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April 25, 2006
TT: Words to the wise
- Spanierman Gallery is about to open a major exhibition of the works of John Henry Twachtman, the greatest of the American impressionists. "John Twachtman (1853-1902): A ‘Painter's Painter,'" which will include eighty-one of Twachtman's paintings and works on paper, is the first large-scale New York retrospective of his work in recent memory. My own feelings about Twachtman can be inferred from the fact that the Teachout Museum contains one of his etchings, "Dock at Newport." (A unique artist's proof of this exquisite etching is part of the Spanierman show.)For more information, or to view the other works in the exhibition, which will be up from May 4 through June 24, go here.
- Mark your calendar: Adam Guettel's The Light in the Piazza, the best musical of 2005, will be telecast on PBS' Live From Lincoln Center on June 15. Here's part of what I wrote about the show in The Wall Street Journal last year:
Adam Guettel, the most gifted and promising theater composer of his generation, has returned to the stage after a nine-year absence with "The Light in the Piazza." To call it the best new musical I've reviewed in this space, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" included, is to understate the case. It is, in fact, the best new musical to open in New York since "Passion," and Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater has done itself proud by bringing so important a show to Broadway....
The score, radiantly orchestrated by Mr. Guettel and conductor Ted Sperling for a fifteen-piece chamber ensemble built around a harp, is a shimmering evocation of Italian sunshine, dappled with touches of sorrow. Comparisons to Stephen Sondheim being inevitable, I should say at once that Mr. Guettel resembles Mr. Sondheim only in the richness of his imagination. His harmonic language is more astringent and wide-ranging, his lyrics more conversational (you won't go away talking about his rhyme schemes). He is, in short, his own man, and in "The Light in the Piazza" he has written a musical directly comparable in seriousness of purpose to "Passion" or "Sweeney Todd" without sounding anything like either of those shows.
The New York production closes on July 6, with a U.S. tour set to begin in August. To purchase the original-cast CD, go here.
Posted April 25, 2006 12:00 PM
