Short Takes
April 28, 2013
‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ — literally
My friend Georgia Shreve is having a concert this Friday, May 3, at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. I asked her for a preview: “My concert brings together the loves of my creative life: literature and music. I’m fascinated with the work of T.S. Eliot, and I have chosen ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,’ a poem that is an early and iconic work not just for him, but for Modernism. The New York Times referred to the initial piano-vocal performance as ‘an expansive, psychologically pointed setting of the poem in an artfully blended performance…’” The concert will feature ‘Prufrock’ as performed by a chamber orchestra, along with a performance of Shreve’s Piano Concerto, by the Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble. Tickets are available online via Carnegie Hall.
April 28, 2013
The movie to see: ‘Mud’
Would you run to a film with a gloppy one-word title? I wouldn’t. But having chosen our last film — Danny Boyle’s loathsome ‘Trance’ — the choice wasn’t mine. And the New York Times review was enthusiastic. And ‘Mud’ stars Matthew McConaughey. So off we went. Verdict: a terrific movie, acutely written, brilliantly acted, tense and funny. And original, which, is this season of sequels, is almost reason enough to see it.