Los Angeles Times - 04.10.2019

LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2019E11

THE ARTS

The Getty announced

Thursday that it had ac-

quired a painting by Renais-

sance master Agnolo

Bronzino and Gothic mar-

ble sculptures by Giovanni

di Balduccio that rank

among the “greatest works”

in the museum’s collection.

The painting, “Virgin and

Child With Saint Elizabeth

and Saint John the Baptist”

(1540-1545) and the sculp-

tures known as “The Annun-

ciation” (1333-34) are in ex-

traordinarily good condition

and were purchased from an

unnamed private collector

in a rare offering of historic

works, said Getty Museum

Director Timothy Potts.

Bronzino was one of the

greatest painters in Flor-

ence during the mid-16th

century. Similarly, Di Bal-

duccio was the greatest late-

Gothic sculptor of his gener-

ation, and “The Annuncia-

tion” survived with remark-

ably little damage.

“They are in different

ways both quite transforma-

tive additions to the collec-

tion,” Potts said. “They’ll be

among the most important

objects in their class — one

of the greatest paintings in

the Getty’s collection and

the sculptures likewise.”

The Bronzino went on

display Thursday.

“VIRGINand Child With Saint Elizabeth and Saint

John the Baptist” is now on display at the museum.

The Getty

Getty acquires

two masterpieces

By Jessica Gelt

‘Never Ever

Land’ in K-town

The essentials: Rider
Strong, who starred as the
dreamboat Shawn Hunter
on “Boy Meets World,”
dodged the pitfalls of early
celebrity and went on to
graduate from Columbia
University and to earn an
MFA in fiction from Ben-
nington College. The fic-
tional protagonist of
Strong’s new play, “Never
Ever Land,” hasn’t been as
lucky: When Tim was a
child, he and his family sued
one of the most famous men
in the world, earning mil-
lions of dollars but just as
many haters. Years later,
Tim continues to struggle
with his role in the scandal.
Why this?Theatre
Unleashed, the small, itiner-
ant company that’s giving
“Never Ever Land” its world
premiere, knows how to pick
collaborators: The produc-
tion is directed by Michael
A. Shepperd, the artistic
director of the well re-
spected Celebration Thea-

tre; it’s produced by Andrew

Carlberg, who was a pro-

ducer on “Skin,” the Oscar

winner this year for live

action short film.

Details:A Theatre

Unleashed production at

studio/stage, 520 N. Western

Ave., L.A. 8 p.m. Thursdays-

Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays,

through Oct. 27. $35.

theatreunleashed.org

‘A Kid Like Jake’

in Pasadena

The essentials:Daniel

Pearle revised this 2013 play

for IAMA Theatre Com-

pany. Six years is a millen-

nium when it comes to our

evolving conception of

gender identity. As Pearle

says in IAMA’s news release,

he first wrote about a 4-

year-old boy who identifies

with Cinderella “before

‘Transparent,’ before

Caitlin Jenner and Laverne

Cox.” He then adapted it for

the 2018 feature film starring

Claire Danes and Jim Par-

sons. Details have changed,

but the story hasn’t: “It’s

still about the anxiety of

being a parent, of trying to

do the right thing for your

child,” Pearle said.

Why this?This West

Coast premiere, hosted by

the Pasadena Playhouse in

its intimate Carrie Hamil-

ton Theatre, has mustered

star power: The cast in-

cludes Sharon Lawrence

(“NYPD Blue”) and Sarah

Utterback (“Grey’s Anato-

my”), along with the direc-

tor Jennifer Chambers,

whose world premiere of

Bekah Brunstetter’s “The

Cake” in 2017 became a

national hit.

Details:IAMA Theatre

production at the Carrie

Hamilton Theatre, Pasa-

dena Playhouse, 39 S. El

Molino Ave. 8 p.m. Fridays-

Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays,

through Nov. 3. $35. (323)

380-8843, iamatheatre.com

‘Yoga Play’ in

Laguna Beach

The essentials:The

inciting incident in Dipika

Guha’s madcap comedy will

probably ring a bell. The

CEO of a trendy yoga attire

company, Jojomon, re-

sponds to complaints that

its expensive pants are

see-through by blaming the

size of the customers’

thighs. In the wake of this

PR disaster, executives

struggle to salvage the

company’s image and its

finances. According to a

rave in the San Francisco

Chronicle, “Guha mines the

tension between integrity

and the profit motive.”

Why this?The directors

of the Laguna Playhouse

saw “Yoga Play” last spring

at the San Francisco Play-

house and invited it, lock,

stock and barrel, down to

the OC.

Details:Laguna Play-

house, 606 Laguna Canyon

Road, Laguna Beach. 7:30

p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays, 2

and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, 1

and 5:30 p.m Sundays,

through Oct. 13. $45-$65.

(949) 497-2797 or

lagunaplayhouse.com

‘Irma Vep’

in Hollywood

The essentials:Of

course it’s important to

muse on society’s many

problems, but sometimes

can’t we just watch actors

be silly? Fortunately, Actors

Co-op is reviving Charles

Ludlam’s burlesque “The

Mystery of Irma Vep — A

Penny Dreadful.”

