David Geffen Donates $100M To Lincoln Center For Remodel Of Avery Fischer Hall

Via the New York Times:

The world of New York high culture was given a surprise dose of glitz on Wednesday, when Lincoln Center announced that David Geffen, the entertainment mogul who has shaped cultural tastes in pop music, art and movies, will donate $100 million to renovate — and rename — Avery Fisher Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic, at Lincoln Center. Mr. Geffen’s gift will help pay for the hall’s gut renovation, which is expected to cost more than $500 million. Although construction is not scheduled to begin until 2019, the building will become David Geffen Hall this September, with the start of the Philharmonic’s 2015-16 season. The hall, built in 1962, has long been viewed as outdated and acoustically problematic. But raising money promised to be a challenge; the family of Avery Fisher had threatened legal action 13 years ago if the concert hall were to be rebuilt or renovated under a new name. That obstacle was overcome in November, when the Fisher family agreed to give up the naming rights with inducements including a $15 million check.

In 2008 David Koch also donated $100M to Lincoln Center and the New York State Theater there now bears his name.

Protests Rock NYC Metropolitan Opera Over The Death Of Klinghoffer Production

Hundreds of protesters swarmed Lincoln Center on Monday night to rage against the Metropolitan Opera's debut of The Death Of Klinghoffer, which is based on the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro and which detractors say is anti-Semitic and glorifies terrorism. Opposition to the show was spurred by right wing sites with Ben Shapiro's Truth Revolt leading the charge. The Death Of Klinghoffer was first performed in Belgium in 1991 and the Met's production is winning rave reviews:

The opening moments establish tribal rivalries between Palestinians, with green flags, and Israelis, with olive trees, in separate scenarios filled with soaring choral work. It sets the stage for simmering tension that is only occasionally interrupted. Performed by a superb cast, the production is anchored by Paulo Szot, who plays the captain. He brings great emotion to the role, in trying unsuccessfully to reason with the terrorists. Sean Panikkar, Aubrey Allicock and Ryan Speedo Green sing the roles of the terrorists with great conviction. Jesse Kovarsky is truly terrifying as the terrorist who pulls the trigger. The roles of Klinghoffer and his wife, Marilyn, are played by Alan Opie, who has a meditative aria following his murder, and Michaela Martens, whose final aria is filled with anguish and loss. She has the last word, and rightly so.

The protest spawned some sharp words between Mayor De Blasio and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who joined the crowd outside Lincoln Center on Monday.

Mayor de Blasio defended the Metropolitan Opera's right to show "The Death of Klinghoffer," and criticized predecessor Rudy Giuliani's protest against the controversial work. "I really think we have to be very careful in a free society to respect that cultural institutions will portray works of art, put on operas, plays, that there will be art exhibits in museum," de Blasio said Monday at an unrelated press conference. "And in a free society we respect that. We don't have to agree with what's in the exhibit but we agree with the right of the artist and the cultural institution to put that forward to the public." De Blasio hit Giuliani's record of cracking down on art he didn't care for. As mayor, Giuliani famously threatened to yank funding for the Brooklyn Museum over its display of an image of the Virgin Mary covered in elephant dung. "The former mayor had a history of challenging cultural institutions when he disagreed with their content. I don't think that's the American way. The American way is to respect freedom of speech. Simple as that," de Blasio said.

The Met posted the below trailer on Sunday.

NEW YORK CITY: Harvey Milk Musical Set For Local Debut At Lincoln Center

Theatermania reports:

Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked) will star alongside composer/lyricist Andrew Lippa (Big Fish) in the New York premiere of Lippa's choral work I Am Harvey Milk on October 6 at Avery Fisher Hall, producers Bruce Cohen, Robb Nanus, Jessica Leventhal, Bruce Robert Harris, and Jack W. Batman have announced. Lippa, the songwriter behind the musicals Big Fish and The Wild Party, will play the title role, with Chenoweth as the soprano soloist. The production will feature the Orchestra of St. Luke's and introduce the 12-member All Star Broadway Men's Chorus. Directed by Noah Himmelstein, the creative team for I Am Harvey Milk includes Joel Fram (musical director, conductor), Michele Lynch (choreographer), Andrew Lazarow (projection design), and Scott Lehrer (sound design).

