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Carrying Around a Soda Can Poured with Rotgut

An Interview with Kent Russell, Author of “I am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son” Published by Alfred Knopf

“I am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son,” Kent Russell’s irresistibly engaging debut collection of essays, intertwined with personal history, is easily one of the best books of the past year. In a uniquely homespun, yet masterfully polished voice (think Mark Twain meets Joan Didion) Russell has us from the book’s title, which is actually a quotation from Daniel Boone, whose presence and notions of masculinity set a template of sorts for the essays and reflections that follow. Mixing autobiography (in particular, the Turgenev-esque healing of wounds – or at least Mexican stand-off – between father and son) with such wide-ranging topics as a stay on a remote island with a present-day Robinson Crusoe and a visit with a former hockey enforcer looking back on his bruiser’s life, Russell merges erudite insight with highly-developed powers of observation.

Born and raised in Florida, Russell now lives in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. He’s become a confirmed Brooklynite.

On a frigid and overcast January afternoon, at lunch in Fort Greene’s Cafe Paulette, I begin our conversation by asking Russell how he came to live in Brooklyn.

KR: I moved to New York to go to NYU’s Graduate School of Journalism. My sisters Lauren and Karen [Note: Karen Russell is the wildly inventive and prodigiously gifted author of Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove] were living in Washington Heights. Because I got a job at Yeshiva University, I stayed in Washington Heights until I decided to focus on my writing and moved to Brooklyn.

Eagle: Are you part of the Brooklyn Literary Mafia: Amis, Auster, Egan, Lethem, et al.?

KR: Truthfully, no. I mean I’m certainly aware of them and I know they live in Brooklyn, but I tend to hang mostly with fellow ex-Floridians. It’s a very small diaspora. I teach a course at Columbia so, of course, I have colleagues and acquaintances on campus. And friends in Brooklyn. But my inner radar seems to always point me in the direction of folks from my home state.

Eagle: You write about, to put it mildly, some fairly eccentric people. It would have been so easy to have ridiculed them, to have hoisted them on their own petards. But you scrupously, and generously, avoid this. How did you resist the temptation?

KR: Actually, since I’m not someone who’s usually forthcoming, I feel a sense of responsibilty when writing about others. My starting point is always to ask questions. Whenever you report something — especially when it’s something about someone else’s life, about their more intimate stuff — you become like a simpering [talk show] host insofar as you want to make the subject feel as though you’re here for them only, you’re their closest confidante in the world and, oh yeah, don’t worry about the live studio audience all around us. It’s a lot like what Janet Malcolm elucidated in the first few pages of “The Journalist and the Murderer.” I don’t have a performative persona; I like to observe and just be open to the world. One of my literary heroes in that regard is Montaigne.

Eagle: Your use of metaphors (“feet slow as Christmas.” “like raised hands eager to ask a question”), adjectives (“gnatty drizzle,” “peep yellow”) and verbs (“ragdolling,” “Pollock’ed”) is truly astounding. How do you come up with these?

KR: My sister Karen and I joke about who can come up with the best adjectives. We usually run neck and neck. One source I’ve discovered for some of this stuff is a three volume dictionary of American slang. I’m always trying to top myself.

Eagle: You may have done it with “that sounds about as feasible as squeezing it off mid-pee.”

KR: (Laughing) I don’t know how I come up with some of this stuff. When you ask me me about these one-liners and bon-mots and crazy metaphors, I guess it makes me think of sword fighters. Like, I am obviously not a sword fighter, nor have I ever been one. But I imagine that the best, most fluid, most reactive and most dangerous sword fighter is the one who isn’t worried about getting hurt. You know? The one whose head is empty, who can just “flow.” That’s the state I aspire to when I’m writing.

Eagle: Growing up, were you an avid reader. And who, and what, did you read?

KR: Everyone in our family read voraciously – and eclectically. My mom would read self-help books, followed by deep, intellectual tomes, followed by pulp thrillers. Karen read so much that she would be like Mr. Magoo, walking into things with a book in her hand. She’d be reading the cereal box at breakfast. Also, every Friday our mom would take the three of us to the local Borders and tell us to pick out three books. It didn’t have to be the canon; it could be any book, by any author. Our tastes and interests were wide-ranging and I believe this enriched our writing – and our lives.

Eagle: Finally, the cover of your book is so droll and apropos. [Note: the book’s cover is a photo of Russell wearing a sandwich board with the title hand-lettered on a sandwich board.] Whose idea was it?

KR: The brains behind the cover was Peter Mendelsund. You should Google some of his other covers; you’ll see that the dude is a legit master. I was more than a little skeptical about his idea, but he seemed very sure of it, so I went with it. I knew well enough to give an artist his freedom, and to trust in his vision. Plus, he orchestrated my first (and most likely last) photo shoot!

A Review: ‘Reporting Always: Writings from The New Yorker’

Lillian Ross reporting on the set of John Huston’s “The Red Badge of Courage,” outside Los Angeles, 1950. Credit: Silvia Reinhardt

When I was a teenager and my father realized the true extent of my passion for the movies, he gave me a slim paperback titled simply “Picture.” The author was Lillian Ross. I’d read Arthur Knight and Manny Farber and Bosley Crowther and Stanley Kaufman, and, of course, Pauline Kael. But Ross was new to me. After reading the book, which many consider the best book ever written about the making of a motion picture, I never again missed an opportunity to read anything by Lillian Ross. (Who, not incidentally, while born in Syracuse, was raised in Brooklyn.)

