MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 C1
NNEWS CRITICISM
2 THEATER
Site-specific plays
embrace the idea
of interruption.
BY MAYA PHILLIPS4 MUSICA pair of sisters, and their
pianos. BY ROSLYN SULCAS
3 BOOKSAcclaim for a new debut
novel. BY ALEXANDRA ALTER
As the longtime cabaret backers Adela and
Larry Elow approached their 90s, their
thoughts turned to today’s teenagers and
what the Great American Songbook means
to their future — whether they know it or
not. “Most of them aren’t aware of this mu-
sic, because their parents are young people,
too,” said Adela. Larry, a jazz pianist and
composer in his earlier years, was more
blunt. “Their parents are rock addicts,” he
lamented. “But the songbook is our great
legacy.”
To drive that point home, the couple,
members of the board of trustees of the Ma-
bel Mercer Foundation, created an endow-
ment for budding singers, to be distributed
as part of the organization’s annual NewYork Cabaret Convention. This year
marked the third Adela and Larry Elow
American Songbook High School Competi-
tion — and, because of Covid-19, the first to
be held online for the 1st Virtual Cabaret
Convention. As usual, competitors per-
formed songs written between 1900 and- Only students from New York City
public performing arts schools requiring
auditions were eligible, and this year the
winner and finalists are all women. Four are
artists of color.
The foundation’s artistic director, the cab-
aret veteran KT Sullivan, noted that several
alumni of the competition are already rising
stars — among them last year’s winner,
Anaïs Reno, still only 16, who has performed
at Birdland and Feinstein’s/54 Below.
“When these young artists perform
songs from the American songbook for
their peers, they all get excited,” Sullivan
said. “Because the songs take us some-
where — they’re stories.” Reno, Savannah
Lee Henry (this year’s winner, not shown
above), and the other 2020 finalists shared
details of their own stories, and where they
see themselves headed.
A closer look at the singers is on Page 5.SIMBARASHE CHA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESA New Generation of Showstoppers
Backed by a cabaret competition, young singers
prepare to carry on the Great American Songbook.
By ELYSA GARDNERFrom left, Julia
Parasram, Jennifer
Poroye, Anaïs Reno,
Kylie McNeill and
Leonay Shepherd.Early in the pandemic, Matthew Warchus,
the artistic director of London’s Old Vic the-
ater, got a lot of attention in the British press
for his dire warning about the existential
threat to nonprofit theater posed by an in-
definite shutdown.
But then Warchus — a British theater-
maker who has regularly worked on Broad-
way (“Matilda,” “A Christmas Carol”) —
picked himself up and sprang into action.
He set in motion an attention-getting series
of live-streamed, small-cast dramas, per-
formed by socially distanced big-name ac-
tors before the cavernous empty house at
the Old Vic.
He started with Claire Foy and Matt
Smith, co-stars in TV’s “The Crown,” in
“Lungs,” a marriage play that had origi-
nated at the Old Vic and, before the pan-
demic intervened, was slated to run at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music. His produc-
tion of “Three Kings” starred Andrew Scott
of “Fleabag,” and “Faith Healer” featured
Michael Sheen. For each production,
Warchus tried to offset the limited visual
possibilities by using multiple cameras and
Zoom windows to further the storytelling.
During a period when many theaters
have turned to archival material, prere-
corded work and readings, and some ofNew York’s biggest nonprofits seem to have
disappeared, the Old Vic’s commitment to
shows that are new and live has stood out.
Financially, it’s a hit: the Old Vic has sold
30,000 tickets to people in 73 countries.
Warchus, who has been nominated for
the Tony Award seven times and won once,It’s Empty
Of Patrons,
But Old Vic
Has ‘Heat’
Claire Foy and Matt
Smith in a scene from a
dress rehearsal of
“Lungs” at London’s
Old Vic Theater.MANUEL HARLANThe appetite for livestreamed
theater is huge, said Matthew
Warchus, the artistic director.
By MICHAEL PAULSONCONTINUED ON PAGE C4A woman’s lawsuit that once challenged the
culture of the New York City Ballet withered
last month when a judge dismissed the com-
pany and several other defendants from the
case.
The plaintiff, Alexandra Waterbury, 23,
had discovered in May 2018 that her boy-
friend, a principal dancer with City Ballet,
had shared explicit photos and videos of her
with others affiliated with the company.
Her 2018 suit contended that City Ballet
played a role in condoning a culture that en-
abled such “fraternity-like” behavior. The
suit led to scrutiny of the company as well
as to disciplinary action against two danc-
ers who had shared intimate images of
women, though not of Ms. Waterbury.
Those disciplinary actions have since
been reversed, and the lawsuit now has only
a lone defendant, Chase Finlay, the ex-boy-
friend whose sharing of photos led Ms. Wa-
terbury to feel so personally betrayed.
But the dispute remains a bitter legal bat-
tle that intensified this month when Mr. Fin-
lay, 30, offered an expansive rebuttal to her
charges in a court filing. In it, he acknowl-
edges sharing the photos but asserts that itA Scandal
At City Ballet
Takes a Twist
A dancer who shared explicit
photos says his accuser hit him.
By JULIA JACOBSCONTINUED ON PAGE C6.