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A Hollywood remake of your fast-food memories
NEW YORK, NY.- The air smelled of yeast and cheese and weed, and though what I had in front of me looked like a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut, it was in fact a more expensive dupe. Some of the original pizza’s flaws had been airbrushed and overwritten, as in a favorite childhood memory. No veins of raw dough, no discouraging sweat of vegetable oil. The best qualities of the original were exaggerated in a buttery, gold-washed bottom and a fine, crackly edge, draped with a light brown confetti of cheese. The puff and fluff of the dough were doubled, bubbly and weightless. What’s hard to explain is why this pizza — this impostor pizza — felt more like a Pizza Hut pizza than the source material. Chef Tim Hollingsworth made it for what he called “Pizza Haute,” one of the meticulous themed dinners he cooks at Chain in Los Angeles, a regular ... More

A pathbreaking singer arrives at the Met, With pearls and tattoos
NEW YORK, NY.- Bass-baritone Davóne Tines, wearing Dr. Martens boots, a sleeveless black shirt and six vintage pearl rings, stood on a rehearsal stage at the Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan the other day and began to sing. “My soul’s above the sea and whistling a dream,” he sang, a passage from the Nativity oratorio “El Niño” by John Adams, in which Tines makes his Met debut this month. “Tell the shepherds the wind is saddling its horse.” Tines, 37, known for his raw intensity and thundering voice, has quickly become one of classical music’s brightest stars. He has won acclaim for performances of Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederick Handel and Igor Stravinsky, and he has helped champion new music, originating roles in operas including Adams’ “Girls of the Golden West” and Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones. Tines has also used his art to confront social problems, in ... More

At Harlem stage, bringing downtown dance uptown
NEW YORK, NY.- Since the inception of Harlem Stage’s dance series E-Moves 25 years ago, that “E” has stood for several categories of artists: Emerging. Evolving. Established. But the series itself has always stood for one goal in particular: providing space and resources for artists of color to develop their work. “We found that there was an uneven playing field,” Harlem Stage’s artistic director, Patricia Cruz, said recently about the series’ origins. Choreographers of color, especially African American ones, had less support, she said: “We provided that platform.” To date, the series has helped more than 300 dance artists. One of its intended effects has been to take choreographers who work mainly “downtown,” in white-dominated dance institutions, and bring them “uptown” to Harlem. For the 25th anniversary season, Cruz invited back five major ... More

In 'Sally & Tom,' plantation scandal meets backstage farce
NEW YORK, NY.- If I were reviewing “The Pursuit of Happiness,” produced by a “low-budget-no-budget” troupe called Good Company, I might note that the subtlety, cleverness and humanity with which it approaches the story of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson come as quite a surprise. After all, Good Company is best known for “politically charged,” “finger-waggy” provocations like “Patriarchy on Parade” and “Listen Up, Whitey, Cause It’s All Your Fault” — work that leaves audiences running for the exits while casts bid them farewell with the bird. But “The Pursuit of Happiness” isn’t real: It’s the play within Suzan-Lori Parks’ backstager “Sally & Tom,” which opened Tuesday at the Public Theater. Still, my review stands — except for one thing. The subtlety, cleverness and humanity with which “Sally & Tom” approaches the story of Hemings and Jefferson, dazzlingly doubled in the story of ... More

Magdalena Wosinska's 'Fulfill the Dream' opens at The Fahey/Klein Gallery
LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Fahey/Klein Gallery announced the debut solo exhibition of Magdalena Wosinska, held in conjunction with the release of her newest monograph, Fulfill the Dream. This exhibition will include a selection of photographs from Fulfill the Dream, in addition to Wosinska’s photojournalism imagery which captures the intimacy of human connection that balances adventure and introspection. Central to Wosinska’s photography is the celebration of spontaneity. Viewers find themselves immediately immersed in Wosinska’s world, where authenticity reigns supreme and every moment is overflowing with a hint of rebelliousness. Through intimate portraits she explores the complexities of selfhood, highlighting the interplay between inner emotions and outward appearances. Her subjects are portrayed genuinely, without artifice or ... More

Sworders to sell Louis Vuitton luggage collection from gentleman who travelled in style - with his rubber duck
STANSTED MOUNTFICHET.- An extraordinary single-owner collection of 37 pieces of Louis Vuitton luggage – including a bespoke trunk made for a large rubber duck - comes to auction this spring. The luxurious array of travel accessories, all covered in the iconic LV monogram canvas, form part of Sworders' April 30 Design sale. The duck trunk, measuring 34 x 24 x 27cm, is the only one in existence - the design and manufacture a collaboration between its owner and the senior design team at Louis Vuitton in Paris. It was made to house ‘Canard Willy’, a favourite 26cm yellow rubber duck, to ensure it travelled in the style to which it had become accustomed. Willy was a frequent flyer on Concorde between ... More

Let's keep this vintage fashion boutique just between us
NEW YORK, NY.- Vintage-clothing aficionados are either pawing through piles of polyester looking for that one treasure, arms itching and aching ... or paying an obscene amount for something that the passage of time has made fragile, even if it doesn’t have sweat stains (and it might!). Robyn Goldberg, owner of the Kit Vintage, shows a glamorous middle way. At her store on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, there are just a few racks, but what’s there, to quote Spencer Tracy in “Pat and Mike,” is cherce. With the help of Goldberg, a special-occasions specialist who also does a brisk bridal business, you will discover the work of unjustly forgotten designers like Mary Ann Restivo, Bill Tice and Luis Estévez among the Vuitton and Versace. “Accessible vintage luxury” is the goal, she said. “I want someone to be able to come in and take it home ... More

Anne Innis Dagg, who studied giraffes in the wild, dies at 91
NEW YORK, NY.- Anne Innis Dagg, who broke ground in the 1950s as one of the world’s first biologists to study giraffes in the wild, then spent decades fighting sexism at Canadian universities before finding long-overdue acclaim in the 2010s, died April 1 in Kitchener, Ontario, west of Toronto. She was 91. Alison Reid, who documented Dagg’s life in the 2018 film “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes,” said the cause of her death, at a hospital, was pneumonia. Dagg was often called “the Jane Goodall of giraffes,” but in a different world the attribution might have been reversed. Dagg traveled to Africa in 1956, four years before Goodall did her first fieldwork with primates; in fact, she is believed to have been the first Western scientist to study African animals of any type in the wild. At the time, very little was known about the behavior of giraffes, ... More

FKA twigs dances Martha Graham: 'This Is Art in Its Truest Form'
NEW YORK, NY.- The rebellious spirit of Martha Graham has found a rebellious soul mate in another creative powerhouse. A classically trained dancer, she’s known in the world as an acclaimed recording artist. She moves like water. Her pole dancing is pretty astounding, too. This is FKA twigs. On Thursday, she will make her debut as a dancer with the Graham company in the solo “Satyric Festival Song” (1932). “To me, this is, honestly, like winning a Grammy,” she said. “I feel like I’m winning a Grammy.” At the company’s gala performance, FKA twigs will slip into her costume, a bold and graphic striped dress designed by Graham. She will pop into the air as if the floor were on fire. She will twist and bend her body into jagged edges. And she will tease the audience with tilts of the head and dancing, expressive eyes. This is a solo inspired by rituals ... More