by Michael Janairo

Is NYC’s Metropolitan Museum duping visitors?

The AP is reporting that a class-action lawsuit is targeting the Met for how it charges admission.

The story begins:

Before visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art can stroll past the Picassos, Renoirs, Rembrandts and other priceless works, they must first deal with the ticket line, the posted $25 adult admission and the meaning of the word in smaller type just beneath it: “recommended.”
Many people, especially foreign tourists, don’t see it, don’t understand it or don’t question it. If they ask, they are told the fee is merely a suggested donation: You can pay what you wish, but you must pay something.
Confusion over what’s required to enter one of the world’s great museums, which draws more than 6 million visitors a year, is at the heart of a class-action lawsuit this month accusing the Met of scheming to defraud the public into believing the fees are required.

What do you think? Have you visited the Met recently? What did you pay?

by Michael Janairo

The Price is Right Live coming May 31 to Palace Theatre

Come on down!

The Price is Right Live is coming on May 31 to the Palace Theatre in Albany.

Tickets start at $32.75 and go on sale at noon Friday, March 29, at the Box Office at 19 Clinton Ave., at http://ticketmaster.com or (800)745-3000.

The Price Is Right Live is an interactive stage show that gives contestants pulled from the audience the chance to win appliances, vacations and cars by playing the classic games from the TV game show, including Plinko, Cliffhangers, the Big Wheel and even the fabulous Showcase, all the favorite games are played just like the TV show.

by Michael Janairo

David Miller joins Sorelle Gallery roster

'Blue Lagoon' Mixed Media on Paper 38 x 50 by David Miller (Courtesy Sorelle Gallery)

David Miller, a painter who lives in Saratoga Springs and is a retired professor from Skidmore College, has recently joined the roster of artists represented by the Sorelle Gallery at Stuyvesant Plaza in Guilderland, the gallery has announced.

A 2001 Times Union review of a retrospective  exhibition of his work at the Tang Museum said: “His joy infuses the gestural, calligraphic line and color on his canvases, much as it did for the Abstract Expressionists, to whom he clearly owes a debt.”

For more about Miller and the Sorelle Gallery, click here.

by Michael Janairo

The Acting Company brings As You Like It to Troy Music Hall

The Acting Company has seen its share of stars trod the floorboards since the classic theater troupe was formed in 1972 by actor/director John Houseman. Kevin Kline, Rainn Wilson, Patty Lupone and David Ogden-Stiers are a few of the thespians who have acted in a company production.

Over the years, The Acting Company — called the “major touring classical theater in the United States” by The New York Times — has played to more than 3 million people in the U.S. and around the world. After a string of performances in New York City, the Manhattan-based company hits the road with its production of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” They’ll stage the second show of their tour this week in Troy.

7:30 p.m. Wednesday. $15-$36. Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, 30 Second St., Troy. 273-0038; http://www.troymusichall.org

— Mike Lisi
by Michael Janairo

Albany Symphony Orchestra @ Palace Theatre, 3/9/13

By Mary Jane Leach

Albany Symphony Orchestra presented a colorful concert Saturday night at the Palace Theatre, using visual art as inspiration for instruments to create aural images for our ears.

The Palace’s large stage was ideal for the concert, as each piece used large sections of brass and woodwinds, as well as a full complement of strings, with many percussion instruments spread around the periphery of the stage.

The first piece, “Trama” by Gabriela Ortiz, while not inspired by a specific painting, was nonetheless pictorial, creating a tapestry of images and events from Mexico, weaving in different genres of music: folk, jazz, and classical. “Trama” is the orchestral version of a movement from “Altar de muertos,” a string quartet by Ortiz. With its skillful and expansive orchestration and its use of color, it’s hard to imagine its origin as a string quartet. Continue reading →

by Michael Janairo

Photos: The Place Beyond the Pines

Take a look at the just-released photos from Focus Features for The Place Beyond the Pines, which was filmed in Schenectady and stars Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta and Rose Byrne.

The movie is slated to open in limited release on March 29, but then opens wide on April 12.

No new word yet on a special advance screening in the Capital Region.

[nggallery id=10402]

by Michael Janairo

Watch: Sean Rowe performs ‘Downwind’ on Jimmy Kimmel

Check out his backing band, Railbird.

Read past Sean Rowe coverage:
Review of Helsinki Hudson show in Feb. 2012.
Sean Rowe signs with Anti Records
Watch: Sean Rowe’s “American” video

by Michael Janairo

Troy artsist featured in the NY Times

Troy artist Gina Ochiogrosso is part of a group exhibit at the Castle Gallery at the College of New Rochelle in Westchester County, and has been written up in the New York Times.

This is from the NY Times write up:

The might of the environment also informs the work of Gina Occhiogrosso, who traveled from her home in Troy, N.Y., to attend the opening reception in New Rochelle. Her piece “Slump,” a series of 24 gouache-on-paper panels, takes weather-ravaged billboards as its subject.

You can read the full report here.

by Michael Janairo

SPAC adds Momix to the mix this summer

MOMIX, the celebrated troupe of dance illusionists led by choreographer Moses Pendleton, will perform its fantastical multimedia artistry at 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 1, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs.

The company will present its highly acclaimed production of “Botanica,” a performance that fuses elements of dance, theater and cinema to create larger-than-life images from the natural world.

“MOMIX’s ‘Botanica’ is a glorious melding of music, dance, theater and technology that is breathtaking in scope and innovative to its core,” said Marcia J. White, SPAC’s president and executive director, in a written statement. “It is an opportunity to see the beauty and imagery of nature, magnified and dramatized through the brilliant lens of choreographer Moses Pendleton.”

Created in 2009, the production follows the rhythms of the seasons, the changing shape of life on Earth and the passing of a day. Set to an eclectic score that ranges from bird song to Vivaldi, the performance is enhanced by costumes, projections and giant puppetry designed by Michael Curry — acclaimed production designer for Cirque du Soleil, Disney’s “The Lion King” and the Metropolitan Opera.

Known internationally, MOMIX is a company of dancer-illusionists led by Pendleton, a choreographer and director for more than 40 years. In addition to worldwide stage performances, the company has also worked in film and television.
The evening will also feature a special “Enchanted Family Night” pre-show from 6 to 8 p.m., with magical scavenger hunts on the lawn, illuminated balloons, whimsical glow-in-the-dark face painting, and Sparkles on Stilts.

Tickets are $30 and go on sale March 18 at http://spac.org.

— Jennifer Paterson