By Rodger Skidmore
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No, not baseball…and not a two-headed tiger, but two magical mystery tour exhibitions at the Ringling Museum.
The first is Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums, which runs through July 13. The word conjure comes from a similar Latin word meaning to join a plot or conspiracy. And joining a conspiracy with the spirit world sounds kind of diabolical, to say the least. The concept of spirits, or ghosts, has been with us since forever. But, in years past, they were always just shadows hidden by darkness and mist. Almost there, but always behind the wind rustled curtain. Seeing a hint of a spirit yourself, or hearing of someone else “actually” seeing a spirit was commonplace, but “proving” there were spirits was another thing altogether.
In our current world, we’ve seen how rudimentary technology could crop an “unwanted” politician or general from Russian photos – someone standing next to Stalin in one edition of a book and gone forever in the next. With Photoshop, those wishing to deceive could go a lot further. And now with AI, who knows what wonders will be foist upon us.
In America, with so many dead in the Civil War, questions were easily created in grieving minds. With cheaply printed posters and flyers, stages in every town, and penny newspapers seeking increased circulation, the time was right for charlatans and frauds to dupe the unskeptical. Or, for those with special powers to pass little known truths to a wider audience.
One wonder discussed in the exhibit is the tapping hand. Ask a question and the hand would tap once for a yes or twice for a no. On display is an updated version–ask a question into a microphone and a voice on a TV gives an answer. One question asked was, “Will the LA Dodgers move back to Brooklyn?” The answer given was “No.”
This exhibition in the Ringling’s Searing Galleries shows and tells the who, what, and sometimes why, of the unnatural world.
Currents of Resistance, a solo exhibit on display through August 10 in the Monda Gallery, melds the past into the present, critiques systems of power, and envisions alternative futures. Sandy Rodriguez takes plant specimens containing medicinal properties, mixes them with variously colored earths, and infuses them with water collected from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of Florida, creating pigments for her site-specific inks and watercolors.
Updating 16th century colonial codices and maps with more current geopolitical images, she has found a way to reconnect memory to land as a healing process. These inks are applied onto amate, a ceremonial bark paper outlawed by the Spanish during their colonial period.
Some of the larger works are mounted on curved walls producing, in one’s mind, a 3D Cinerama-type effect. In the past, parts of this series were based on colonial aggression along the US-Mexico border, in the American Southwest, and in Mexico. Ms. Rodriguez, a recipient of the Hermitage Greenfield Prize, has based these new works, created at the Hermitage Artist Retreat on Manasota Key, on the stories of resilience and resistance in the Gulf region. More info on both exhibitions at ringling.org
Why do we move?
Oh, so many reasons: To a bigger, newer house or later to downsize; to retire to Florida or to the south of Spain; to move away from our past or later to move back nearer to our parents, or closer to our children……….or to live somewhere, where we can live a better life. Or to a place where our children can have a better life. Yes, we can be migrants in our own land.
In a way, we all live in a ghetto. A ghetto is not just where a certain type of underprivileged people’s lives, it can also be a place where a group of like individuals have to, or choose to, live. Chinatown, Little Italy, Grosse Point, Harlem, our HOA, or wherever.
Some questions are: Does someone enjoy where they live? Do they find enough in common with those people that are supposed to be like them? Do they like the way those similar people act? Do they like how those who don’t live in their particular ghetto act towards them just because they live in that particular ghetto? Is there a place to which they can move–perhaps into a different ghetto, or, maybe into that really diverse place which they believe actually exists?
Even if one packs all of one’s physical belongings into one 9” x 14” Spirit Airlines carry-on bag, they bring a lot of extra baggage with them wherever they go. Old ways, old beliefs or others seeing you in the same way, ghetto or no ghetto.
Yes, life is hard, and then your family becomes characters in a play. The distance From 145th to 98th Street is just 47 blocks in big old New York. It could also be the distance from wherever you are to the moon. When the Curtly family makes that move, to bring their two children into a different world where they can build a better life, the push/pull from within and without becomes another set of obstacles which must be overcome. Join the Curtlys (at the Urbanite Theatre on 2nd Street until June 29) on their journey to their better/different/other world and see where they, and you, wind up. Info at urbanitetheatre.com.
Jesus Christ / Eva Peron, what’s the difference?
Well, on the surface, none. Both, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita were musicals from the pens of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, along with another Broadway/London shows on which they collaborated. But dig a bit deeper and, while they were eons and continents apart, there were complicated similarities and differences.
Ms. Peron, born on 5/7/1919, supported labor rights and women’s suffrage. Jesus, on the other hand, was born on 1/1/0, and supported all rights and suffered for his people.