Now, with the publication of “Reporting Always: Writings from The New Yorker,” with a forward by The New Yorker’s editor, David Remnick, we have the opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with the work of Ms. Ross — and to make new discoveries. For me, without doubt, the best of these discoveries is her droll and deadpan profile of the larger-than-life Brooklynite Sidney Franklin, titled “El Unico Matador.” (Not incidentally, this was Ross’s first New Yorker profile that appeared under her own byline.)

At first glance, Franklin, born Stanley Frumpkin in 1903 into an Orthodox Jewish family that had fled Imperial Russia for America in 1888, seems too outlandish to be true. The son of an NYPD cop (who was assigned to Brooklyn’s 78th Precinct), a closeted gay man (interestingly, the Eagle, which closely chronicled Franklin’s rise, was, in the 1840s, edited by another closeted male, Walt Whitman), a student of the legendary matador Rodolfo Gaona and friends with, among others, writer Barnaby Conrad, film director Budd Boetticher and James Dean (a great aficionado of bullfighting), Franklin went on to have an improbable, extraordinary life. The deeper one gets into Ross’s article, the more one realizes what a fantastic story she is telling. (In fact, in his biography of Hemingway, with whom Franklin had a fraught friendship, A.E. Hotchner writes that “Lillian Ross’s career with The New Yorker was founded on the success of her profile of the bullfighter Sidney Franklin.”)

Lillian Ross and Robin Williams, shortly after the release of “Good Morning, Vietnam” in 1987. Credit: Arthur Grace

As Ross recounts, Franklin became a matador after running away from home to Mexico. He fought bulls in Spain, Portugal, Colombia, Panama and Mexico. In “Death in the Afternoon,” Hemingway wrote of Franklin that “[He is] brave with a cold, serene and intelligent valor but instead of being awkward and ignorant he is one of the most skillful, graceful and slow manipulators of a cape fighting today.”

The reader quickly realizes that Ross is captivated by Franklin; where other reporters might have been barbed and mocking, Ross gives Franklin the benefit of the doubt. Even Franklin’s own sympathetic biographer, Bart Paul, notes that “El Torero de la Torah” (as his legion of Spanish fans dubbed him) was prone to exaggeration and tall tales. Wisely, Ross lets Franklin do most of the talking: “It’s all a matter of first things first. I was destined to taste the first, and the best, on the list of walks of life … I was destined to shine. It was a matter of noblesse oblige.”

On April 10, 1949, the Brooklyn Eagle published a story on Sidney Franklin, “Brooklyn’s own Matador de Toros.” Copyright © 2015 Newspapers.com

Noblesse oblige is a term that Franklin uses a lot. Once, while watching a bullfight in Mexico, he was seated next to a British psychiatrist. They had a conversation, captured by Ross, straight out of Lewis Carroll, by way of Groucho Marx:

“While a dead bull was being dragged out of the ring, Franklin turned to the psychiatrist. ‘Say, Doc, did you ever get into the immortality of the crab?’ he asked. The psychiatrist admitted that he had not, and Franklin said that nobody knew the answer to that one. He then asked the psychiatrist what kind of doctor he was. Mental and physiological, the psychiatrist said. ‘I say the brain directs everything in the body,’ Franklin said. It’s all a matter of what’s in your mind.’ ‘You’re something of a psychosomaticist,’ said the psychiatrist. ‘Nah, all I say is if you control your brain, your brain controls the whole works.’ The psychiatrist asked if the theory applied to bullfighting. ‘You’ve got something there, Doc,’ said Franklin. `Bullfighting is basic. It’s a matter of life and death. People come to see you take long chances. It’s life’s biggest gambling game. Tragedy and comedy are so close together they’re part of each other. It’s all a matter of noblesse oblige.’”

Lillian Ross, Ernest Hemingway and his sons, Gregory and Patrick, in Ketchum, Idaho, 1947. Credit: Mary Hemingway

Who but Ross could have captured that? And then, with impeccable reportorial instincts, gotten out of the way? One also realizes that, in many ways, she set the template for a certain New Yorker style. (The Franklin profile was written in 1949.) The hallmarks of this style are bemusement, curiosity, meticulous attention to detail and, especially refreshing in our age of internet-fueled snark, generosity. It would have been so easy to mock Franklin; Ross never took that bait.

Lillian Ross and J.D. Salinger in Central Park in the late ’60s with Erik Ross, Matthew Salinger and Peggy Salinger. Courtesy of Lillian Ross

By email, I ask Remnick about the Franklin piece in particular and Ross’s reportorial prowess in general.

“The Sidney Franklin profile is one of my favorites. You don’t find many Brooklyn bullfighters these days. There must be something in the kale or the air or something. It doesn’t matter. What was so wonderful about Lillian’s piece, and all of her pieces, was her eye for a story and her ear for the way people tell them. She remains a master.”

Lillian Ross and Wallace Shawn on the streets of New York in the 1960s. Courtesy of Lillian Ross

Even when she is profiling (in “How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?,” written in 1950) someone with as huge a target on his back as Ernest Hemingway, Ross never takes a cheap shot. From Remnick’s Introduction: “To her astonishment and Hemingway’s, some readers thought the piece was a hatchet job, a work of aggression that besmirched the reputation of a great literary artist. Which seemed ridiculous to both writer and subject. Hemingway and Ross had become close, and he went to great lengths to reassure her of their enduring friendship: ‘All are very astonished because I don’t hold anything against you who made an effort to destroy me and nearly did, they say,’ he told her. ‘I can always tell them, how can I be destroyed by a woman when she is a friend of mine and we have never even been to bed and no money has changed hands?’ His advice to her was clear: ‘Just call them the way you see them and the hell with it.’”

