“The disease, the people believed, was caused by sorcery and could be cured by sorcery,” says this bioethicist. By “the people” he does not allude to RFK Jr. but to a stone-age tribe in New Guinea. Potato/Potahto. Produced with Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies. Music: Rich Jenkins.
Their play Here There Are Blueberries is built around an actual photo album assembled at Auschwitz of the ordinary daily life of the perpetrators. Following a run at the McCarter Theatre, the play is now touring nationally (if you’re reading this early in 2025, not in, oh, 2026 in exile on the Martian penal colony).
At a time when many cultural institutions are forced into austerity, the artistic director of the Paul Taylor Dance Company is presiding over its move to a terrific new space. All New York stories are real estate stories. Few have such happy endings. This event will include short performances by the company. Friday, April 25, … Continue reading »
This historian, in CCNY’s Black Studies Department, says, “If I want to have a good writing day, I take the train an hour and fifteen minutes to somewhere I love, the quietest place in New York.” Silence and thought. Music: Birsa Chatterjee, saxophone; Raul Reyes, bass; Victor Gould, piano. (Not silent, much appreciated.) Continue reading »
After fifty years as a mezzo-soprano, she still embraces this advice from her first teacher: “Sing as though it comes from the bottom of your heart, because that’s what it’s about.” Her most recent recording is And Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair. She says it is her last. I hope not. Photo: Jack Colver. Continue reading »
The new president of Hunter College is a champion of “social infrastructure,” describing it as “A public good. Everybody uses it, nobody owns it.” Libraries, schools, parks, or, in a decent society, healthcare. That’s nostalgia! Or hope. Continue reading »
“Isaac Bashevis Singer called my mother the Sherlock Holmes of Yiddish songs,” says Zalmen. His family heritage and Steven’s splendid singing were big factors in the triumph of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish. Presented by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Continue reading »
“My life was a bit like the plot of Auntie Mame,” says this actor, writer, and drag legend. He’s got stories about Linda Lavin, Christopher Isherwood, Lily Tomlin, Angela Landsbury, Vivien Leigh, Marlene Dietrich. Plus, he sings. Accompanist: Jono Mainelli. Produced with 54 Below. Continue reading »
He led an expedition down Mongolia’s Selenge River, described in his book Rowing to Baikal. “To me the river is like a god, a god that I can be in conversation with. I feel like it’s alive. I don’t always understand it, but I don’t understand God either.” A conversation at the Explorers Club. Continue reading »
In addition to being a much-admired writer, she owns Parnassus Books, in Nashville. “Because I own a bookstore, I get a copy of just about every book that comes out. It’s like being pelted to death with books.” Like that Shirley Jackson story but more ironic. The author of Bel Canto, on friendship, fathers, writing, and … Continue reading »
This movie and TV writer—he created Monk—loves his local public radio station in Jersey City. “If you tune into WFMU, and you don’t like what you hear, just wait five minutes: you’ll hear something much worse.” Love expresses itself perversely, but it’s love. Continue reading »
Dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and a staff writer for The New Yorker, he says, “When people ask what I think is the foundational institution of democracy, I always say: ‘the public library.’” Enjoy it while we’ve got it. And what’s left of our democracy. Continue reading »
To be a great architect—or painter or poet or almost anything—do you need a great patron? “Certainly that helps, but then you have to bring the talent and vision and invention,” she says. Oh, well, then, never mind. We spoke at the Louis Armstrong Center, a building they designed. Produced with Open House New York. Continue reading »
This political scientist sees a crisis of legitimacy. “When 90% of Americans believe there ought to be universal background checks on guns, and nothing happens, you begin to wonder if your vote matters.” Happily, he has ways to make our democracy more democratic. Unhappily, they won’t be enacted. We’re all pessimists now. (All = me.) … Continue reading »