Jesus lived for about 33 years, a bit long to include all of life’s details in an hour and forty-minute musical, so Rice and Webber have zeroed in on his last three days. They start with Jesus and the twelve apostles approaching Jerusalem, basically to fulfill prophecies related to Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection.
Anxious and tired Jesus stops to rest and is comforted by Mary Magdalene. Judas Iscariot sees this and begins to complain about Jesus to the other apostles. And to the community leaders. And to the Roman authorities. Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch. Maybe he tried to be a mensch, but eh.
While all the action takes place within a short period of time, it gives Jesus time to question his role in these events, and its value. And for Judas, the authorities, the apostles, the religious leaders and the community, to question their roles as well. Naturally each only can do so based on their knowledge of the situation, which shows the conflicts that must be brought to a conclusion.
Like many movies and TV shows, they say that this musical is based on a true story. Of course, there are many versions of this story, so it is nice that this one has great music and lyrics. And since this story, and this version of Jesus Christ Superstar (running through June 15), is directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes (who also brought Cabaret, The Sound of Music, and Evita to the Asolo Rep at the Florida State Center for the Performing Arts) there is a high probability that this will be great also. More info at asolorep.org
From Bach to Villa-Lobos, and lots of music in between
Last month’s column mentioned that the Sarasota Music Festival was starting with a lovely concert on the 1st of June at Holley Hall. That’s one down and 12 more to go.
Musicians that Sarasota love often return here. So, appropriately, Tessa Lark Returns will be at Holley Hall the afternoon of June 5. The first piece on the concert is Heitor Villa-Lobos’ flute and cello piece titled The Jet Whistle. Who knew that noise pollution could sound so pleasant. The balance of the program features Ms. Lark on violin with Jeffrey Kahane at the piano on two of the selections.
The next evening Lark and Kahane assist others at the Sarasota Opera House on Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4. One piece on the program is Mike Block’s Global Music Collaboration with Block on cello.
On the 12th, the Miró Quartet Plays Schubert is an aptly named concert. Specifically, his Rondo in B Minor (with extra violin and Robert Levin on piano) and String Quintet in C Major (with extra cello). There will also be selections by Henri Tomasi and Daniel Bjarnason. The Miró Quartet hangs around the Opera House till the next evening and plays Ginastrea’s String Quartet No. 1. Also on the program is Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 (Death and the Maiden). It was written when he learned that he, himself, did not have much longer to live. This is an orchestral version arranged by Mahler some years later.
Robert Levin, who is giving a lecture at Holley Hall the afternoon of the 11th, is also conducting (and featured in) Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major) on the 14th at the Opera House. Pieces by Coleridge-Taylor and Dvořák round out that concert.
The piano and cello are wonderful instruments. If these two are your favorites, then the Holley Hall concert on the 19th is a must. Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata in G Minor, performed by Clive Greensmith, cello, and Jeffrey Kahane, piano. Haydn’s Divertimento: No. 1 and Turina’s Piano Quartet in A Minor precede this masterwork.
As everyone knows, summer is here, and Summer Music by Samuel Barber starts the concert at the Opera House on the 20th. It is followed by Strauss’s Metamorphosen and then two compositions by Gabriel Kahane, October 1, 1939 / Port of Hamburg and Heirloom: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with Gabriel’s father at the piano and conducting.
The Festival Finale at the Sarasota Opera House on the 21st starts with Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Major featuring Elena Urioste on violin. Korngold, seeing the future written in broken glass, moved permanently from Germany to America in 1938. He vowed to write only music for the movies (he had to support his family) until Hitler was defeated. In 1945 he transitioned back to classical music with this piece which contained references to his movie work. The three movements include themes from Another Dawn, Juarez, Anthony Adverse and The Prince and the Pauper. FYI: Korngold won three Oscars for his movie music (in ’39, ’40 and ’41). The concert ends with Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C Major.
There are three Rising Stars concerts at Holley Hall during the festival on the afternoons of the 8th, 15th and 20th, where younger Festival Fellows perform movements from their favorite chamber works.
Had enough great music played by great musicians? No? Then get a pass for one (or more) of the rehearsals and masterclasses held at Holley Hall during the festival. More info on everything at sarasotaorchestra.org.
Really?
Most people, living in or just wandering around Sarasota, know that this fair city is located on (actually, next to) Sarasota Bay. But did you know that The Bay Park is just south of the Van Wezel. It includes two giant metal ibis that children can climb into and slide out of? Also, did you know that there is an amphitheater where you can watch movies at night or do Pilates, Tai Chi, Namaste, Qigong and other healthy stuff during the day? Check out this great gift from Sarasota to you at thebaysarasota.org/calendar.
