6 THENEWYORKER,MARCH8, 2021
ILLUSTRATION BY NHUNG LÊ
The National Geographic Channel’s anthology series “Genius” stretches
the traditional, glossy Hollywood bio-pic into multi-hour television
epics. This taffy-pulling method has been hit or miss. The first season,
about the scientist Albert Einstein (played by Geoffrey Rush), had
moments of sappiness but also plenty of flinty and exciting edges. The
second, in which Antonio Banderas played the painter Pablo Picasso, felt
flabbier and less successful, an over-polished, hagiographic mishmash.
There was going to be a season about the writer Mary Shelley, but the
network scrapped it after the producers “couldn’t find a way to crack it
creatively.” Now a third season has finally emerged, and, thankfully, it
is the best of the lot. In “Genius: Aretha,” lovingly shepherded by the
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, the triple-threat
actor Cynthia Erivo takes on the role of the Queen of Soul, Aretha
Franklin. Although the show falls into some formulaic ruts (relying too
heavily on gauzy flashback scenes, for instance), Erivo’s acute, lionhearted
portrayal of one of music’s most talented divas ultimately succeeds. This
is a powerhouse showcase for a powerhouse performance, and for that
it is worth your time and respect.—Rachel SymeONTELEVISION
of a neighborhood (Los Angeles’s Skid Row)
that has been systematically neglected with
policies that have confined the city’s homeless
population to a small area. But the documentary
withholds this information until the last min-
ute, instead indulging a series of “Web sleuths,”
who became obsessed with the Lam case and
are given bizarrely free rein to unspool their
wild theories. Many of the sleuths ultimately
apologize for turning one woman’s devastating
death into viral content, but their mea culpas
show how retelling the story in this sensational
format might be repeating the harmful cycle
once again.—R.S.It’s a Sin
This new drama, by Russell T. Davies (on HBO
Max), centers on a group of friends living to-
gether in London during the first decade of
the AIDS crisis, when the ignorance that al-
lowed H.I.V. to spread was both individualand societal. The flatmates include Jill (played
with warmth and sensitivity by Lydia West),
a drama student, who is desperate to educate
herself about the peculiar sickness that is be-
ginning to blight her circle of friends, mostly
gay men; Ritchie (the singer Olly Alexander),
her best friend, who remains closeted at his
family home, on the provincial Isle of Wight,
but is gloriously liberated among his newfound
peers in London; Colin (Callum Scott How-
ells), a shy apprentice tailor on Savile Row; the
handsome, confident Ash (Nathaniel Curtis),
who starts out as a drama student but ends up
as a teacher; and Roscoe (Omari Douglas), who
flees the home of his religious parents to work
at a gay bar. Davies honors the eighties, and
those who died and lived during those years—
and reminds us that the period was also one of
joyful freedom, for which the only appropriate
term was, and is, life-affirming.—Rebecca Mead1
DANCENew York City Ballet
This season, the company is diversifying its
free virtual offerings, adding conversations
and backstage footage to the mix. The first few
weeks include spotlights on three Balanchine
ballets, the third of which is “Stravinsky Violin
Concerto,” from 1972. It’s a striking work that
begins and ends with energetic, even competi-
tive dances for large ensembles. These sections
frame two contrasting pas de deux, one fraught
with aggression, the other oppressive and full
of need. On March 8, the ballet is the subject
of a podcast interview with one of its original
interpreters, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux. This is
followed by an open rehearsal and discussion
with the company dancers Sara Mearns and
Claire Kretzschmar, on March 9. And, on March
11, N.Y.C.B. broadcasts a recent performance
of the full ballet, starring Sterling Hyltin, Ask
la Cour, Sara Mearns, and Taylor Stanley. Also
on March 9, the troupe presents a conversation
with three dancers who will be retiring in the
fall—la Cour, Maria Kowroski, and Gonzalo
García—when, hopefully, the company returns
to the stage.—Marina Harss (nycballet.com)Martha Graham Dance Company
For its digital “Martha Matinee” on March
6, the company broadcasts “Every Soul Is a
Circus” (1939), one of Graham’s few come-
dies. The rarely seen film of the work features
the original cast of Graham, Erick Hawkins,
and—in his first role with the company—
Merce Cunningham. Originally silent, the
film now includes a recording of the score,
by Paul Nordoff. Graham experts contribute
context and trivia in a live chat.—Brian Seibert
(marthagraham.org)San Francisco Ballet
The company’s digital season continues
with Program 3 (available on the troupe’s
Web site March 4-24), a triptych of ballets,
one of which, “Wooden Dimes,” was created
and filmed during the pandemic. Its cho-
reographer, Danielle Rowe, sets the story
in the Jazz Age, following a “Star Is Born”
pattern, with a loving couple shaken by the
female partner’s rise to stardom. It includes
an original score by the American composeroften lovely. “Barb and Star” may not be great
cinema, but it is great kitsch, and, like the best
cult hits, it’s the sort of movie that will bloom
with time and multiple viewings.—Rachel Syme
(Streaming on YouTube, Apple TV+, and other
services.)
Crime Scene: The Vanishing
atthe Cecil Hotel
This four-part, tabloidish documentary quickly
shot to the top of Netflix’s most-watched list
when it débuted, last month. The fervor makes
sense in an age of zealous true-crime rubber-
necking; the show investigates a hotly debated
unsolved mystery—the death, at the downtown
Los Angeles hotel the Cecil, of a guest named
Elisa Lam, who, in 2013, was found inside one
of the hotel’s rooftop water tanks—and the
Cecil’s haunted past. The story is a tragic tale of
a woman struggling with her mental health, and