saving Face” is an amiable romantic comedy-drama and a mother-daughter drama. The daughter, while carrying on an affair with the ballet dancer, tries to be that exemplary Chinese daughter with her widowed mother who messes up rather spectacularly. “Saving Face” underlines the strong bond that exists between mother and daughter. Another theme is that it’s never too late to fall in love for the first time. Everybody wants to love.
This movie will resonate with people of every race, gender or film preference. It was my good fortune to see “Saving Face.” I suspect you’ll feel the same way.
Have you had this experience? You go to the box office, stand in line for hours, pay top dollar to see a strongly recommended show and then dislike it just as strongly. That was my disappointing experience at the Lincoln Center Theater where I saw “The Light in the Piazza.” The new musical is based on a 1960 novella from whence also came a 1962 film. I didn’t read the book, but I did see the movie and I did enjoy it.
The story concerns a North Carolina matron holidaying in Florence and Rome in 1953 with her curiously childlike daughter at 26. The play has a seriocomic tone, but I found the music shrill and impossible to understand. The Italian characters speak and sing in Italian (unfortunately, I studied Latin and French!). “The Light in the Piazza” looks and sounds pretty, but confused. I did enjoy the stylish costumes – gorgeous dresses replete with accessories. I did not walk out humming a song.
“In Tune!” is not in tune with the Tonys. It took six awards. In an acceptance speech for best score (!), Adam Guettal said it was the greatest moment of his life. His grandfather would have been proud of him. Who was his grandfather? The Broadway legend Richard Rodgers! My final word: Put on your summer sneakers, but don’t run to see “The Light In The Piazza.”
June Sturz can be reached at intunejune@optonline.net.