Ross took Hemingway’s advice, and for the past 65 years and counting, she’s never approached her craft any other way. How fortunate we are to have this new collection (which also includes profiles of Fellini, Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench) — and to have this diminutive dynamo (it’s hard to get that Franklin patois out of my head) still out there with pad and pencil. Somehow, I’m sure she doesn’t use a Tablet.

Lillian Ross, John Huston and Audie Murphy on the set of John Huston’s “The Red Badge of Courage,” outside Los Angeles, 1950. Credit: Silvia Reinhardt

Prospect Heights Resident and New York City Opera Legend, Don Yule Passes Away

MEISTERSINGER. Photo credit, Beth Bergman — Meistersinger – Photo credit, Beth Bergman

Don Yule was born in Enid, Oklahoma on January, 21st, 1935 and passed away in Brooklyn, N.Y. on July 3, 2015. He was born Donnie Elton Yule to Dr. Arthur Harry Yule and Izell Warren Yule. </br>
He was a popular member of New York City Opera for more than fifty years and a talented artist. Yule was considered an essential part of the core company, participating in more than a thousand performances. He studied Music Performance at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Don Yule began his career with New York City Opera as a bass in the chorus in 1960 and later as a comprimario artist. His talent as a character actor was discernible from the start. He debuted as Gluttony in Six Characters in Search of an Author, starring Beverly Sills and the orchestra conducted by General Director Julius Rudel. Yule sang in several languages, including Italian, French and Russian. His roles also varied, from comedy to drama. He played both the drunken landlord Benoit and the thwarted lover Alcindoro, in La Boheme and the sinister jailer in Tosca. His most memorable roles were that of the emperor in Turandot and multiple parts in Candide.

While on tour with New York City Opera, Yule performed in Los Angeles; Saratoga, N.Y.; and the upper Northeast and Midwest of the U.S., as well as in countries such as Taiwan and Japan. Yule also performed in New York City Opera’s summer musicals and in Gilbert and Sullivan at the City Center of Music.(The Mikado being one of his favorite roles).

Marriage of Figaro - Photo credit, Beth Bergman — Marriage of Figaro – Photo credit, Beth Bergman

Earlier in his career, Yule performed at Town and Country Musicals in East Rochester, N.Y., where he met his first wife, Christine Chernis Brandt.

He sang with Turnau Opera in Woodstock, N.Y. and Sarasota, Fla. His roles included Colline in La Boheme and Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia. He also performed with Central City Opera and Santa Fe Opera. Don Yule was the President of the American Guild of Musical Artists for five years. It is a labor organization that represents the men and women who create America’s operatic, choral and dance heritage.

During his second marriage, to Jaye Adams, Yule resided in Brooklyn, N.Y., with their son Seth. One of Don’s hobbies was collecting and repairing antique clocks and he found a kindred spirit in Aldo Mancusi from the Enrico Caruso Museum of America which Don visited. Don was an avid collector of music-related classical treasures. His collection included antique Victrola’s and rare operatic recordings that he loved to share with his colleagues.

Yule often donated performances with Maestro Vincent La Selva’s New York Grand Opera in Central Park, at The Brooklyn Academy of Music with The Brooklyn Philharmonic and Brooklyn’s Regina Opera Company. Many young singers from both the United States and abroad got a grounding in the American classical tradition with these wonderful companies. Yule shared his wisdom and knowledge of musical history with grateful newcomers and assisted them in establishing themselves here. Every summer he and other veteran singers enabled novices to garner their first reviews by singing with them as part of their presentations. During his long and busy career, Yule also sang in several New York City churches and synagogues.

Nine Rivers from Jordan, Photo credit - Beth Bergman — Nine Rivers from Jordan, Photo credit – Beth Bergman

Of interest, Yule was a third cousin on his father’s side to Mickey Rooney, whose birth name was Joe Yule.

Don Yule is survived by his son, Seth, and two former wives, Jaye Adams of Palm Beach, Fla., and Christine Chernis Brandt of Asheville, N.C.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be donated in Don Yule’s memory to the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, c/o the IU Foundation, P.O Box 500, Bloomington, IN 47402.

Martina Arroyo Foundation Celebrates its 11th Annual Gala

The Martina Arroyo Foundation on Monday, November 16^th celebrated its 11^th Anniversary of Prelude to Performance. The gala was held at the JW Marriott Essex House in New York City. This was a night to remember, when the worlds of music and fashion merged to form a special magic with an excitement of its own.

Soprano legend Martina Arroyo & Fashion Designer Joanna Mastroianni Photo by Jen Joyce Davis — Soprano legend Martina Arroyo & Fashion Designer Joanna Mastroianni. Photo by Jen Joyce Davis

Brian Kellow, Features Editor of Opera News and bestselling author and radio WQXR evening’s host Terrance McKnight, lent their abundant charm as co-hosts and introduced many distinguished guests in the audience. Gala Producer Midge Woolsey led us in a brief moment of silence for the victims of Paris. The Michel Maurel Award was given to Ernst Rieser, longtime friend, adviser and personal assistant to Mme. Arroyo. Martina Arroyo looking resplendent in a burgundy gown presented the award named after her late much loved husband.

