88 new york | march 16–29, 2020
weird. Among the solipsistic and/or transcen-
dent gems are Akira Kurosawa’s immortal Ikiru,
Lucrecia Martel’s The Holy Girl, Andrew Ahn’s
Spa Night, and Jem Cohen’s Museum Hours. Tr y
not to see them with someone you love. Or sit on
the other side of the theater. d.e.
THEATER- (^) See
Coal Country
Mining grief for tragedy’s sake.
Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street,
through April 5.
At the start of Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s
documentary production, a judge enters to
inform the relatives of those killed in the 2010
Upper Big Branch mine collapse that their victim-
impact statements won’t be heard. What follows
is a powerful, painful show that is itself those very
accounts: Actors perform testimonials verbatim,
expressing anguish at deaths that could have been
averted by union protections. Steve Earle, the
great rock-folk artist, performs alongside them,
a singing Virgil for families walking into hell. He
transmutes grief first into beauty—then into a call
to action. h.s.
POP MUSIC - (^) See New York City
Gay Men’s Chorus
Warm your pipes.
NYU Skirball Center, March 20 to 22.
At this year’s New York City Gay Men’s Chorus
sing-along show, the theme is “Divas, Divas,
Divas,” so expect to hear the greats, including
Céline Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,”
Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” and Lady Gaga’s “Born
This Way,” natch.
CLASSICAL MUSIC - (^) Hear
Jonathan Biss
Boogie-woogie.
92nd Street Y, March 26.
Biss has spent years teaching a much-loved online
course on his specialty, Beethoven’s piano sona-
tas, and by the end of the 12 weeks, students have
burrowed into a life written on 88 keys. In this
recital, Biss jumps to the story’s finale, perform-
ing the last three sonatas in order, and ending the
series Sopranos style, with trills, tremolos, and
scales fading into the darkness. j.d.
BOOKS - (^) Read We R ide
Upon Sticks
When a poet writes a novel.
Pantheon.
Set in a Massachusetts town whose history goes
back to the Salem witch trials, Quan Barry’s
splendid novel captures the giddy fun of 1980s
pop culture in a story about the rise of a high-
school women’s varsity field-hockey team via
potentially supernatural means. “The prose style
is neon, and the laughs do not stop,” writes New
York’s Molly Young. “I feel like the author wrote
the entire book with an evil grin on her face.”
INTELLIGENCER.COM/NEWSLETTER
POLITICS | BUSINESS | TECHNOLOGY | IDEAS
Intelligence,
in every sense
of the word.
TRANSMITTED
REVISED
____ COPY DD AD PD EIC
0620CR_ToDo_lay [Print]_36887608.indd 88 3/12/20 2:45 PM
weird. Among the solipsistic and/or transcen-
dent gems are Akira Kurosawa’s immortal Ikiru,
Lucrecia Martel’s The Holy Girl, Andrew Ahn’s
Spa Night, and Jem Cohen’s Museum Hours. Tr y
not to see them with someone you love. Or sit on
the other side of the theater. d.e.
THEATER - (^) See
Coal Country
Mining grief for tragedy’s sake.
Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street,
through April 5.
At the start of Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s
documentary production, a judge enters to
inform the relatives of those killed in the 2010
Upper Big Branch mine collapse that their victim-
impact statements won’t be heard. What follows
is a powerful, painful show that is itself those very
accounts: Actors perform testimonials verbatim,
expressing anguish at deaths that could have been
averted by union protections. Steve Earle, the
great rock-folk artist, performs alongside them,
a singing Virgil for families walking into hell. He
transmutes grief first into beauty—then into a call
to action. h.s.
POP MUSIC - (^) See New York City
Gay Men’s Chorus
Warm your pipes.
NYU Skirball Center, March 20 to 22.
At this year’s New York City Gay Men’s Chorus
sing-along show, the theme is “Divas, Divas,
Divas,” so expect to hear the greats, including
Céline Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,”
Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” and Lady Gaga’s “Born
This Way,” natch.
CLASSICAL MUSIC - (^) Hear
Jonathan Biss
Boogie-woogie.
92nd Street Y, March 26.
Biss has spent years teaching a much-loved online
course on his specialty, Beethoven’s piano sona-
tas, and by the end of the 12 weeks, students have
burrowed into a life written on 88 keys. In this
recital, Biss jumps to the story’s finale, perform-
ing the last three sonatas in order, and ending the
series Sopranos style, with trills, tremolos, and
scales fading into the darkness. j.d.
BOOKS - (^) Read We R ide
Upon Sticks
When a poet writes a novel.
Pantheon.
Set in a Massachusetts town whose history goes
back to the Salem witch trials, Quan Barry’s
splendid novel captures the giddy fun of 1980s
pop culture in a story about the rise of a high-
school women’s varsity field-hockey team via
potentially supernatural means. “The prose style
is neon, and the laughs do not stop,” writes New
York’s Molly Young. “I feel like the author wrote
the entire book with an evil grin on her face.”
INTELLIGENCER.COM/NEWSLETTER
POLITICS | BUSINESS | TECHNOLOGY | IDEAS
Intelligence,
in every sense
of the word.