Tag Archives: Juilliard

NYMysteries.com May 27 – June 2

May 27 —  June 2

What a week! Part of my birthday package was going to Coney Island. All New Yorkers know that weekend travel on the subway is an adventure unto itself. Eventually, I met my pal at Stillwell Avenue, the last stop on the D. She had wanted to knock off some barbecue but I used birthday rights and so we stood in line for about three days to get Nathan hotdogs, fries. We then strolled them off (ha!) on the boardwalk, stopping for a restful merry-go-round ride. Lots of crowds, lots of families, lots of lovely sea air and sunshine.

On Tuesday, I went to Caveat, the nightclub/ speakeasy on Clinton, to watch and marvel at one of my friends talking about her alter ego. Her performance was part of a Generation Women program in which women between the ages of twenty and eighty plus tell their stories. Caveat is a gem. The atmosphere is one of happy expectation coupled with wine, Get It Girl White Blend, that supports Planned Parenthood. 

I went to Invisible Julliard. We all know that every organization wants money, right? Some, like Juilliard, do it with class.  Lovely champagne followed by an hour sample of  classes: Drama Voice, Drama Movement, Ballroom Dance, Juilliard Dance, Basics of Singing -the selections seemed endless. I chose Drama Voice. It was held in an enormous black box and the instructor, Susan Finch, put about fourteen of us thorough our paces. Lots of movement and walking in circles while we trilled and buzzed our vocal cords. Afterwards, there was a buffet supper. A friend (Drama Movement) and I shared a table with some new friends from Drama Voice and Drama Movement including a Juilliard graduate who had majored in dance and who explained how daunting, thrilling, scary and life affirming it was to attend Juilliard.  A delightful evening.

 

Generation Women at Caviat

 

 

 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned a murder case at the  prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner being stabbed while Kulchek was buying cigarettes? Escaping an attempted car bombing?  His hated boss, Captain Dick Holbrook, being a trustee of the Windsor School?  Losing his girlfriend to Holbrook? 

Graphic Lessons: Recent thirty-five-year-old widow Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a stabbed and dying man in the school kitchen, deals with the only witness to the stabbing – a troubled nine-year-old, develops a crush on a NYPD detective and her dog dies.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie. 

NYMysteries March 4 – March 10

Have you seen Abacus: Small Enough to Jail? It’s Steve James’s documentary about the only U.S. bank prosecuted in relation to the 2008 financial crisis. Cyril Vance, the Manhattan district attorney, made an example of the small Chinese bank, Abacus Federal Savings Bank run by the Sung family. Vance didn’t go after the big banks. After five years in court and ten million dollars later the Songs were exonerated.. It was nominated for an academy award for the best documentary feature.

On Wednesday I was supposed to go to a Juilliard event, Choose Your Own Adventure. A participant is given a choice of hour long classes such as Ballroom Dance, Alexander Technique, Drama Movement, Drama Voice. It was to be followed by a champagne reception. Wednesday was the day of our second blizzard and Juilliard wisely cancelled.. This is what occurred: watching a great morality play, I mean TV show, for the second time: Breaking Bad.

Graphic Lessons: Recent thirty-five-year-old widow Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a stabbed and dying man in the school kitchen, deals with the only witness to the stabbing – a troubled nine-year-old, develops a crush on a NYPD detective and her dog dies.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie.

Graphic Lessons: Something’s eating at NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek: a failed marriage? surviving a car bomb? his girlfriend marrying his corrupt boss? screwing up an important case? It doesn’t matter because he’s relentless.

New York Mysteries Oct. 2 – Oct. 7

We went to a new restaurant in midtown, Oscar Wilde. I wonder what Wilde would have thought about this vast, dark series of bars and small rooms packed with Victorian props. We were escorted to a small room where dinner was served. It’s typical bar food: fried calamari, lamb sliders. Salty enough to keep you drinking. The service -surprise, surprise- was excellent.

Oscar Wilde, Midtown
Oscar Wilde, Midtown

 

 

A friend and I got to Guggenheim’s Mystical Symbolism the day before it closed. The museum was installing a huge Chinese exhibit. Much of it was off limits including the ramps. After a two minute sulk about not being able to wander up to the top floor and then wander down, we used the oddly (but artistic!) elevators. Mystical Symbolism is deep, dark, religious. Rosicrucian symbols abounded.

 

Ferdinand Hodler: The Disappointed Souls

 

Juilliard gave a splendid concert, The Genius of Monteverdi. William Christie conducted the young, talented cast in a mostly Monteverdi evening. The packed audience in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater seemed mesmerized by the event’s gravitas. In these troubled times it’s restorative to spend an evening savoring a superb musical event.

Peter Jay Sharp Theater setting up for The Genius of Monteverdi

Graphic Lessons: Recent thirty-five-year-old widow Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a stabbed and dying man in the school kitchen, deals with the only witness to the stabbing – a troubled nine-year-old, develops a crush on a NYPD detective and her dog dies.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears three people fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie.

Graphic Lessons: Something’s eating at NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek: a failed marriage? surviving a car bomb? his girlfriend marrying his corrupt boss? screwing up an important case? It doesn’t matter because he’s relentless.