Category Archives: Artist Select

DOLLY PARTON (1946-2026) · Aug 26th

(Caroline Sullivan’s article appeared in the Guardian, 8/25/2026; Photo: Thomas Funeral Home.)

Glamorous and astute singer-songwriter whose bountiful talent had an appeal reaching far beyond her country roots

The singer Dolly Parton, who has died aged 80 after suffering from cancer, had a ready fund of quips, most mercilessly self-deprecating. “It takes a lot of money to look this cheap” was perhaps the most famous, and undoubtedly the one that best captured her appetite for glitz and mischief. Bountiful talent as a singer and songwriter was the bedrock of her success, but her wit and maximalist approach also charmed the public. She was a much-loved figure even to those who knew none of her music apart from the huge hits Jolene and I Will Always Love You: at the Glastonbury festival in 2014, she attracted what was reportedly the largest crowd in its history.

“Borderline absurd” was the Guardian’s approving verdict on that show, during which Parton tooted a rhinestone saxophone and improvised a song called Mud (her crystal-studded white suit survived the weather unsullied). But that was just a workaday gig for a character who was always “on” in public. Ebullient and warm by nature, she created a persona that had no real precedent in country music – she was a fantasy figure who was also very real. The exterior fakery, modelled on “a whore or a high-class prostitute, not even so much high-class”, as she told Rolling Stone in 1980, was grounded by deep intelligence and honesty. 

While many of her songs covered classic misery territory – shamed single mothers, sickly children – she was the anomalous star whose own life was happy. Once she was able to, she helped others: from 1988, local schoolchildren, from 1995, through a book reading programme that went international, and later with aid for people affected by wildfires and hurricanes, and medical research. Parton’s appeal was multi-generational and boundary-defying; one of the first country stars to cross over, she played a major role in taking the genre into the mainstream.

She often used her figure to her advantage, saying in 2010: “I developed fast and by the time I was 15 or 16, I realised the effect it had on men.” She ignored advice to play down the sexiness, feeling it an expression of her natural ebullience. Maximising it by wearing clothes cut to emphasise what the New Yorker called “breasts like launching missiles” probably did not hurt her chances when she moved to Nashville at 18 to find a record deal. She was soon taken on as a songwriter by Combine Publishing, and at 19 signed by Monument Records as an artist.

Despite getting a foot on the ladder quickly, she came up against Nashville’s then-characteristic treatment of female singers. They were viewed as adjuncts to men, as Parton experienced during eight years from 1967 as sidekick to the musician Porter Wagoner on his popular TV variety show.

Becoming a familiar television face had only a middling effect on her record sales at first – her own releases were usually outsold by the 20 duets she released with Wagoner. The last laugh in their partnership was hers, however. Leaving in 1974 to go fully solo, she wrote I Will Always Love You as a farewell to him. It was successful as a single for her, and attracted the attention of Elvis Presley, who wanted to record it but demanded 50% of the publishing rights. She refused, and had cause to be glad she did. Covered by Whitney Houston for the soundtrack to her film The Bodyguard in 1992, it became one of the best-selling singles of all time, earning Parton enough, she said, “to buy Graceland”.

Wagoner had invited her to join the show when he heard Dumb Blonde (1967), her first song to reach the charts. It admonished those who failed to see past her flashy facade: “Just because I’m blonde, don’t think I’m dumb / ’Cause this dumb blonde ain’t nobody’s fool.” Once she had invented the persona, she was always the first to joke about it, even titling a 2008 album Backwoods Barbie. There were endless gags about whether she was supporting her breasts or they were supporting her, and even more about their effect on others: “They were holding me backstage – they kept wanting to see my IDs. Well, I think they wanted to see IDs – maybe it was just double-Ds,” she told the audience at the 2017 Screen Actors Guild awards, where she presented Lily Tomlin with a lifetime achievement award.

The sharp brain under the platinum wig calculated how much bawdiness she could ladle on, but it was her ability as a singer, writer and multi-instrumentalist that made her Nashville’s best-known female export. A soprano with a remarkable vibrato and east Tennessee twang, she could sound airy or weighed down by sorrow; either way, her voice was among the most recognisable in music. It fetched her 10 Grammy awards, 11 from the Academy of Country Music and numerous others, including a Golden Raspberry for worst original song from a film. The offending item was a track called Drinkenstein, written by Parton for the 1984 comedy Rhinestone, but performed by its star, Sylvester Stallone.

Her childhood sounds like the plot of a country song, which it was – the singles Coat of Many Colors (1971) and My Tennessee Mountain Home (1973) were based on her early years in the isolated Smoky Mountains hamlet of Locust Ridge. She was born in the small town of Pittman Center and raised “in a little log cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River”, the fourth of 11 children (a 12th, Larry, died soon after birth) of Avie Lee (nee Owens) and Robert Lee Parton. Her part-Cherokee mother kept house and her father was a tobacco farmer and sometime construction worker.

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IN MEMORIAM: TOM STOPPARD, PLAYWRIGHT, HUMAN RIGHTS CHAMPION – A PERSONAL TRIBUTE FROM THE KYIV POST · Dec 13th

(Bohdan Nahaylo’s article appeared in The Kyiv post, 12/1/2025. Photo: Tom Stoppard speaking at a public meeting in defense of Soviet political prisoners in Trafalgar Square, summer of 1976. Still from Vladimir Bukovsky, documentary film, 1977. )

Tom Stoppard, the Czech-born British playwright whose dazzling wordplay and philosophical acrobatics made him one of the theater’s most celebrated voices, died on Nov. 29 in England. He was 88.

