Alex Barash
culture editor
It seems fitting that John Wilson, after spending four years depicting the various eccentricities of New York, With his own abilities, he has become a local super celebrity. In July, the Museum of the Moving Image announced the return of his HBO documentary comedy: “How to Get Along with John Wilson” A marathon of hours and seasons. A free early screening of the finale drew eager crowds to a public plaza in the Meatpacking District this week. So far, the formula for a particular episode is well established: Wilson greets viewers with a gentle “Hey, New York” in voiceover, outlines his daily tasks, and then follows the stranger down a rabbit hole of increasingly absurdity. The result is playful, but also consistently empathetic; Rehearsal creator Nathan Fielder deadpanned his subject’s frantic remarks, “Oh, well,” Wilson responded with sincerity , “WowThrough this lens, even small observations and menial tasks can become poignant. Airing in 2020, the pilot begins with the promise to help viewers master small talk, featuring Wilson in Cancun as a The death of a friend and the unlikely confidant of the party boy who fought it ended.Tonight’s finale, which was ostensibly about tracking packages, actually took a spin into more exciting territory, and that’s not a spoiler.
Image from season 3 of “How To with John Wilson”.Photo: Thomas Wilson / Courtesy of HBO
The outbreak of the pandemic caused the second season to become even more isolating. The third unfolded again, but also dug deeper. Knowing it would be the last, Wilson seemed poised to make technical and emotional changes. If we still can’t see the man behind the camera, we do learn about his insecurities, his motivations, and how big a joke he’s up to (or, in the case of an elaborate stunt involving a malfunctioning toilet, tax credit). The penultimate episode, “How to Watch Birds,” sheds light on how some of those too-good-to-be-believable shots are constructed. But the most telling line comes early on, when a birder explains her own philosophy of observing the mundane: “If we happen to not see much, just go ahead and say ‘wow,’ and Train yourself to be amazed by what you see. Here, now.”
spotlight
Illustration by Bernardo Rodriguez
broadway
Leslie Odom, Jr. loves Ossie Davis’ performance “Pulley Victory” Beginning in 1961, Odom began auditioning with monologues; Kara Young (Kara Young) star opposite. On “Hamilton,” Odom played Aaron Burr, a man forever excluded from the room where policy was made, but in this comedy, he plays a man who makes changes without permission, A witty preacher who rewrites the unjust dealings of the segregated South. .—helen shaw (Music Box Theatre; previews begin Sept. 7.)
about the town
classical
Before Tom and Jerry, there were comic stars Klaz and Ignaz. At a free picnic concert, American Symphony Orchestra Play John Alden Carpenter’s “Crazy Kate: Jazz Pantomime,” reminiscent of lovelorn felines and murderous mice, as they frolic across an array of innocent strings and slapstick horns . Looking back at the first performance, vanity fair, In 1922, Deems Taylor wrote that he had “a clearer awareness of the meaning of ‘America'”. For ASO music director Leon Botstein, “America” also means George Antheil’s upbeat Jazz Symphony and Ruth Crawford Seeger (Ruth Crawford Seeger) Moody, playful Music for Small Orchestra. The Nineteen Twenties show, which includes other works by Florence Price and Aaron Copeland, will be repeated at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts through September 10.Fergus Mackintosh (Bryant Park; Sept. 7.)
pop art
singer-songwriter Baker and french indie pop band phoenix Make for a fun pair of defining pop art performances. In 1994, Baker had his breakthrough with the nasal “Loser,” a folk-rap anomaly that suggested experimentation. In the years since, his musical scope has expanded beyond hip-hop and alternative rock samples, into funk rock, folk-rock, R.&B. peak. Year. Phoenix, meanwhile, sold a particularly upbeat pop-rock hit in 2000, peaking in 2009 with the colorful “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.” After a detour to Italo disco, the band’s latest album, Alpha Zulu, returns to familiar Phoenix fun: floating, light but delicate fun.Sheldon Pierce (Madison Square Garden; Sept. 9.)
dance
New York Theater Ballet (pictured) also performed at the Kaatsbaan Autumn Festival.Photography: Rachel Neville