Martina Arroyo also presented an award to honored guest,Artistic Director Ted Sperling of MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale). He then conducted the chorale in a brief magical piece from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with angelic purity of tone.

The operatic portion then began with “The Flower Duet” from Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini. Brandie Sutton, soprano and Hyona Kim, mezzo blended their voices beautifully. Ms. Sutton is a soprano of radiant promise. Ms. Kim’s majestic mezzo mellowness was alluring. Akari Weintzen was an adorable “Trouble,”(Butterfly and Pinkerton’s child) and performed her tasks with deft professionalism. This was a poignant segment beautifully done. Their tossing of the blossoms to prepare for Pinkerton’s arrival melted the heart.

Jennifer Rowley, sang “Pace, Pace, Mio Dio from Giuseppe Verdi’s La Forza del Destino. Ms. Rowleys opening note was held seemingly forever reaching fortissimo and then diminishing to a whisper. A true Verdi soprano, Ms. Rowley went from strength to strength as if combating the caprices of destiny with prayerful defiance. Her “Maledizione’s” were individually spine chilling. Jennifer Rowley made a successful Metropolitan Opera debut as Musetta last year.

Dinner was served and the program continued with international rising tenor Michele Angelini, who was born in Brooklyn-why not? So were legendary tenor Richard Tucker and baritone Robert Merrill. Angelini thrilled us with a powerful interpretation of “Ah! mes amis” from Donizetti’s La Fille du regiment. The 9 high “C’s” were hammered out with insouciance, grit and charm.

Sadie & Met Opera Baritone Mark Rucker Photo by Jen Joyce Davis

Brian Kellow then presented an award gift to Greek born Joanna Mastroianni whose fashion collections reflect her sense of style and elegance. A brief film was shown of her designs accompanied by the haunting voice of Maria Callas singing “Eben” from Catalani’s La Wally.

An auction followed with a real auctioneer-Angelo K. H. Chan! Some of the auction gifts were: a week in the Palais de Paris dans Le Marais, tenor Michele Angelini for an evening of singing, famed Italian Parisian chef Paolo Petrini for a private dinner for eight, and a “poker” night with Martina Arroyo, Marilyn Horne and Tyne Daly were among the highlights!

The Act Two lesson scene from La Fille du Regiment was then performed. Claire Coolen used her saucy soprano and comedic timing and versatility with humor and elan. Karolina Pilou used her dark, plummy and pliable mezzo with great aplomb along with Michele Angelini’s exciting tenor and Jacopo Buora’s resonant bass baritone, put them in a pot and a brilliantly funny brew ensues!

After coffee, tea and desserts and closing remarks from Brian Kellow and Terrance McKnight an “extra dessert” followed. Soprano Cecilia Violetta Lopez, who caused a sensation as Violetta in Prelude to Performance in 2014, sang the “Csardas” from Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus. Ms. Lopez‘s flourishes, scales and exciting coloratura took us on a roller coaster ride that ended with a sustained high note and brought down the house. It was a rousing finale from a young and gifted singer. The exceptional accompanists were Lloyd Arriola and Noby Ishida.

Metropolitan Opera baritone Mark Rucker who coaches the awardees, and his wife Sadie (Publicity) have given their all since the conception of Prelude to Performance and deserve great kudos.

Composer/Singer Rufus Wainwright with fashion designer Joanna Mastroianni, Judy & Nino Pantano. Photo by Jen Joyce Davis

Our table was graced by Gerda Lissner President Stephen De Maio with Board of Directors Michael Fornabaio, Karl Michaelis, Joyce Greenberg, also Gloria Gari from The Giulio Gari Foundation, Maestro Eve Queler, Robert Lombardo famed vocal agent, soprano Barbara Ann Testa vocal judge, Cavaliere Edward Jackson, and we greeted F. Paul Driscoll, Editor of Opera News, Sachi Liebergesell, President of the Licia Albanese–Puccini Foundation, Murray Rosenthal from Opera Index, Maestro Stephen Phebus and Linda Howes were also present.

Tenor Michele Angelini Photo by Jen Joyce Davis

It was a pleasure to meet Rufus Wainwright (Benefit Committee) composer/musician who had a huge success at The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) with his opera Prima Donna as well as fashion honoree, Joanna Mastroianni. Famed coloratura soprano Harolyn Blackwell was as perky and vital as when she sang an unforgettable “Oscar” in Verdi’s Ballo in Maschera with Luciano Pavarotti at The Metropolitan Opera. This was a night of good friends, good food, great singing and all the good and beautiful things in life. Thanks to Gala Chair Cecilia Teng, Gala Producer Midge Woolsey and co-chairs Donna and Richard Esteves and Andrew Martin-Weber.

Soprano Jennifer Rawley. Photo by Jen Joyce Davis.

Martina Arroyo, magnificent Metropolitan Opera and international soprano, human being and humanitarian fully deserved her recent honor at the Kennedy Center. Madame Arroyo’s work with young promising opera singers is through her Foundation in its Prelude to Performance at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College. This program prepares the winners with scholarships plus a stipend for six weeks of study and presents them in four fully costumed productions with orchestra. In July 2016, Prelude to Performance will present two performances each of Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss and Puccini’s La Boheme. This also provides the true antidote for the evils in the world by letting the indelible imprint of enlightenment through music enter.

