Spoletoblog

Final Sunday reviews

The star of this morning's festival coverage was P&C Spoleto critic Blair Tindall. tweaking a tradition by moving the paper's festival wrap-up column to the final Sunday (rather than the Tuesday after the festival, when everyone from out of town has gone home). Her 1A intro sets up a longer piece inside.

Blair points out that she attended 37 events in 17 days... an impressive total to be sure, but her average (2.176 ppd) doesn't even come close to the nine performances (plus three or four art exhibits) that I attended in a single day in 2004. So nice try, Blair, but I still rule...

Our other critical offerings are slim, limited to William Furtwangler's review of Chamber Music Series Program No. 2,399. We kid because we care. Anyway, long story short, he liked it.

Arts Editor Dottie Ashley covered the Piccolo Finale. Spoleto Editor Stephanie Harvin sets up tonight's Finale.

Anyway, we've been rounding up newspaper coverage here at Spoletoblog since the start of the festival, and I'd like to take this opportunity to tip my hat to the critics. No human activity is more prone to criticism than criticism itself, and the people who write about the arts for the P&C aren't doing it for the wealth and prestige that comes with the job. I think our critics genuinely love the arts, and for that I commend and thank them.

Running this blog has caused me to think quite a bit about criticism -- what it is, what it should be, what makes it good or bad. I still haven't reached a solid opinion on those questions, but I'm absolutely convinced that the standards for doing it well are extremely daunting. After a conversation with a local artist last week, I suggested that he should apply to become one of our critics and put  his knowledge to work. "Oh no," he said. "I don't want everybody to hate me."

It was an honest reaction, and a telling one, too. So to all the critics, professional or not: Thank you for what you've brought to the festival... whether I agreed with you or not.

-- daniel conover

Final Saturday reviews

Arts editor Dottie Ashley on Hubbard Street Dance Chicago: "Causing the most buzz by far was the enigmatic "Enemy in the Figure," a dark-toned Germanic-influenced number choreographed by William Forsythe. The robust, athletic-style dancers frequently moved alone, showing isolation and fear as a single light seemed to follow them around the stage. Showing that things are often not what they seem, large rodents dashing across the stage turned out to be a large, curled, fast-moving rope."

William Furtwangler raves about After the Storm: "...written and performed by Heather Grayson, is one of those theatrical experiences which is so jammed full of human emotions, conflicts, and reflections that you wonder how she manages to pack them into one hour of riveting performance."

Lindsay Koob on Chamber Music No. 10: "Charles Wadsworth was in rather risque form for Friday morning's tenth chamber program. Has anyone ever debunked his art's stuffy image more delightfully?"

Friday's reviews

Jack McCray on Guinga: "Jazz legends Charlie "Bird" Parker, Coleman "the Hawk" Hawkins and even calypso giant Mighty Sparrow would have been mighty proud Thursday. In fact, any of the ornithologically inclined music greats would have loved what clarinetist Gabriele Mirabassi and guitarist Guinga did at the Recital Hall of the College of Charleston's Albert Simons Center."

P&C Spoleto critic Blair Tindall writes about chamber music, Music in Time, the festival orchestra, the choir, etc...

News you might like

(June 9 editor's note: Links and a review added -- so this post stands as the Thursday's Reviews P&C coverage summary for today. dc)

Our own Jack McCray, or Mr. Jazz as we like to think of him around the P&C, says one of the treats of the festival is still to come: the Brazilian guitarist Guinga. (Love those one name artists.) Luckily, his performances are scheduled for the small - and rainproof - Recital Hall at the Albert Simons Center at the College of Charleston. The audience will have great seats in this small, but acoustically interesting space.

And Dottie Ashley is writing about the Japanese dance troupe that will perform on Saturday at the Gibbes Musuem of Art. For those who don't know, the Gibbes has a stunning collection of woodblock paintings.

"Russian" defense

An e-mail, received at 1:49 p.m.:

I was deeply saddened to see that Diane Sprung of the Post and Courier found the (play) Russian Doll so disappoint(ing). Ms. Sprung definitely has hit the nail on the head when she says that the play is not a traditional, linear (play)... but isn't that what Spoleto is supposed to introduce we ‘conservative southerners’ to ... is the Arts!!!!

“If you go to hear a story being told, to hear superior dialogue, or see a traditional linear play, you will be greatly disappointed.”

Go instead to see outstanding choreography.

Go instead to appreciate a drill team in harmony. It's obvious these folks have worked hard and deserve to be seen.

It is definitely the opinion of myself and of the group that I was with last night, that the performance was nothing short of magical. The story, if you listened, is told over and over again ... the deja vu of life, love, history... .in fact that is exactly what the playbill suggests you look for while experiencing the piece by this phenomenal troupe!!!