Why this?This spirited

melodrama pokes fun at

horror movies of the 1930s

and ’40s along with popular

films including “Rebecca”

and “Wuthering Heights.”

Two actors take on an ab-

surd variety of roles, often

within a single conversa-

tion. Their quick-change

feats, which can leave even

the fittest out of breath, rely

so heavily on theatrical

ingenuity that the back-

stage crew becomes an

unseen costar.

Details:The Actors

Co-op Crossley Theatre,

1760 N. Gower St., Holly-

wood. 8 p.m. Fridays-Sat-

urdays, 2:30 p.m Sundays,

through Nov. 10; see website

for exceptions and addi-

tions. $35. (323) 462-8460 or

actorsco-op.org.

THE 99-SEAT BEAT

Ripped from the headlines?

By Margaret Gray

To find juicy plots, poor old Shakespeare had to slog

through “Holinshed’s Chronicles” and “Plutarch’s Lives.”

Today’s playwrights need only switch on the news for mate-

rial. Opening this week on SoCal’s small stages are three

plays that use current events as jumping-off points for
cultural exploration. “Never Ever Land” fictionalizes a well

known sexual assault case involving a megastar. In “A Kid

Like Jake,” parents struggle to make the best choices for

their gender-nonconforming child. “Yoga Play” invites us to

an apparel manufacturer whose Eastern spiritual values

and Western capitalism comically clash. The fourth play on

our list, Charles Ludlam’s entertaining horror satire “The

Mystery of Irma Vep,” is included as a palate cleanser, a

bracing shot of camp.

Shortly after 9/11, Jessye
Norman was scheduled to
sing Schubert’s solemn song
cycle “Die Winterreise”
(Winter’s Journey) staged
by Robert Wilson in Paris.
She called the director first
thing in the morning and
said she had been crying all
night, overcome with emo-
tion about the terrorist at-
tacks, and she couldn’t pos-
sibly perform that night.
“But Jessye,” Wilson told
her, “that’s why you haveto
sing. We need to hear your
voice.”
She did sing. And sure
enough, during a sad song,
she started to cry, Wilson re-
counted on the phone this
week from Düsseldorf, Ger-
many, where he is rehears-
ing. “Tears ran down her
face, and she stopped and
just stood. Not singing, not
moving, just standing.
“I don’t know anyone who
could have done that. What
she was feeling was so deep
in just standing there that it
moved the entire audience
to tears,” Wilson continued,
his voice breaking. “For 10
minutes! For 10 minutes!
“Her silence could be
even more moving and more
powerful than her singing.”
That’s saying a lot, be-
cause Norman, who died
Monday at age 74, had a
voice that, in her prime,
filled any room or arena with
a glorious sound capable of
taking over your psyche. She
had a presence that could
hypnotize an audience.
I once told her that I
wished she would run for
president. She was smart.
She devoted her life not just
to her voice but to using her
voice to make the world a
better place. She was the
most dedicated superstar in
opera. She was articulate
and measured her every
word. Most of all, she could
make you vote for her. She
had that kind of command.
She laughed at the sug-
gestion. She had huge, mag-
netic eyes that then seemed
to turn in their sockets.
“Hmmm,” she said. More
laughter. But the amazing
thing is that even in that
laughter, there was stillness.

I had never seen anyone who

could be so inside her own

body and make that so

meaningful.

As we look back on the

career of one of America’s

most celebrated opera stars

— forget opera, she was a

transformative artist, plain

and simple — the 10 silent

Paris minutes are worthy of

entering opera lore, as they

are of finding room in the an-

nals of 9/11. What they repre-

sent, as only Norman (or

Miss Norman as even some

of her closest friends ad-

dressed her, ever in awe)

could, is the capacity of art

to make us go so deeply in-

side our emotions that we

overcome them and have a

new awareness, a mini en-

lightenment.

Yes, she made stock op-

eratic characters come star-

tlingly to life. Yes, she

brought an intensity to

Strauss’ “Four Last Songs,”

to Isolde’s “Liebestod,” to

Mahler’s “Song of the

Earth,” all that end-of-days

music that treads the line

between life and death.

Yes, she got all the hon-

ors, the Grammys, the med-

als, the awards that the

world has to give artists. She

sang for five presidents.

Jimmy Carter, who turned

95 the day after she died, had

made Norman promise to

sing at his funeral.

And, yes, you can read

her memoirs, listen to her re-

cordings and get a good idea

of the exceptional care with

which she managed her

voice, her art and her life.

That’s all knowable. But

Norman, herself, is far less

knowable. Wilson seems to

be a too-little-acknowledged

player in her development.

So too, Southern California,

which proved fertile ground

for the Georgia-born Nor-

man to grow as a singer. She

made her debut at the Holly-

wood Bowl’s 50th anniversa-

ry concert in 1972, an un-

known starring in a gala con-

cert performance of “Aida”

with a young James Levine

conducting. She was back in

town at the Bowl or with the

Los Angeles Philharmonic

or in recital every season for

the rest of the decade.