Soprano Cecilia Violetta Lopez Photo by Jen Joyce Davis

Thanks to the Martina Arroyo Foundation, opera will continue to thrive as young singers are granted the opportunities to perform and offer their special gifts to the world.

Opera Index Presents Their Annual Membership Buffet & Recital

Pianist Michael Fennelly, Maya Yahav Gour, Alexa Jarvis, Sean Michael Plumb, President Jane Shaulis, Galeano Salas & Sol Jin. Photo by Judy Pantano.

On the evening of Thursday, November 11^th, Opera Index held its annual membership buffet and recital at The Community Church of New York in Murray Hill. It also welcomed its new President, Metropolitan Opera mezzo soprano Jane Shaulis who in turn greeted the enthusiastic audience. We were treated to the vocal talents of five award winners of the Opera Index 2015 vocal competition.

Galeano Salas sang “Che gelida manina” from Puccini’s La boheme. Salas has youth and ardor and also is the possessor of a truly fine tenor. There are moments when his voice is restrained but suddenly there is a transition to a brilliant top. His beautiful singing of Che gelida manina had many golden moments and ended sweetly. His later encore of the Mario Lanza hit (1953)”Because You’re Mine” was sung with freshness, elan and a ringing finale. His glorious singing of “Jurame” brought back memories of tenor Alfredo Krauss, with its passion and ringing high C’s. Salas and soprano Alexa Jarvis shook the rafters with their final high C in “O soave fanciulla” from Puccini’s La boheme. It was a wonderful “extra”encore.

Maya Yahav Gour is a mezzo from Tel Aviv. Her singing of “La romance de l’etoile” by Chabrier revealed a voice with a vibrant smoky sound. She has good interpretive instincts but a delicate quality best suited for operatic rarities. Ms. Gour sings a lot of jazz as well. Her encore of “Smoke gets in your eyes” needs a more intimate venue to be more fully appreciated.

Meche Kroop, Barbara & David Bender with President Jane Shaulis. Photo by Judy Pantano.

Sol Jin baritone sang an impassioned “Avant de quitter ces lieux” from Gounod’s Faust with a stunning optional high note and a strong finale. His encore was a Korean love song with beautiful melody wonderfully sung.

Maestro Eve Queler, Cesare Santeramo, Dr. Robert Campbell & Robert Steiner. Photo by Judy Pantano.

Alexa Jarvis used her crisp powerful soprano in “Stridono lassu” from Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci. She had fine portamentos and coloratura with a ringing finale. Ms. Jarvis encore was a touching “Someone to watch over me” (I guess Canio wasn’t good enough?)

Sean Michael Plumb, winner of the Opera Index award for 2015, sang a dazzling “Pierrot’s Tanzlied” from Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt. His beautiful baritone caressed the words and his pianissimi were heavenly. The superb accompanist was Michael Fennelly.

We then all lined up for a terrific dinner brought in by members. Like the lasagna which we devoured, the evening consisted of multi layered goodies.

We thank the new President Jane Shaulis, Executive Director Joseph Gasperec, Vice President Philip Hagemann, Treasurer Murray Rosenthal and Board member John Metcalfe, Stephen De Maio from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, trustee, Karl Michaelis and countless friends who make this Opera Index celebration one of the year’s great events. Special kudos to Maestros Eve Queler and Stephen Phebus, with wife Linda Howes, David Bender and Barbara Meister Bender from Career Bridges, Ken Benson opera manager and Met Opera soprano legend Elinor Ross. Other notables and several donors were Doris Keeley, Meche Kroop, Cesare Santeramo and Dr. Robert Campbell. Professor poet Cavaliere Edward Jackson, Brooklynites Bill Ronayne President of the Mario Lanza Society and Lois Kirschenbaum (opera’s number one fan) also added to the festivities.

The Opera Index celebration was truly a “moveable feast” and the memory will endure until at least next year’s annual musical and edible incredible party!

William Goodhue, Treasurer Murray Rosenthal, Bill Ronayne & Vice President Philip Hagemann. Photo by Judy Pantano

Classic Lyric Arts Presents Fall Benefit Gala

Glenn Morton (bottom center with blue tie) and emerging opera singers. Photo by Yifu Chien

On the evening of Thursday, November 5th, Classic Lyric Arts held its Fall Benefit Gala at the Kosciuszko Foundation located at 15 East 65th Street in New York City. Under the direction of Artistic Director Glenn Morton, this organization helps promote L’Art du Chant Francais (The Art of French Singing) as well as La Lingua della Lirica (The Language of Opera). Glenn Morton spoke eloquently about the goals and objectives of Classic Lyric Arts and then introduced the young singers.

Mikaela Bennett sang a superlative “Musetta’s Waltz” or “Quando me vo” from Puccini’s La boheme, in a sparkling soaring saucy soprano.

Kady Evanyshyn’s luscious mezzo enthralled with “Connais tu le pays” from Mignon by Ambroise Thomas. Ms. Evanyshyn has a velvety sound that carries well and does justice to the french style.

Vincent Festa sang “Ah! Mes amis” from Donizetti’s La fille du regiment with joyous abandon, his smooth and mellow tenor entering the high C stratosphere with ease.

This was followed by “Tutte le feste al tempio” from Verdi’s Rigoletto with Larisa Martinez and Suchan Kim. Ms. Martinez possesses a radiant and poignant soprano that blended perfectly with Mr. Kim’s warm and spirited baritone.They gave us some lovely and visceral delights.