While Stoppard will be remembered for masterworks like “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” and “Arcadia,” it should be recalled that he was one of the most eloquent defenders of Soviet political prisoners and dissidents behind the Iron Curtain.

That transformation began in 1977, when Stoppard traveled to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe with Amnesty International. What he witnessed – the systematic persecution of writers, the abuse of psychiatry to silence dissent, and the courage of those who refused to be silenced – had a profound influence on him.

The plays that followed represented a new Stoppard – one who wielded his formidable theatrical gifts in service of those who deserved to be defended.

“Every Good Boy Deserves Favor,” which premiered in 1977 with a full orchestra conducted by André Previn, told the story of a Soviet dissident imprisoned in a mental institution alongside a genuinely mad patient who believes he conducts an invisible orchestra.

“Professional Foul” was a television play about a Cambridge philosopher who travels to Prague for a conference and becomes reluctantly involved in smuggling a dissident’s thesis to the West. “Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth” (1979) paid direct tribute to Vaclav Havel and Czech dissidents, who performed in living rooms under police surveillance. “Squaring the Circle” (1984) tackled the Solidarity movement in Poland.

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THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY TO PRESENT CZECHOSLOVAK-AMERICAN MARIONETTE THEATRE IN “A CHRISTMAS CAROL, OY! HANUKKAH, MERRY KWANZAA, HAPPY RAMADAN” DECEMBER 26 TO JANUARY 11 · Nov 21st

Complete cast of 1920s Czech toy marionette theater. Photo by Orlando Marra.

(via Jonathan Slaff.)

WHERE AND WHEN

December 26, 2025 to January 11, 2026

Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (at E. 10th Street)

Presented by Theater for the New City

Schedule: Evenings: Thu-Sat @8:00 pm (Dec 26, 27; Jan 1, 2, 3, 8, 9,10)

Matinees: Sun @3:00 pm (Dec 28, Jan 4, 11)

Tickets $20 gen. adm., $15 seniors/students/kids

Come dressed as character of Dickens’ Christmas Carol or any seasonal holiday and use discount code SCROOGE for $2 off all tickets (advance sale and box office).

Box office 212-254-1109, www.theaterforthenewcity.net

Running time 75 minutes.

NEW YORK — Theater for the New City (TNC) will ring out the old year with a joyful burst of multicultural mischief as Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre (CAMT) returns December 26 to January 11 with its beloved holiday mash up, “A Christmas Carol, Oy! Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa, Happy Ramadan,” a Dickens remix adapted, directed and reinvented by Vit Horejs. It features over 30 exquisitely carved puppets by Milos Kasal including a quartet of Rockettes in Slovak, Moravian and Ruthenian folk costumes and holiday songs in Czech, English, Hebrew, Slovak, Spanish, Bengali and Swahili.

Families looking for an imaginative holiday outing will find it here. The production made its live TNC debut in 2019.  In 2021 when theaters were closed due to the pandemic, it was offered as a virtual fantasy tour.  Now playing again for live audiences, the show will be updated to contemporary sensibilities and re-staged for this new TNC production.  Set and costume design are re-envisioned by company member Michelle Beshaw, a two-time Innovative Theatre Awards winner.

This toy-puppet theater extravaganza is a new take on Charles Dickens’ classic with a few twists and digressions. Into the familiar story is woven a surprising and delightful blend of English, Jewish, African, American and Czech winter rituals and customs, all performed by over three dozen marionettes ranging in size from four to twenty-four inches, as well as found objects and toys.  Mr. Horejs operates the whole cast of puppets, backed up by a live chorus: an “a capella monumentale” choir of Katarina Vizina (a transplant from Slovakia) and Valois Mickens (West African/Celtic/Native American origin).  The piece is still set in Old London, but with Czech accents.  Imagine that the familiar tale was told to you not by an English serial novelist, but by your Czech grandmother.

The set includes a century-old toy marionette theater donated by Madeleine Albright. Vit Horejs uses a Bob Cratchit character from his mother’s identical set that he played with in his childhood. There are ghost puppets by unknown folk carvers, a skeleton puppet by Vaclav Krcal, and a Camel marionette that has barged uninvited into several CAMT shows.

This production first appeared in 2001 at the Jan Hus Playhouse as the lead show of a “Magic of Czech Puppetry” festival.  Its popularity led to revivals in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2014.  Laurel Graeber (New York Times) called the show a “delightful holiday hodgepodge that still hews closely to Dickens’s tale and also has contemporary humor.”  Revisiting the show in 2005, Graeber declared, “Mr. Horejs’s 75-minute unorthodox mix is always fun,” adding, “This is indeed Dickens’s story, though Mr. Horejs’s approach is hardly Victorian. Scrooge asks the ghosts whether he will get frequent-flyer miles, and when Fezziwig, Scrooge’s old mentor, appears, he is singing ‘The Dreidel Song.’ (He explains that his family name was originally Feinstein.) In Christmas yet to come, Scrooge’s tenants celebrate being free of him with Hebrew songs and menorah-lighting. At one point, a huge camel marionette arrives.”  When the production was presented by La MaMa in 2014,  Kelly Aliano (NY Theatre Wire) wrote, “‘Christmas Carol’ is exactly what an audience would want from a holiday show. It tells a familiar tale with an added twist, it reminds us about the spirit of the season, and it puts a smile on the face of even the scroogiest of spectators. There is no mention of Tiny Tim’s most famous line, but the overall tone of the show makes everyone lucky enough to have seen it feel truly blessed indeed.” Joel Benjamin (TheaterScene.com) called it “a refreshing theatrical oasis in the holiday desert of over-ripe TV films, large Broadway musicals and the Radio City Christmas Show.”

