Before I run down the weekend highlights, I want to tell you about the movie Poor Things, which in the flood of holiday movies and in its curious style is hard to pin down in any mainstream manner and might have been easily overlooked. My shorthand for this movie is feminist Frankenstein meets Kasper Hauser with a happy ending. Emma Stone is brilliant in this sexy sci-fi black comedy, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and also starring Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Jerrod Carmichael. I am generally not a fan of sci-fi nor Victorian period pieces, but Lanthimos finds a way to transcend genre in this frisky romp. The mise-en-scene makes for delightful viewing, but Lanthimos’ true genius was in the casting of Stone as a cloistered young woman who embarks on a journey of self-discovery. With this role, she catapults herself into the top tier of film actors, and I, for one, am along for the ride, wherever it goes.
And now, to the weekend ahead….
Hamlet | Toilet, a “hyper-nonsensical absurdist philosophical comedy” from the acclaimed Japanese theater company Kaimaku Pennant Race, comes to PS21 in Chatham, N.Y., tonight at 7pm, and on Saturday at 2pm. The Tokyo-based ensemble is known for its hilarious re-imaginings of works by William Shakespeare, fusing profound interpretations of Elizabethan-era tragedy with bursts of Japanese pop culture references that illuminate the works in sensational and surprising ways. The company is celebrated for its antic movement style and for performing in full-body white unisuits. (Fri-Sat, Jan 5-6) Grammy Award-nominated Americana singer-songwriter Reed Foehl bookends the greater region with performances at Berkshire East Mountain Resort in Charlemont, Mass., tonight at 6:30pm, and at the Colony in Woodstock, N.Y., on Saturday at 8pm. Perhaps best known in the area as the founder and leader of folk-rock jam-band Acoustic Junction, Foehl was nominated for a Grammy for “Fly,” a song he cowrote with Brent Cobb that was covered by country queen Lee Ann Womack. (Fri-Sat, Jan 5-6)
Finger-picking banjo marvel Nora Brown and master fiddler Stephanie Coleman combine to bring Appalachian folk music to the Parlor Room in Northampton, Mass., on Saturday, at 7:30pm, and then to Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Sunday at 7pm. The duo has brought its haunting harmonies and old-time instrumental music to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts and has performed across the US, Europe, and Japan. (Sat-Sun, Jan 6-7)
Classical vocalist Julia Bullock brings a diverse program of songs by Barber, Strauss, Kurt Weill, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and others to Union College’s Memorial Chapel in Schenectady, N.Y., on Sunday at 3pm. Bullock’s enchanting voice has catapulted her to the forefront of the classical music world, resulting in engagements with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics and residencies at the Metropolitan Opera and the San Francisco Symphony. Bullock will be accompanied by pianist Bretton Brown. The concert is presented by Capital Region Classical. (Sun, Jan 7)
And looking ahead to next weekend, stand-up comedian, actor, and writer Zainab Johnson brings her unique point of view, which was shaped by growing up as one of thirteen siblings in a Muslim family in Harlem, to Club B10 at MASS MoCA in North Adams on Saturday, January 13, at 8pm. Johnson debuted her first one-hour comedy special “Hijabs Off” on Amazon Prime Video and is currently a series regular on the Amazon Original hit series “Upload.” (Sat, Jan 13)
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.substack.com.
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