A true musical surprise was a thrilling rendition of a rarity Youkali by Kurt Weil as sung by Vera Kremers. It is marked “Tango Habanera” and I thought of the late exotic film soprano Ilona Massey or Zara Leander in some exotic cabaret. Ms. Kremer is the possessor of a stunning dark hued mezzo soprano with a volcanic top that erupts Wagnerian gold! The program notes tell us “Youkali, the land of our desires, happiness and pleasure, where we have no worries, only hope and love. Alas Youkali is a folly, a dream-there is no Youkali.”

Dorothy Gal, operatic humorist gave her reflections on the art of opera and how it applied to her and had the audience laughing.

The Quartet from Puccini’s La boheme was reenacted and sung with gusto featuring soprano Nadia Petrella as a touching Mimi, Mikaela Bennett, as a sprightly Musetta, Matt Greenblatt as Rodolfo and the Marcello of Bret Thom. Mr. Greenblatt possesses a solid powerful tenor and Bret an exceptional warm round baritone. How joyful to hear all four young outstanding voices in this opera about the lives young bohemians in Paris!

Gon Halevi and Jordan Rutter know how to handle Handel. Their duet “Va godendo/Io le diro” from Handel’s Xerxes was sublime. Each was a counter tenor to savor with a strong assist from soprano Aedin Larkin. All sang with clarity and dexterity and some exceptional coloratura. Recommended listening is Enrico Caruso’s beautiful recording of “Ombra Mai Fu” from Xerxes. (1920)

“Un bel di” from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly received a heartfelt rendition by soprano Tamara Rusque. Hers is a voice of power, precision and passion with a dark quality to her lovely sound. Ms. Rusque ascended to the finale on a wave of tears and hope!

Glenn Morton gave a brief inspired talk on Classic Lyric Arts and is truly a disciple of the joys of opera! Two surprises followed: a popular Mandarin love song was sung as a duet “The moon represents my heart,” composed by Weng Ching-hsi and was hauntingly sung by Dongling Gao and Jia Jun Hong.

The finale was the”New York, New York” song from Bernstein’s On the Town with the females in the cast as flirtatious enticements. Tenor Matt Greenblatt, baritone Bret Thom and Jon Thierer were the fabulous ebullient sailors- they sang their all! The splendid pianist accompanists to the singers were Jie-Li, Laetitia Ruccolo, Michael Sheetz, Lochlan Brown, Michael Stewart and Weng Chi-his.The great Leonard Bernstein(1918-1990) is buried in Brooklyn’s Greenwood Cemetery along with a composer he championed, Louis Moreau Gottschalk. (1829-1869)

The reception continued with wines, fruits, cheeses and desserts. It was nice to meet and greet President Steve De Maio, Cornelia Beigel and Joyce Greenberg from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, Maestro Eve Queler, Gloria Gari from The Giulio Gari Foundation, Al and Christine Palladino from The Columbus Citizens Foundation, Arturo Callegari, vocal teacher and his brother famed Maestro Joseph Callegari, Ken Benson who is Vice President of Classic Lyric Arts as well as an opera manager chatting with Brooklyn’s Bill Ronayne from the Mario Lanza Society and sparkling soprano Elaine Malbin, Lou Barrella, opera lecturer and Verdi filmmaker August Ventura. We were truly thankful to have met some of these up and coming talented and youthful artists who were “the icing on the cake.” They were the real desserts at the reception. We thank Glenn Morton, Artistic Director for his splendid efforts on their behalf. Bravo to All!

An Affinity of Blood and Lust: An Interview with Helen Edmundson

Helen Edmundson. Photo by Richard Olivier

On Feb. 21, 1948, at the Brooklyn Little Theater on Hanson Place, a production of “Therese,” adapted from Emile Zola’s 1867 novel “Thérèse Raquin,” opened for a limited run. It was a brave move for the Little Theater; the premiere of this adaption had occurred three years before in 1945 at the Biltmore Theater on Broadway. Starring the grande dame of the American stage, Eva LeGalliene, as Therese; Victor Jory as Laurent, her lover and partner in murder; and Dame May Whitty (well-known to American film audiences for playing Miss Froy in Hitchcock’s “The Lady Vanishes” and Lady Beldon in William Wyler’s “Mrs. Miniver”) as the formidable Madame Raquin, the play was not well received, both critically and commercially.

Now, a new adaptation by the esteemed English playwright Helen Edmundson, starring Keira Knightley in her Broadway debut, has opened at Studio 54. In the interim between the Brooklyn Little Theater production and this new adaptation, there have been many other “Thérèse Raquin” incarnations, including a 2001 Broadway musical called “Thou Shalt Not,” with a score by Harry Connick Jr.; a 2007 production by Quantum Theater in Pittsburgh, staged in an empty swimming pool; and “The Artificial Jungle,” a 1987 reimagining of the Zola work as a James M. Cain novel by the enfant terrible of Off-Broadway, Charles Ludlum.

Edmundson’s prodigiously impressive credits include stage adaptations of “Orestes,” “War and Peace,” “Anna Karenina,” “The Mill on the Floss,” “Life is a Dream” and “Mephisto.” In addition, Edmundson has written many acclaimed original plays, among them “The Clearing,” “Coram Boy” and “Mother Teresa is Dead.” Earlier this year, she was the recipient of the 2015 Windham Campbell Prize for Drama. In announcing the award, the Selection Committee celebrated her “[A]mbitious plays [that] distill historical complexities through characters whose passions and ethical dilemmas mirror and illuminate a larger political landscape.”