ABOUT CZECHOSLOVAK-AMERICAN MARIONETTE THEATER (http://czechmarionettes.org)

Vit Horejs, an emigre from Prague, founded Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre (CAMT) in 1990, utilizing two centuries-old Czech puppets which he found in the Jan Hus Church on East 74th Street.  His trademark is using puppets of many sizes and styles, from six-inch toy marionettes to twelve-foot rod puppets which double as scenery.  CAMT is dedicated to preserving and presenting traditional and not-so-traditional puppetry, combining live performers with puppets.  Horejs is well-known for innovative re-interpretations of classics.  He received the Czechoslovak Society for Arts and Sciences (SVU) 2018 Award in recognition of his lifetime achievement in fostering the art form of Czech and Slovak Puppetry. In March 2019, he received the NY Acker Award.

Theater for the New City has presented CAMT in over ten productions since 2008, when “The Very Sad Story of Ethel & Julius, Lovers and Spyes” explored the Rosenberg trial with a manipulated set and objects and two toy marionettes that met their end in electric chairs.  Anita Gates wrote in the New York Times, “Vit Horejs has written and directed a first-rate, thoroughly original production and made it look effortless. The cast gives charged, cohesive performances, and the staging is expert.” “Revolution!?” (2010) was a collaboration with three performers from Bohemia and Moravia, examining revolutions throughout the history of mankind as a backdrop for the extraordinary peaceful 1989 Velvet Revolution in former Czechoslovakia. “Mr. M” (2011) was the first American stage adaptation of “Mr. Theodore Mundstock” by Ladislav Fuks, a postwar Czech writer of psychological fiction.  The production, which continued at the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan, starred the Grand Dame of Yiddish music scene Adrienne Cooper (1946-2011) in her last major public appearance.  Puppets and live performers enacted an enigmatic tale of early World War II in “King Executioner” (2013), written and directed by Vit Horejs, loosely based on “When you are a King, You will be an Executioner” by the Polish magical realist novelist Tadeusz Nowak. In 2015, the company performed “The Magic Garden, or, The Princess Who Grew Antlers,” an ensemble creation that was cheerfully assembled from Czech fairy tales.  “Three Golden Hairs of Grandfather Wisdom” and “The Winter Tales” (2017) was an evening of two plays based on only slightly fractured Czech fairy tales. An update of the company’s signature piece, “Johannes Dokchtor Faust” (premiere 1990), sold out at TNC in 2019. In 2024, “The Good Soldier Švejk” (2024), a puppet theater adaptation of the hilarious 1921 antiwar novel by Jaroslav Hašek played to oversold houses. 

Vit Horejs writes, “The troupe is excited to return to Theater for the New City, a venue which embraces new work and enables performances in innovative styles, like this adaptation, to reach receptive audiences at affordable prices.”

Other notable NYC productions include “Golem” (La MaMa, Henson International Puppetry Festival) with music by Frank London, “Kacha and the Devil,” “The White Doe – Or The Piteous Trybulations of the Sufferyng Countess Jenovefa,” “Don Juan, or Wages of Debauchery,” “Twelve Iron Sandals” and “The Historye of Queen Ester, King Ahasverus and the Haughty Haman.”  CAMT performed “Hamlet” at the Vineyard Theater, in Turkey and Korea, outdoors in all five boroughs, Prague Summer Shakespeare Festival at Prague Castle’s Lord Chamberlain Palace Courtyard. Its most noted production of “Hamlet” was with four-foot marionettes on DUMBO’s unforgettable landmark, Jane’s Carousel, in 2007.  “The Bass Saxophone,” a WWII fantasy with music based on a story by award winning Czech-Canadian writer Josef Skvorecky, played 11 weeks at the Grand Army Plaza Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Arch in Brooklyn in 2005 and 2006. In 2024, La MaMa presented CAMT in “FOWL PLAY” an Object Theater Rock Opera dramatizing “Conference of the Birds” the 12th century Persian epic, using imagery by renowned illustrator Peter Sís and music by Avi Fox-Rosen.

Vit Horejs stars in “Wooden Hearts,” a film by Onur Tukel about an eccentric puppeteer and his adventures on the road.  The 2025 NYC premiere was November 10 in the Big Apple Film Festival.

CAMT has also appeared at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, the Winter Garden of the Smithsonian Institution, The World Trade Center (between the Twin Towers), and in tours to 35 states including the Antonin Dvorak Festival in Spillville, Iowa, the Heart of the Beast in Minneapolis, the Lowell Folk Arts Festival in Massachusetts, Disney and in international festivals in Poland, Pakistan, Hong Kong and the Czech Republic.

This production is supported by GOH Productions and made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Additional support is provided by Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, Materials for the Arts, Czech Center NY, and private donors.

‘ONE’S OWN ROOM’: AFGHAN WOMEN’S CURRENT REALITY (THEATRE) · Nov 15th

(from France 24, 11/15/25.)

At first, its soft cushions, luxurious rugs and fine china evoke the warm hospitality of an Afghan home. Yet as the immersive theatrical experience progresses, the audience feels the walls closing in, the sky outside darkens and the narrator’s stories become increasingly bleak in tone. “One’s own room: Inside Kabul” is an artistic take on the circumstances Afghan women and girls are currently living in: limited to their homes, with scarce opportunities for education. Its co-creator, Caroline Gillet, tells us about creating this space based on the accounts of Raha and Marwa, the two Afghan women whose stories made up her award-winning podcast “Inside Kabul” after the Taliban seized power in 2021.

