Category — Critic’s Corner

The Susan Meiselas exhibit at the International Center for Photography is eye opening. Not only is Meiselas a master of visual composition, but she also uses her photographs to document the strife all around the world, in Nicaragua, in Kurdistan, and even in America. In all three of her sets she examines the notion of nationalism under oppressive regimes, while also looking closer at the individual’s identity. [Read more →]

After several unsatisfying and downright disappointing performances all semester Clay let me love theatre again.  I had almost become one of those anti-stage cynics, the opposite of what I had grown up as, because I was so disheartened by the boring performances I have been subject to as of late.  So this hip-hop musical, shining lights in my face and shoving sounds in my ears, brought me back behind the curtains and excited about the presence of one great performer. [Read more →]

The concept of war is one that transcends time. Conflict in one form or another is a part of human nature and war has been around throughout the whole of human history. Soldiers are, more often than not, the ones who have to pay the price of war. This point was very clearly made in the play, In Conflict. As the audience hears the words of soldiers who have recently returned from the conflict in Iraq, it becomes abundantly clear that the war has left them both physically and emotionally scarred. It is truly sobering to hear the toll that war takes upon those who have to wage it. [Read more →]

Upon hearing the words, “hip-hop musical”, I instantly thought it was an alternative term for a rap concert. It never occurred to me that it could be a superb one-man performance that is driven by a well-constructed story. Clay was just that, a one-man hip-hop musical that chronicles the life of a young man who goes from awkward teen named Clifford to a rapper extraordinaire named Clay. [Read more →]

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Only a few hours after spending the evening with my classmates at “Clay”, we met again in the morning at ICP, the International Center of Photography. This is a museum where famous photographers display pictures they took all over the world. Photographs that depict a culture that I do not know much about fascinate me. I find that it is much easier to understand and visualize another country’s political turmoil and struggles through images rather than by just reading about them in a newspaper. [Read more →]

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Walking through Times Square at eight p.m. on a fall evening is an electrifying experience. My class was there to see Clay, a show that is the polar opposite of Dr. Atomic, the opera we saw at the Met the week before. Dr. Atomic had many performers who sang to slow, soft opera music, while Clay had one singer, Matt Sax, who performed hip-hop. [Read more →]

Even though his photography is black and white instead of color, Cornell Capa’s photography caught my eye at the ICP exhibit.  The contrast between light and dark in his photographs brings out different textures and adds movement in his art.  His photographs are not as much art however, as they are an act of humanitarianism.  Capa captured images in a journalistic approach.  He intended to educate the world with his photos.  His subjects often included people in countries with political turmoil, mostly in Central America. [Read more →]

When one thinks of the word “musical” they probably don’t think of rap music. Actually, it’s probably the farthest thing from the typical musical. When I heard that it was a one-man show I was interested and skeptical that it would actually work. As it turns out, it was more than successful.

If there had been many other performers with him on stage I think he would have overs [Read more →]

As you walk across the glistening White Sands desert in central New Mexico, you would never have imagined that a historic event had happened there 63 years ago. You pick up a green, glassy substance. What lies on your hand is trinitite, evidence of the first atomic explosion. What happened here, the events that lead to the detonation, and the psychological fear and stress of those involved in the Manhattan Project is the subject of the opera “Doctor Atomic” with dramatic music by John Adams and a libretto by Peter Sellars. Doctor Atomic brilliantly revived the historic yet modern event that marked mankind’s highest ambitions and deepest fears. [Read more →]

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Director Ari Folman described his work as applicable to the soldiers of any war. True to this description, Waltz with Bashir, while avoiding mediocrity through its unique art style and articulate direction, fails to ever accomplish anything previous war movies have not. [Read more →]