I certainly hope that TheatreRun will continue to present pieces in Charleston ... and perhaps with more support we might see them another time of the year than just Piccolo Spoleto!!!!

--Renee H.

Wednesday reviews and links

Arts Editor Dottie Ashley on Amajuba: "The powerful play, coated with the dust of apartheid, opened Tuesday in a filled-to-capacity Emmett Robinson Theatre.. While the suffering in the play is palatable, there are also humorous moments, as the actors use giant washtubs in inventive ways as props on the minimalist set. However, the play's ending dragged on a bit too long, as the action became repetitive, thus somewhat diffusing the overall impact of the first-class acting."

Nada Arnold on Chamber Music Society: "Something magical is happening with the Chamber Music Society of Charleston. The ensemble of consummate instrumentalists is finding its collective voice and verve, and has inspired a world premiere by local composer-icon, David Maves -- all to the delight of an overflow audience for Piccolo's Spotlight concert Tuesday at Waterfront Park's City Gallery Tuesday... we had the best view in town, and the gift for this moment of the best music in town: full of life, light and whimsy, and exemplifying, noted chamber society director Nikolajevs, 'the whole spirit of Piccolo Spoleto.'"

NYT critic on 'Don Giovanni'

Critic James Oestreich of The New York Times dropped in for a review of Don Giovanni, the other operas, and the festival in general  this morning ("A Don Giovanni Close to the Edge, Like Everyone Else").

Oestreich joined the ranks of practically every critic here in praising Don Giovanni, but the ultimate significance of his review is that it will go farther than all the words written locally to establish the production's international reputation... not to mention the reputation of the 2005 festival.

His lead:

CHARLESTON, SC: In a wildly adventurous season of opera at the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. here, the hottest topic of discussion is not "The Kingdom of Desire," a compelling Beijing opera version of "Macbeth." Nor is it "Die Vögel," a little-known, effusively tuneful work by Walter Braunfels, or "La Bella Dormente nel Bosco," a charming puppet opera by Respighi, as hot as all those have been.

Instead it is the most standard of operas, Mozart's "Don Giovanni," in a staging by Günter Krämer. And rightly so.

Tuesday's reviews and links

P&C Spoleto critic Blair Tindall covers a lot of musical real estate this morning, talking about multiple concerts and the results of a busy schedule (fatigue).

Sandy Katz gives some love to A Chorus Line...

Wevonneda Minis writes about Margaret Lancaster, the dancing, flute-playing Helena from DollHouse... Herb Fraizer, just back from Africa himself, wrties about Amajuba -- Like Doves We Rise...

Lee Breuer strikes back

This afternoon's "Conversations With" opened with host Martha Tiechner explaining that DollHouse director Lee Breuer was "on the warpath," and that she was just going to let him take it from there.

Breuer (whom, I realized for the first time, looks an awful lot like Pablo Picasso) opened by giving the audience (recital hall, Simons Center) a Cliffs Notes version of theater history, the crux being the difference between "motivational realism" and "formalism." DollHouse blends the two, but its roots are in the formalist tradition.

Breuer then criticized P&C Spoleto critic Blair Tindall's June 2 review of DollHouse. Tindall, he said,  didn't understand what she had seen and took a "matronizing" (feminine version of patronizing) stance towards his work. He compared the tone to the "kinda snooty" tone found in The New York Times.

(June 7, 8:45 a.m., editor's note: It's a "Conversations With" Blog-a-palooza! Don't miss Patrick Sharbaugh's perspective at SBB, or Mindy's post above. dc)

Everybody's a critic...

If you've been tracking the threads here lately (which I have, since that's my job), you've probably noticed the beginnings of an interesting public conversation on criticism (here, here and here contain examples).

I think that's both healthy and necessary given the recent death of long-time P&C Spoleto critic Bob Jones, a man who wrote about the festival for The Post and Courier but who was also, undeniably, part of the festival.

We didn't really have to think about arts criticism before, because -- love him or hate him -- Bob was arts criticism in Charleston. Blair Tindall drew the uneviable job of following him in the "Spoleto critic" role, but the conversation really isn't about Bob and Blair, but about criticism itself.

What's its role? What are its responsibilities? And, if "everyone's a critic" now thanks to the Internet, has the critic's role changed?

(June 6, 7:14 p.m. editor's note: Having just returned from the "Conversations With" Lee Breuer and three DollHouse actors, I can pretty much give you Breuer's answers to those questions, and they aren't warm and fuzzy to Blair or The P&C. Breuer called her June 2nd review "matronizing" and questioned her qualifications. -- dc)