We also hear from Afghan artist in exile, Kubra Khademi, who was responsible for the production design for the installation. She tells us how her paintings, poetry and ceramics express the resistance to be found among Afghan women and girls from the 10th century up until the present day.

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JEANINE TESORI’S ‘BLUE’: SATURDAY, 11/15/25 AT LINCOLN CENTER, 7:30 PM ONLY · Nov 14th

JEANINE TESORI’S ‘BLUE’: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2025 AT 7:30 PM ONLY

Lincoln Center Visionary Artist: Jeanine Tesori

Jeanine Tesori’s Blue

Lincoln Center Presents
In collaboration with Lincoln Center Theater and The Metropolitan Opera

Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall

AGES 14+

OPERA

STAGED CONCERT

Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 7:30 pm

A standby line will form day-of at the box office, prior to showtime. Tickets may become available to the standby line on a first-come, first-served basis. Admission is not guaranteed. 

*Please note: This performance contains adult themes and strong language. Audience discretion is advised; this show is intended for ages 14+.

Presented in collaboration with Lincoln Center Theater and The Metropolitan Opera

Experience a staged concert of Blue, the award-winning contemporary opera from Lincoln Center’s 2025 Visionary Artist and two-time Tony Award winner Jeanine Tesori. Set in Harlem, Blue is a poignant and powerful contemporary opera that delves into the heart of a Black middle-class family—grappling with the devastating loss of their teenage son, who is fatally shot by a white police officer during a peaceful protest. This two-act opera, with music by Jeanine Tesori, a libretto by acclaimed playwright and director Tazewell Thompson, and direction also by Thompson, offers an unflinching exploration of race and identity within the Black community.

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YOUNG RUSSIAN MUSICIANS WHO PLAYED ANTI-KREMLIN SONGS GET MORE JAIL TIME · Nov 1st

(from Reuters, 10/29. Reporting by Reuters in St Petersburg; Writing by Lucy Papachristou in Tbilisi; Editing by Peter Graff.)

ST PETERSBURG, Oct 29 (Reuters) – A group of young Russian street musicians who went viral on social media for playing banned anti-Kremlin songs received more jail time on Wednesday, as authorities crack down on buskers who have staged performances across Russia in support of them.

The members of the band Stoptime were arrested earlier this month after performing the popular song “Swan Lake Cooperative” by exiled Russian rapper Noize MC – who is openly critical of the Kremlin – on a busy street in St Petersburg.

Public expressions of dissent are rare in Russia, which has cracked down on any opposition to the Kremlin’s policies with lengthy prison sentences.

Stoptime’s vocalist Loginova received a 13-day sentence for petty hooliganism on Wednesday. She has already completed a separate 13-day sentence in connection with the Noize MC performance and was fined 30,000 roubles ($369) on Tuesday for singing another song by a different anti-Kremlin artist.

Alexander Orlov, the group’s guitarist, was jailed for 13 days on Wednesday on charges of illegally organising a rally, while drummer Vladislav Leontyev is facing a fresh administrative charge. The two have already served short stints in jail this month.

Maxim Reznik, a former opposition politician in local government in St Petersburg, said he thought authorities would struggle to suppress the street performances.

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DIANE KEATON, A STAR OF ‘ANNIE HALL’ AND ‘FIRST WIVES CLUB,’ DIES AT 79 · Oct 16th

(Anita Gates’s article appeared 10/11/2025; Photo: Diane Keaton at a Ralph Lauren fashion show in 2022. One review of her breakthrough movie, “Annie Hall,” called her “the consummate actress of our generation.” Credit… Credit…Amy Sussman/Getty Images.)

She brought an unconventional personality to scores of roles on television and in movies ranging from zany comedies like “Sleeper” to piercing dramas like “The Godfather.”

Diane Keaton at a Ralph Lauren fashion show in 2022. One review of her breakthrough movie, “Annie Hall,” called her “the consummate actress of our generation.” Credit…Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Diane Keaton, the vibrant, sometimes unconventional, always charmingly self-deprecating actress who won an Oscar for Woody Allen’s comedy “Annie Hall” and appeared in some 100 movie and television roles, an almost equal balance of them in comedies like “Sleeper” and “The First Wives Club” and dramas like “The Godfather” and “Marvin’s Room,” has died. She was 79.

Her death was confirmed by Dori Rath, who produced a number of Ms. Keaton’s most recent films. She did not say where or when Ms. Keaton died or cite a cause.

Ms. Keaton was 31 and a veteran of eight films, most of them comedies, when she starred as the title character in “Annie Hall” (1977), a single woman in New York City with ambitions, insecurities and definite style. Annie is known for cheerful psychiatric breakthroughs, fashions that look like men’s wear, questionable driving skills and lingering hints of an all-too-wholesome Midwestern upbringing.

Ms. Keaton at the 1978 Academy Awards, where she was a winner for “Annie Hall.” With her were Charles H. Joffe, left, the movie’s producer, and Jack Nicholson, a presenter, with whom she would later co-star.Credit…Associated Press

She accepted her Oscar wearing a linen jacket, two full linen skirts, a scarf over a white shirt and black string tie, and high heels with socks. In her 2014 memoir, “Then Again,” she looked back on the moment, with some regret, as “my ‘la-de-da’ layered get-up.”

“Annie Hall,” which won three other Oscars including best picture, brought Ms. Keaton a shower of additional honors, including acting awards from the National Board of Review, the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle and the British Academy of Film and Television Artists.