Tickets for the one-night show at Lincoln Center are available here.  I Am Harvey Milk had its world debut last summer in a concert by the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus.

(Tipped by JMG reader Peter)

Matt Alber Performs At Lincoln Center

Gay crooner Matt Alber performed at Lincoln Center last night and the full concert has been posted on their website.

Valerie Simpson At Lincoln Center

As part of Lincoln Center's free concert series, last night R&B/disco legend and famed songwriter Valerie Simpson performed a tribute show to her late husband Nick Ashford, who passed away a year ago this month. Below Simpson performs what some consider Ashford & Simpson's best song, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, which was first a Top Twenty pop hit for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1967. Three years later Diana Ross' version became her first post-Supremes #1 single. Watching last night's performance, it's hard to believe Valerie Simpson is 66 years old. Singing her late husband's part is R&B performer Ryan Shaw.

RELATED: Tonight's free concert at Lincoln Center is a tribute to recently inducted Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member and pop songwriting legend Laura Nyro, starring Sarah Dash, Nona Hendryx, Melba Moore, Desmond Child & Rouge and many others. The show starts at 6pm because of noise abatement rules for the outdoor stage.

Tonight At Lincoln Center: Free Concert By Nile Rodgers & The Chic Organization

I'd have given you an earlier notice, but I only found out last night. Five or six years ago I was very lucky to attend Chic's 25th anniversary concert at Webster Hall, after which Nile Rodgers generously hung around to sign a million autographs, including one for me. I'm such a huge fan of his, it pains me to single out one example, but let's go with the below stone Chic classic from 1978. (Tragically, Chic bassist Bernard Edwards died in his hotel room shortly after the finish of this 1996 concert in Japan.)

RELATED: For a couple of years Rodgers has been waging a very public battle with prostate cancer, which he chronicles almost daily on his personal blog Walking On Planet C. I check in on it frequently.

Cell Phone Stops Lincoln Center Symphony

New York Philharmonic conductor Alan Gilbert brought Mahler's Ninth to a screeching halt when an audience member allowed his iPhone to continue ringing.

The iPhone marimba ring kept going — and going — until concertgoers pointed out the area where the guilty party sat, a witness said. Finally, a man reached into his pocket and turned off the phone. Gilbert asked him if the device was off and the man nodded. "Mr. Gilbert did what we all wanted to do," said concertgoer Sarah Newman-Strauss, 57. "This man was incredibly rude! He wouldn’t even confess until it became unbearable." Concertgoers shouted "get him out of here!" and "take his tickets!" Newman-Strauss said.

The audience then gave Gilbert a standing ovation. If I was seated in Avery Fisher Hall and my phone made the slightest chirp, I'd die on the spot.

Philip Glass Addresses OWS

After the conclusion of his opera Satyagraha, last night minimalist composer Philip Glass exited Lincoln Center to address a gathered crowd of Occupy Wall Street protesters. OWS stressed that they were not there to specifically diss Glass' opera. Instead the protest was directed "at a certain disparity between its lofty moral message and the machinery of corporate arts funding." (I should note that Lincoln Center recently remodeled after a $100M gift from oil baron David Koch.) Also addressing the crowd was rock legend Lou Reed, who was there with his wife Laurie Anderson. (Tipped by JMG reader Will)


UNRELATED: Here's my all-time favorite Glass composition from his 1986 classic Songs From Liquid Days. Lyrics by Paul Simon, vocals by Bernard Fowler. It's about a refrigerator! It went hmmmmm.

ALSO UNRELATED: Bernard Fowler was a member of the famed gay disco group, Peech Boys, whom you oldsters may recall for their big club hit, Don't Make Me Wait. Peech Boys formed on the dance floor of NYC's legendary Paradise Garage and included DJ Larry Levan as a member.

Afternoon View - Lincoln Center

SLIDESHOW: Broadway Backwards 5

On Monday night, official JMG staff photographer Dr. Jeff and I attended Broadway Backwards 5, the annual gender-reversal fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the NYC LGBT Center in which songs are performed by the opposite sex for whom they were written. Over 50 Broadway singers, dancers and a galaxy of Tony winners and nominees blew away the sold out house at Lincoln Center in a show that by turns was moving, hilarious, and (as always) slightly raunchy. The show's host, Florence Henderson, was a nonstop delight. But it seems a shame that Broadway Backwards is only once a year, it's so incredibly well done that it could easily run as a mainstream Broadway show.