Keira Knightley and Judith Light. Photos by Joan Marcus

Recently the Eagle spoke by telephone with Edmundson from her home outside London:

Brooklyn Eagle: What was your greatest challenge in adapting a novel written in 1867 and making it relevant for a contemporary audience?

Helen Edmundson: Whenever I think about adapting something, I first ask myself if the play will still resonate today. Aside from whatever period the play is set in, the ideas in it must be able to leap through time. “Thérèse Raquin” is a study in guilt and the consequences of what happens when we give in to our primal, animal instincts. That is a timeless theme.

BE: Because so much of Zola’s novel portrays the characters’ hidden passions and interior thoughts, how did you handle the challenge of dramatizing these emotions?

HE: There is quite a lot of repetition in the novel, indecision, repressed emotions. In a play, everything has to keep progressing. So, it was important for me to keep things moving, almost inexorably. So much of this production is steeped in the characters’ physicality. For example, the sequence where Therese, Camille and Laurent go to walk by the river. Zola has pages and pages of description. In my adaptation, I wrote physical directions for the actors. The actual look of the scene — the river, the embankment — I left up to Evan [Cabnet], the play’s director, and Beowulf [Boritt], the set designer. When I write my plays, I don’t devote a lot of attention to the sets. In fact, sometimes the plays, as I’ve written them, are set in bare, empty spaces.

Gabriel Ebert, Matt Ryan and Keira Knightley

BE: In watching the play, I was struck by its modernity. Parallels with such examples of roman noir as “Double Indemnity” and “The Postman Rings Twice,” were inescapable. Do you feel that “the affinity of blood and lust” that Zola refers to in the novel is a universal and timeless theme?

HE: We spend much of our lives controlling our instincts, struggling with the contradictions of societal restraints and human desires, dealing with conflicting forces and emotions. This struggle knows no boundaries of time, place [and] nationality. People have, and always will, wrestle with these strong, elemental forces.

BE: You certainly don’t seem at all intimidated about stepping into the ring with the heavyweights: you’ve written adaptations of Euripedes, Tolstoy and George Eliot. Audacious, brave choices. What makes you so fearless?

HE: No matter how large the canvas — and I like large canvases — at the core, I have to always feel that I can take the essence of the work and run with it. As monumental as the setting may be, it’s always the ideas that I pursue and want to depict. Ideas as embodied by character. That is my way in, whether it’s “Orestes” or “War and Peace” or “The Mill on the Floss.”

BE: Finally, were you ever tempted to have an animatronic version of Francois? [Note: Francois is Madame Raquin’s black cat, who, in the novel, bears mute witness to Therese and Laurent’s passions.] Or to recreate Laurent’s fear of Camille’s portrait?

HE: (Laughing) I have to be realistic about what things are possible on the stage. It would have been extremely difficult to have had a cat, whether real or animatronic, without having the audience giggle. As for Camille’s portrait terrifying Laurent, I left it out because I wanted to strictly follow Therese’s story. She is the fulcrum of the play; Camille, Laurent, Madame Raquin, all rotate around her. It is her story.

BAM to present tribute to legendary actress Ingrid Bergman, celebrating centennial of her birth

Isabella Rossellini (shown above) will perform a theatrical tribute to one of the 20th century’s most iconic actresses — her mother, Ingrid Bergman — at BAM this Saturday. Photo by Andre Rau

Marking the centennial of Ingrid Bergman’s birth, her daughter Isabella Rossellini will perform a theatrical tribute to one of the 20th century’s most iconic actresses. The event will be held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m.

Originally presented at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (where towering images of Bergman, the official “muse” of the festival, dominated the Croisette), the staging incorporates Rossellini’s own memories of her mother, plus interviews, unpublished letters, personal film footage and previously unreleased video clips and images from Bergman’s private archive. Accompanying Rossellini will be actor Jeremy Irons, in what promises to be an unforgettable evening.

In anticipation of the event, the Eagle recently spoke with Rossellini by telephone.

BROOKLYN EAGLE: How far in advance did all of this start coming together?

ISABELLA ROSSELLINI: Originally about four years ago, then much of the co-ordination of materials about two years ago. It involved so much archival material that required film rights,

Actress Ingrid Bergman is shown in a 1957 file photo. AP Photo/File

legal issues. There were many studios involved. My mother worked in Hollywood, of course, but there were many independent production companies and European studios as well, from which we needed approval for certain archives.

BE: How did Jeremy Irons become involved?

IR: The tribute at BAM will involve readings of excerpts from my mother’s autobiography, newsreels, visuals that require voice over, and there are many voices participating. But you asked about Jeremy. And, thank God, first and foremost, he was available. And I was looking for the right “lead voice” — one that uses impeccable English but has a definite European accent and timbre. How could one do better than Jeremy for that?

BE: What do you think accounts for the “emotional transparency” of your mother’s performance style? What qualities did your mother have that made her so believable, that made her such a consummate actress in such a wide range of roles, from Ilsa Lund, Alicia Huberman to Sister Mary Benedict?

IR: My mother worked in five languages. Her Swedish and German were impeccable, of course, and she spoke French well enough to perform it on stage. Her English and Italian had an accent. But through any language she used, I think, rang a genuine, heart-felt honesty about the role she accepted. (We all believe that great line about truth and beauty, right?)