The Hollywood Reporter’s review of the movie called Ms. Keaton “the consummate actress of our generation” and observed that she “adds the charm and warmth and spontaneity” that make “Annie Hall” plausible.

Ms. Keaton did not win another Oscar, but she received three other nominations. One was for the sweeping Oscar-winning drama “Reds” (1981), in which she played Louise Bryant, an intense 1910s writer hanging out with Greenwich Village socialists and Bolshevik revolutionaries, notably the activist journalist Jack Reed (played by Warren Beatty, who also directed).

Another was for “Marvin’s Room” (1996), in which she played the selfless daughter who is taking care of her slowly dying father and her scatterbrained aunt when she receives a diagnosis of leukemia and needs a bone-marrow transplant. Her co-stars included Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio and Hume Cronyn.

Her final nomination was for “Something’s Gotta Give” (2003), a comedy, written and directed by Nancy Meyers, about a successful playwright who turns an extremely tearful breakup into a new hit comedy. She attracts the attentions of a handsome, much younger doctor (Keanu Reeves) and inspires a sexist man in his 60s (Jack Nicholson) to fall in love with a woman his own age.

Ms. Keaton was also a director. Her first film was “Heaven” (1987), a documentary on beliefs about the afterlife. In her last, she directed herself, Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow in the comic drama “Hanging Up” (2000), based on a novel by Delia Ephron.

“Unstrung Heroes” (1995), her first foray into fictional filmmaking, starred Andie MacDowell, John Turturro and Michael Richards. The story of a teenage boy’s idiosyncratic uncles was selected for Un Certain Regard, the prestigious sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival. Peter Travers, reviewing it for Rolling Stone, said it “works like a charm.” Rita Kempley of The Washington Post called it “sweet madness” and a “sensitive coming-of-age story.”

A film career was always Ms. Keaton’s goal. She explained her aversion to theater as a lifelong pursuit on “CBS Sunday Morning” in 2010. “Night after night? Doing a play?” she said, putting an imaginary gun to her head. “That’s my idea of hell.”

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CROWDS IN ST PETERSBURG “SING” ABOUT OVERTHROW · Oct 15th

(Iona Cleave’s article appeared in the Telegraph 10/15/25.)

Hundreds gather to chant anti-war lyrics labelled ‘extremist’ under Moscow’s censorship laws

Hundreds of young people gathered in St Petersburg to sing an outlawed song calling for Vladimir Putin to be overthrown.

In a rare moment of public dissent, the crowd joined street musicians in a central square on Tuesday night to sing anti-war lyrics that have been called “extremist” under Russian censorship laws.

“Where have you been for eight years, you f—ing monsters? I want to watch ballet, let the swans dance,” they chanted in Russian in the busy thoroughfare. “Let your grandpa tremble with excitement for Swan Lake.”

The song – entitled Co-operative Swan Lake, by Noize MC, a pro-Ukrainian rapper – has become an unofficial anthem to the growing dissolution and anger felt by young, liberal Russians towards Putin’s regime.

The 40-year-old musician, whose real name is Ivan Alekseev, fled to Lithuania soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Moscow has since declared him a “foreign agent”, a legal designation that has been used aggressively in the wake of the war to punish critics of the Kremlin.

Mr Alekseev released Co-operative Swan Lake in 2022 to call for an end to Putin’s rule and condemn the apathy in Russian society towards the war in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Swan Lake became an unexpected symbol of political upheaval in the late years of the Soviet Union. It was broadcast on state TV on a loop following the death of Russian leaders and a failed political coup in 1991, which ushered in the collapse of the USSR.

The song’s title is also a reference to Lake Co-operative, in north-west Russia, to which members of Putin’s inner circle travel for holidays. In the lyrics, Mr Alekseev refers directly to Putin, saying: “Let the old man shake in fear for his lake.”

Earlier this year, a St Petersburg court ruled that the song amounted to “propaganda for violent change of the foundations of the constitutional order” and argued it was “harmful to minors” and to their “moral and ethical development”.

The video of crowds chanting its chorus sparked outrage on pro-Kremlin Telegram channels, with prominent propagandists calling for those involved to be punished immediately. So far, no arrests have been reported.

There have been reports of other public gatherings this summer in St Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, where bands and crowds of young people have sung anti-war songs together, often including more of Mr Alekseev’s work.

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LÁSZLÓ KRASZNAHORKAI WINS THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE 2025 · Oct 9th

(Emma Loffhagen’s article appeared in the Guardian, 10/9/2025; Photo: ‘Beauty in language. Fun in hell’ … László Krasznahorkai Photograph: Carlos Álvarez/Getty .)

The Hungarian novelist whose books ‘reaffirm the power of art’ was announced as winner at a ceremony in Stockholm
 Nobel prize in literature 2025 live: László Krasznahorkai wins ‘for his compelling and visionary oeuvre’

The Nobel prize in literature for 2025 has been awarded to Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, the Swedish Academy has announced.

The Academy cited the 71-year-old’s “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”.

Krasznahorkai is known for his dystopian, melancholic novels, which have won numerous prizes, including the 2019 National Book award for translated literature and the 2015 Man Booker International prize. Several of his works, including his novels Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been adapted into feature films.

“Krasznahorkai richly deserves the prize,” said the novelist Hari Kunzru. “He has a reputation as an austere figure of European high culture, and indeed some of his work is uncompromisingly bleak and difficult, but he’s also a curious, playful and very funny writer. When I read him, I feel fortified, both as a human being and as someone who’s trying to make art. He shows me what’s possible.”