Dr. Jeff's fantastic work is in the below slideshow, which is in the order of the evening from performances to after party. (Except for the first photo of ensemble member Ward Billeisen, the furry cub singer/dancer who (surprise!) rather captivated Dr. Jeff and I every time he was on stage. Watch out for him, he's gonna be major.) I've captioned the numbers by title and the show from which it came. (Full screen photos are here.) Watch out for some hot TV mom-on-TV mom action! And TV mom-on-TV daughter muff-diving! SRSLY! At the after party, Dr. Jeff knew the caterers from bear nightlife, one of whom revealed that he'd missed Blowoff on Friday in order to stay home and decoupage the Broadway Backwards logo onto the serving trays. I love my people.

Swag Tuesday

Courtesy of the Tectonic Theater Project, today's Swag Tuesday prize is two tickets to the October 12th performance of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later at NYC's Lincoln Center.

The groundbreaking epilogue to the Laramie Project, titled THE LARAMIE PROJECT: 10 YEARS LATER, will be performed in New York at Lincoln Center and over 150 other theaters across the country on October 12, 2009. The Lincoln Center premiere will feature a pre-show that will be webcast live to the other productions and include guest host Glenn Close, welcoming remarks by Judy Shepard and a post-production Q and A moderated by National Public Radio Arts and Culture correspondent Neda Ulabay.

“We now have over 150 theaters participating in this historic event and are thrilled to be joined by Judy Shepard, Glenn Close and our other special guests at the NY premiere” said Greg Reiner, Executive Director of the Tectonic Theater Project. “The interest and enthusiasm that the epilogue is receiving is very exciting and demonstrates to us the power the Shepard story still holds for people, as part of our collective history and as a lesson to all about homophobia, what is means to be gay in a small town and how stories must be re-told to ensure that the legacy of these kinds of incidents is correct,” continued Reiner. “The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later will engage the audience as did the original, and we expect there will be many who are surprised to learn what Laramie is like a decade after Matt’s murder,” concluded Reiner. The writers of this play are Tectonic Theater Project members Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris, and Stephen Belber.

Tickets to the event at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall are a very reasonable $100. Get tickets here. Enter to win two tickets by commenting on this post. Only enter once and please remember to leave your email address in the text of your comment. If you cannot be in NYC on October 12th, your winning entry is transferable to another party. Entries close at midnight Wednesday, west coast time. Publicists: If you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.

Daily Grumble

Seriously, Lincoln Center?

Preservationists who have voiced concern over the changes being made to Lincoln Center in its redevelopment may be alarmed to learn about one in particular: The centerpiece of the performing arts complex, its plaza fountain, is not only being replaced, but its water effects are now being “choreographed” as well. The firm doing it is also responsible for a water extravaganza set to Broadway, pop and operatic tunes at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas and the nearby volcano of water, fire and light outside the MGM Mirage.

The original fountain was designed by Philip Johnson, no less. And the mallification of NYC continues.

Salome At The Met

Last night Aaron and I attended opening night of Salome at the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. I know less than zero about opera, so all I had to go on was a quick glance at the Playbill synopsis before the chandeliers went up. It was all in German, so with my seatback subtitle thingy, here's what I got:

-Slutty princess gets bored at stepdad and mom's fancy cocktail party at the Apple Store
-Slutty princess sings to man in well who calls her mom a ho
-Slutty princess does a strip-tease for stepdad, shows titties
-Slutty princess asks stepdad to kill the man in the well for dissing her
-Slutty princess makes sweet necrophiliatic love to severed head of man in well
-Slutty princess killed by freaked out stepdad

The Met's production is set in the present day, so the one thing from the opera that I knew about, The Dance Of The Seven Veils, was more like The Dance Of The Two Hermes Scarves. I guess I enjoyed it, but mostly for the orchestra, not the songs by Salome, as I find opera sung by women to be rather shrieky. However, the audience went all ape shit for the title lead, Karita Mattila, bringing her back for several curtain calls (although by the fourth time, I was like, "she's milking it."). Anway, it was short, with no intermission, and the severed-head-love was nicely freaky. The show runs through October 16th.