TRIBECA REVIEW: ‘BAM150′
'The Threepenny Opera' by the Berliner Ensemble at BAM — Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival
The Brooklyn Academy of Music is one of the preeminent institutions of theatrical art in the world. The network of venues, including an opera house, theater, movie theaters and more, is like a watering hole for traveling circuses and caravans of touring theatrical companies. The greatest actors of several generations have graced BAM’s stages, and the success doesn’t appear to be slowing. As I write this review, Jonathan Pryce is camped out at BAM’s Harvey Theatre, offering a celebrated performance in a Harold Pinter play. He follows in the footsteps of Kevin Spacey in Richard III, Cate Blanchett in A Streetcar Named Desire and a multitude of productions featuring dazzling theatricality (many with no celebrity casting).
‘POIROT’ REVIEW: Murder in the Mews
Courtesy of Acorn Media
Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) snoops around 1930s London again in Agatha Christie’s Poirot’s second episode, “Murder in the Mews.” Much like its predecessor, the hour-long TV program jumps right into the case with very few introductions or subtext. We take Poirot at face value: Here’s a Belgian detective with a very small mustache, a stubbornness about his clean, crisp clothes and an uncanny ability to sniff out a mole.