Born in Gyula, Hungary, in 1954, Krasznahorkai first made his mark with his 1985 debut novel Satantango, a mesmerising portrayal of a collapsing rural community. The novel would go on to win the Man Booker International prize in English three decades later, in 2015. It was also famously adapted into a seven-hour film by director Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a long creative partnership.

Often described as postmodern, Krasznahorkai is known for his long, winding sentences (the 12 chapters of Satantango each consist of a single paragraph) and the kind of relentless intensity that has led critics to compare him to Gogol, Melville and Kafka.

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MIKE DAISEY TO HEADLINE FRIGID NEW YORK’S 14TH ANNUAL GOTHAM STORYTELLING FESTIVAL · Oct 3rd

(via Emily Owens; Photo: Mike Daisey.)

November 4-16 at UNDER St. Marks & wild project 

 

FRIGID New York will present the 14th Annual Gotham Storytelling Festival, featuring a wide array of storytellers, November 4-16 at UNDER St. Marks (94 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10009) and wild project (195 E 3rd St, New York, NY 10009). Some performances will also be available to livestream from home. Tickets ($20-$40) are available for advance purchase at www.frigid.nyc. 

 

Now in its 14th year, the Gotham Storytelling Festival brings together a variety of storytellers with a variety of storytelling styles to do what they do best. Whether you’re looking to escape into someone else’s story, revisit a familiar tale, cry a little or just laugh out loud because It’s always the best medicine, Gotham has something for you. Join legendary hitters and new friends for an event that’s sure to alleviate some of the year’s aches, or at least help to distract, transform, transport or give you some sense of hope, if only for just an hour. 

 

Gabe Mollica: Horse Lawyer

Written & Performed by Gabe Mollica

While looking at photo albums with his mom, Comedian Gabe Mollica (This American Life, “Solo”) has a panic attack about the direction of life. With no wife, kids, or house, he realizes he’s behind in a big way. In fact, he hasn’t been on a third date in 5 years. Perhaps some answers lie in the memories he’s holding. 

Tue Nov 4 at 8pm, Fri Nov 7 at 7pm & Sun Nov 16 at 6pm (wild project) 60 min 

 

Food For Thought

Hosted by Ronna Levy

Food is so meaningful in our lives. Food is love; food is culture; food is family; food is comfort.  We celebrate with food, and we mourn with food. We go to great lengths to find, buy, and create the very best food experiences for ourselves and our loved ones. And food brings us so many stories. Joins us as some of NYC’s best storytellers weave seamlessly through their fantastic tales of food.

Wed Nov 5 at 8:30pm (USM) 60 min

 

Awkward Teenage Years

Hosted by Grant Bowen & Will Clegg

True stories about the most gloriously awkward times in our lives – our teenage years! Awkward Teenage Years brings you the best storytellers in NYC to relive their joys and traumas for your entertainment – let’s laugh and reminisce together! Enjoy tales of first loves gone wrong, failing the big test, finding your tribe, learning hard lessons, and most importantly – coming of age. 

Wed Nov 5 at 7pm (USM) 

 

Paris Syndrome

Written & Performed by Brad Lawrence

After the pandemic, Brad and his wife decide to venture out into the world with a trip to Paris. This is a gift to themselves for the 13th wedding anniversary and (in Brad’s mind) for how well they handled the global catastrophe of Covid-19. The only problem being that when Brad is forced to confront the actual definition of global and he has a total melt down in the most beautiful city in the world. Turns out, he’s not the only one to do that. They have a name for the phenomenon, it’s called Paris Syndrome.

Wed Nov 5 at 8pm (wild project) 60 min 

 

Front Row Seats

Hosted by Tracey Starin

There’s nothing like experiencing music live. Attending a concert is exhausting, enchanting, and exciting. Each show is a moment in time that cannot be captured again. Some of NYC’s best Storytellers will delight you with stories about their first concerts, their best concerts, and their worst concerts.

Thu Nov 6 at 7pm (USM) 60 min

 

Resistance

Written & Performed by Mike Daisey

“The master storyteller” (New York Times) returns with a story that must be told. As he did a decade ago in The Trump Card, which predicted the world we live in now, Daisey tells a searing story of resistance: political, personal, and spiritual. With dark humor he digs deeply into who we are becoming, in both fear and hope, within this unbearable moment. What price will we pay to survive, and what will it mean to live through this if we do? 

Thu Nov 6, Sat Nov 8, Mon Nov 10, Wed Nov 12 & Fri Nov 14 at 7pm (wild project) 90 min

 

Culture is an Infinite Receptacle with No Border

Written & Performed by Ivan Dalia

Ivan Dalia, pianist and entertainer, sets the stage on alight with his show “Culture is an infinite receptacle with no borders”. An ironic ethno-historical journey through Italian melody. Humans need to express themselves, through tradition, ritual and art. The artist weaves a colorful tapestry of Italian music through anecdotes and stories.

Thu Nov 6 at 9pm & Sun Nov 9 at 7pm (USM) 80 min

 

Book Spines Broken By My Purring Cat (working title)

Written & Performed by Vermillion

An evening of inventive monologues, some soulful, some naughty, under the working title Book Spines Broken By My Purring Cat.

Thu Nov 6 at 9pm & Sat Nov 15 at 5pm (wild project) 60 min

 

Michele and Rhonda Power Hour!

Written & Performed by Michele Carlo and Rhoda Hansome

Michele Carlo and Rhonda Hansome take you on an hour-long ride telling truths, exposing lies, and sharing scenes from well-lived lives. Plus, it’s funny!