She didn’t make all that

much of an impression in

these pages, however. Re-

peated appearances got in-

creasingly less play. She was

considered to have a very

large voice but one lacking

personality and, well, not al-

ways in control — magnifi-

cent if ungainly.

Her reputation grew, and

in 1983, Norman made her

Metropolitan Opera debut

as Dido in Berlioz’s “Les

Troyens.” Martin

Bernheimer, The Times mu-

sic critic who died Sunday,

wrote in his not-altogether-

gallant way that he was im-

pressed. “She proved,” he

said, “that histrionic re-

straint and expressive inten-

sity can do much to counter-

act the romantic disadvan-

tage of a decidedly ample

physique.”

In point of fact, she was,

by this point, incomparable.

Something had happened to

her while she was working

for the first time with Wilson

in a staged production of

spirituals called “Great Day

in the Morning” in Paris. In

that production she found

her focus, her bearing, her

being. She was groomed to

be, if not president, at least

queen. The next year she

would have appeared with

David Bowie in the eight-

hour mega-opera “the CIVIL

warS” that Wilson had de-

vised for the L.A. Olympic

Arts Festival had the fund-

ing been raised.

“Amazing Grace” was the

final song. Norman wrote in

her memoir, “Stand Up

Straight and Sing!”: “Under

Bob Wilson’s direction, I

sang this unaccompanied

while pouring, over the

course of a full four minutes,

a pitcher of water, lighted

from above and below, onto a

Lucite table, the water and

light flowing seamlessly

from pitcher to tabletop to

floor, the audience becom-

ing a part of that continuous

stream. We had, in the end,

become one.”

I always figured this was

the moment of great trans-

formation when Jessye Nor-

man became Jessye Nor-

man. Wilson denies he had

much to do with it. He sim-

ply saw in her what the rest

of us missed. He helped give

her a little more confidence

and demonstrated how she

might move more slowly and

smoothly.

“She had nobility in just

sitting or standing,” Wilson

explained. “When I first met

her in the early ’70s, I just

couldn’t take my eyes off her.

She was so beautiful sitting,

and when she stood it was as

beautiful as when she sang.”

All he claims to have done

is brought that out for oth-

ers to see. “She always

understood her body,” he

said.

Wilson described an inci-

dent when he first got to

know her. After attending an

opera performance in Ams-

terdam, they encountered

the police attacking a black

man on the street. Norman

asked what was going on.

“The police said it was

none of your business,” Wil-

son recounted, “and she

said, ‘It is my business.’ We

went to the police station

with the man and waited all

night long. She refused to

leave until they released

him.”

Rachael Worby, artistic

director of the Pasadena en-

semble Muse/ique and Nor-

man’s regular conductor on

tours, expressed much the

same thing. “They may call

her a diva,” Worby said, “but

everything she did was really

at the service of raising peo-

ple up. She gravitated

towards people, such as

Henry Louis Gates Jr., Glo-

ria Steinem and Maya An-

gelou, people whose life work

is to deal with chaos.”

One of Norman’s last

projects was appearing in a

San Francisco Symphony

performance of John Cage’s

“Song Books,” with avant-

garde singers Meredith

Monk and Joan La Barbara.

Michael Tilson Thomas, a

longtime Norman friend and

the only one who could con-

ceive of such a trio, con-

ducted. Yuval Sharon di-

rected.

Sharon said he was terri-

fied to ask this legend to do

things like sit at a typewriter

and do nothing. “But it was

so moving,” he said, “to see

her strip away the veneer

and just give herself com-

pletely to the material.

“She had to unlearn be-

ing herself and just be pre-

sent. But she, in fact, had a

quiet obedience about the

project.”

Having bonded with

Monk, Norman had hoped to

attend one of the L.A. Phil

performances of Monk’s op-

era, “Atlas,” that Sharon di-

rected in June. By then Nor-

man, who was using a wheel-

chair and in great pain, was

unable to travel. But it’s nice

to think she was there in

spirit, since this would have

made a lovely closing of the

circle that began with “Aida”

and the L.A. Phil at the Bowl

47 years earlier.

Jessye Norman will not

be forgotten. And “Great

Day in the Morning” should

not be either. It was record-

ed, yet her label, Philips, re-

leased it only as an LP in

France and never made it

available on CD or down-

load. It belongs on any list of

the world’s greatest record-

ings. None of her many as-

tonishing recordings has

been remastered in high res-

olution sound, not that any

resolution is high enough to

capture her essence. She de-

serves better.

AN APPRECIATION

Jessye Norman used her voice wisely

“A RTmakes each of us whole by insisting that we use all of our senses,” Jessye Norman said. She died Monday.

Mariah TaugerLos Angeles Times

The singer spoke up

when her conscience

said to. She also

understood stillness.

MARK SWED
MUSIC CRITIC