BE: How did your mother’s archive come to reside at Wesleyan?

IR: The film department at Wesleyan has one of the most comprehensive paper archives revolving around film — the posters, scripts, letters, contracts, etc. My first husband, Martin Scorsese, was very passionate about film preservation and had a connection to Wesleyan. He helped organize my mother’s collection, which was extensive. The effort was also helped greatly by Professor [Jeanine] Bassinger, who is the Corwin Fuller Professor of Film Studies at Wesleyan.

BE: Do you find that younger film audiences don’t really know the breadth and range of your mother’s work? Is one of the goals of this film series and the BAM tribute to introduce your mother’s work to this audience?

IR: Yes, in a word. But remember that in Europe younger film fans are being exposed to her work through film schools and festivals, which always include the many movies she made there. I would guess that younger audiences know her [better] there than here. Time and history have a funny way of rewarding quality, even if not recognized when the film is first released. I am thankful that the quality of my mother’s work in so many independent productions is seen in film schools and festivals.

BE: With your mother’s fluency in so many languages, do you think she could more easily adapt to global film-making, which has become, with so many co-productions, the norm? What current film directors do you think she would want to work with today?

IR: That’s a hard one — naming names? I would not presume. Let me just say I believe she would have flourished in today’s world. Remember that film is a universal art form. We certainly have technology and ability to add translations to the words. But let’s not forget that silent film, before they had to worry about words, was even more universal. No matter how many languages my mother spoke, I think she understood the language of images even more.

BE: Finally, let’s end on a light note: Have you seen the brief homage to your mother in “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation?”

IR: Yes, I saw it. And I met the Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson, who plays the spy named Ilsa Faust in that movie. At a European film festival there was a screening of a documentary about my mother, “Ingrid In Her Own Words.” Rebecca was there. We met and had a delightful discussion about that little homage in “Mission Impossible”…I thought it was wonderful that she, and the director Christopher McQuarrie, used that in the movie.

BE: Thanks so much for your time, and your Brooklyn fans will pour forth to see you at BAM.

IR: Thanks, I look forward to that.

Sophocles in Brooklyn: An interview with Juliette Binoche

Juliette Binoche is currently starring in “Antigone” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Photos by Stephanie Berger, courtesy of BAM

Through Oct. 4, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is presenting the Barbican production of poet Anne Carson’s new, colloquial translation of Sophocles’ “Antigone,” starring Oscar Award-winning actress Juliette Binoche and directed by Ivo van Hove (who is also directing two major Broadway revivals this season, “A View from the Bridge” and “The Crucible.”) The play is presented in association with the Toneelgroep Amsterdam and co-produced by Theatre de la Ville, Paris, Reclinghausen, Germany and the Edinburgh International Festival. With this illustrious pedigree, Antigone is one of the highlights of this season’s Next Wave Festival at BAM.

Since her electrifying breakthrough role in 1985 in Andre Techine’s “Rendez-vous,” followed three years later by her first English language performance in Phil Kaufman’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” Binoche has gone on to make an astounding 42 movies, including such noteworthy films as Anthony Minghella’s “The English Patient” (for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, trumping the odds-on favorite Lauren Bacall), Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Three Colors: Blue, White & Red” trilogy, Lasse Hallstrom’s “Chocolat,” Michael Haneke’s “Cache,” Olivier Assayas’s “Summer Hours” and last year’s “The Clouds of Sils Maria,” also directed by Assayas. He has said of Binoche “Hunger and passion are her defining traits … [she] is honest, straightforward, trusting and naive. Once she decides to give, she gives all the way.”

If ever there was a role that demands that commitment it is Antigone. As politically and emotionally urgent today as when it was first produced in 441 BC, the play posits the ultimate existential question: loyalty to state or to family?

Juliette Binoche told the Brooklyn Eagle, “For me, to do ‘Antigone’ is an awakening, a journey.”

By telephone, the Brooklyn Eagle started by asking Binoche about the special challenges of performing a Greek tragedy for a modern audience — and why she decided to take on this challenge.

Juliette Binoche: What Greek tragedies give us are myths, and myths are timeless. They are not just stories. They are towering works about transformation. They reflect a tradition that is beyond time. They ask eternal questions. For me, to do “Antigone” is an awakening, a journey. I hope the audience joins me on this journey.

Brooklyn Eagle: You return frequently to the stage in the midst of your busy film schedule. Do you find working in the theatre revitalizes you?

JB: Because my real roots are in the theater — both of my parents were involved with theater — I feel like when I return to the stage I’m returning home. My original goal was to be a theater actor. My film career just sort of happened spontaneously. I enjoy the challenges and satisfactions of both and I feel lucky to have that freedom to go back and forth between stage and film.

BE: Finally, it seems like you are always working — touring in Antigone, filming “Slack Bay” and “Polina,” recently completing the films “The Wait,” “Nobody Wants the Night” and “The 33.” When do you come up for air? Do you allow yourself some down time for family, friends, just sitting in a comfortable chair, reading a good book?

JB: My pleasure is to work. It is a source of constant joy. My kids, who are grown up now, come to see my work. My choice is, and always has been, to dedicate myself to telling stories. We need these stories to learn about ourselves. And then we take what we learn into our real lives. It’s a sort of circle.

From left: Obi Abili, Juliette Binoche and Patrick O’Kane.