Fri Nov 7 at 7pm, Sat Nov 15 at 7pm & Sun Nov 16 at 7pm (USM) 60 min

 

Sportsball

Written & Performed by David Lawson

David Lawson’s one-man show about corporate welfare, “sportswashing,” eminent domain, racist team names, and all the other things that get in the way of a community-oriented, cheer-filled, barrier-breaking good night out at the game.

Fri Nov 7 at 8:30pm (USM) 60 min

 

The Infinite Wrench

Presented by New York Neo-Futurists 

The Infinite Wrench is a barrage of 30 short plays the cast attempts to perform within a single hour. Each play offers something different, be it funny, profound, elegant, disgusting, topical, irrelevant, terrifying, or a song. All are truthful and tackle the here-and-now, inspired by the lived experiences of the performers. With new plays every week, The Infinite Wrench is the Neo-Futurists’ ongoing and ever-changing attempt to shift the conventions of live performance and speak to audiences, including those unreached or unmoved by traditional theater.

Fri Nov 7 at 9:30pm, Sat Nov 8 at 9:30pm, Fri Nov 14 at 9:30pm & Sat Nov 15 at 9:30pm (wild project) 

 

EMOJI: The Hieroglyphs Of Our Time, or how I learned to stop worrying and send the risky text ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 🤷🏽‍♀️

Written & Performed by Aarushi Agni

EMOJI sold out its run at the NYC Fringe Festival this April. Part love letter, part stand-up set, and part iPhone commercial (jk), EMOJI takes us on a road trip through space and time to explore whether emoji are a uniquely universal form of communication—or a crutch in a fractured society clinging to digital crumbs of human connection. It’ll have you like 🤣🤣🤣 but also like 🥺🥺🥺! In this hilarious, ADHD-friendly, and deeply moving show, Aarushi Agni—comedian and artist known for her work across comedy, storytelling, and music—blends her passions to share a philosophical and emotional understanding of the world, love, friendship, community, and the supermoon through a chaotic TED Talk/cabaret format.

Sat Nov 8 at 5pm, Sun Nov 9 at 8pm & Sun Nov 16 at 4pm (wild project) 60 min

 

Conquering the Canon

Written & Performed by Michael Hagins

Michael Hagins may be the only African-American artist to ever take part in every play of William Shakespeare’s complete Canon. He tells the story of his work, going through the plays and the people that changed his life and guided him to this amazing feat; but as he recounts it all, he learns that with every great achievement and life changing moment, comes a great loss.  Come and listen as Michael proceeds to tell his story… Shakespeare style!

Sun Nov 9 at 6pm & Thu Nov 13 at 8:30pm (wild project) 75 min

 

Odd Salon NYC

Odd Salon curates cocktail hour lectures highlighting strange-but-true stories from history, science, art, and adventure, live on stage, over cocktails. We bring experts and enthusiastic amateurs together to explore history’s overlooked and under-told stories, from legends of lost cities to masters of art forgery, engineering failures to murderous sideshow performers, daring heists, questionable taxidermy, and tales of epic revenge. Sometimes with stick figures.

Mon Nov 10 at 7pm at Parkside Lounge (317 E Houston St, New York, NY 10002)

 

Ballet Flats for Dinner

Written & Performed by Bridget McGuire

Fresh off its sold out debut at The Second City in Chicago, Ballet Flats for Dinner is an autobiographical solo comedy show written and performed by Bridget McGuire. A mix of stand-up and storytelling, Ballet Flats tells the story of McGuire’s life growing up with intrusive thoughts with harm, a form of OCD. From thinking she was pregnant at age 11, to wondering if she killed her friend’s boyfriend at 25, to finally getting help at the ripe old age of 38, Ballet Flats will have you laughing the entire time and perhaps you’ll walk away wondering, “Do I have OCD too?” (Don’t worry, you probably don’t.)

Tue Nov 11 at 7pm (USM) 60 min

 

Pearl Necklace: A Gay Sexcapade

Written & Performed by Jamie Brickhouse

On the eve of marriage—an institution Jamie resisted for 30 years—he replays his sex life, which gives new meaning to the term parks and recreation. “Pearl Necklace is funny, sharp, and a hysterical romp” through Jamie’s amorous adventures in bathrooms, beaches, bookstores, and appallingly decorated apartments “delivered with a bawdy panache and a naughty sense of the comic.” Called “a natural raconteur” by the Washington Post, this 6-time Moth champion’s darkly comic stories of his sybaritic journey reveal his struggle to shed shame and guilt and reach self-acceptance before finally tying the knot.

Tue Nov 11 at 8pm & Sat Nov 15 at 7pm (wild project) 60 min

 

On Cats and Dogs and Other Family Revelations

Written & Performed by Ella Veres

On Cats and Dogs and Other Family Revelations wraps big ideas in focused stories about Ella’s pets, offering glimpses of her human family and life in her place of birth, Transylvania, Romania. With her dark humor and heart, Ella takes audiences from her childhood under communist rule, to her present quirky experiences in East Harlem, using her dog and cat as reference points.

The cast will feature Ella Veres and her companion dog, Pandele, who said she’s in it not for fame, but to pay her vet bills. Rosamunda, her cat, was asked to perform but declined. She’d rather lounge under the sofa than be in the limelight. 

Wed Nov 12 at 7pm (USM)

 

Leaking: The wolves are everywhere

Written & Performed by Vianna Isbister

How do we write an ending to a story that isn’t finished? Through fractured fairy tales and crafted personal stories, Vianna Isbister’s show, Leaking, explores how trauma leaks into our interactions, perceptions, and futures. Topics in this solo show include generational trauma, sexual assault (non-graphic), and things your therapist might say that you shouldn’t listen to. 

This show is 18+ Thu Nov 13 at 7pm & Sat Nov 15 at 5pm (USM) 60 min

 

Penis Envy

Written & Performed by Becky Bondurant

In this critically acclaimed solo-show, monologist, writer, and English teacher Becky Bondurant threads her coming-of-age narrative through a Freudian needle, weaving from eating disorders and female orgasms to circumcision and breastfeeding against a backdrop of political crisis. Penis Envy is the culmination of more than three years of study under New York City’s master monologist Mike Daisey who has described Becky as “a cross between Sylvia Plath and Mary Katherine Gallagher.” Informed by her experiences as a parent, a teacher, a queer, a student of literature, and a former Catholic, Becky’s stories unravel extemporaneously to undress taboo topics like sex, age, weight, othering, power, ritual, and death in a style that is raunchy, irreverent, and sharply philosophical. The 46 paintings that appear as the backdrop of Penis Envy were created in a collaboration between Becky and her two children, ages 7 and 9, over the course of three weeks leading up to the show’s premiere at the Capital Fringe Festival 2024 in Washington, D.C. The show was named “Best of Fringe” by DC Theater Arts in 2024 and praised by critics such as Chris Klimek who wrote in The Washington Post, “I loved ‘Penis Envy,’” and described the show as “vulnerable and true to her, funny and inviting.” Penis Envy ran as part of the 2024 Philadelphia Fringe Festival and was described in The Broad Street Review as “the best kind of monologue show: finely crafted and intimately inhabited…  funny, bold, poignant, sad, and transformative.” 

Thu Nov 13 at 7pm (wild project) 60 min

 

GIMME A SIGN!

Written & Performed by Bailey Swilley

GIMME A SIGN! is an autobiographical comedy written and performed by Bailey Swilley, based on a family tragedy and the strange but funny antics that ensued after. The solo show combines standup and storytelling and explores the stages of grief and the search for signs from above. Come for the ghost tour with anecdotes about haunted tampons and annoying boyfriends, stay for the life lessons on self-acceptance and growing up.

Thu Nov 13 at 8:30pm & Sun Nov 16 at 5pm (USM) 55 min 

 

I’ve Grown Plenty, Thanks!

Written & Performed by Maria Bartolotta

Ever wanted to sit-in on someone’s therapy session? This unafraid one-woman musical starts as a hilarious, all-too-relatable plunge into the horrors of modern dating. But when our protagonist finally dares to ask, “What’s wrong with me?!” she’s forced to navigate messy situationships, brutal screenshots, and unfiltered vulnerability—with the audience as her therapist and raw laughter as her lifeline.

Fri Nov 14 at 7pm (USM) 80 min 

 

TALE: NYC’s Finest Storytelling

Hosted by Harmon Leon

No hokey gimmicks. No dumb themes – For the past 12 years, TALE brings you the best in NYC’s storytelling! Past storytellers include Roy Wood Jr (Daily Show), Jena Friedman (Borat), and Anthony Haden-Guest (Vanity Fair), as well as writers/performers for Conan, The Daily Show, HBO, Last Week Tonight – and beyond! Hosted by Harmon Leon (This American Life, 99 % Invisible, Edinburgh Festival).

Fri Nov 14 at 9pm (USM) 

 

Unravelling the Storyteller in You with Pedro Carmo

A 3-Hour Storytelling Masterclass

Your life is a story. How do you want to tell it? Storytelling is both ritual and play – an art as old as humanity itself. In this three-hour Master Class, actor and theatre artist Pedro Carmo leads a creative journey to awaken imagination and explore the rhythms, gestures, and images that shape your unique way of telling a story. This is not about chasing perfection. It’s about opening a space to tell your story, your way – and rediscovering storytelling as a living, communal ritual. Sat Nov 15 at 10am (wild project)  

 

CHEAT

Written & Performed by Chloe Radcliffe

After a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Chloe Radcliffe brings her gutsy, divisive solo show to NYC for one night only. The show is about Chloe’s history of cheating, the guilty secret that most would keep forever. (FYI: Coming to the show doesn’t make you a cheater… actually, avoiding it seems way more suspicious…). Chloe has written on and starred in Command Z from Steven Soderbergh, has been seen on Comedy Central, and was a writer for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Sat Nov 15 at 8:30pm (USM) 60 min

 

The Roast of Gram Parsons

Written & Directed by Harmon Leon

Featuring Tim Hassler as Gram Parsons

A twisted storytelling musical dark comedy featuring the music of Gram Parsons – the godfather of alt-rock country – and one of the most gloriously messed-up, debauched rock ‘n roll stories of all-time. A stolen corpse, cosmic country music, and one seriously botched cremation. In 1973, Gram Parsons made a pact with his tour manager, Phil Kaufman- whoever dies first, the other would cremate their body at Joshua Tree. Gram died first. Phil stole his body. It all didn’t turn out as planned… 

Sat Nov 15 at 10pm (USM) 60 min

 

FRIGID New York’s mission is to provide both emerging and established artists the opportunity to create and produce original work of varied content, form, and style, and to amplify their diverse voices. We do this by presenting an array of monthly programming, mainstage productions, an artist residency, and eight annual theater festivals that create an environment of collaboration, resourcefulness, and innovation. Founded in 1998, the aim was and is to form a structure, allowing multiple artists to focus on creating and staging new work and providing affordable rental space to scores of independent artists. Now in our third decade we have produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. www.frigid.nyc