A Sam Waterston-inspired tour of Brooklyn architecture

The Master Builder is finally here. It's Ibsen's play about an architect, and when we at the blog think about architects, we think about Sam Waterston. That is, the character he plays in Hannah and her Sisters. Offering a master class in efficient flirtation, Waterston plays an architect who meets Dianne Wiest and Carrie Fisher (aka the Stanislavski Catering Company) at a party, and next thing you know he's cruising around NYC showing the ladies his favorite buildings.

We got to wondering how that scene would play out in Brooklyn, so we gave Andrew Scott Dolkart a call. Dolkart is the James Marston Fitch Associate Professor of Historic Preservation at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and Director of the school's Historic Preservation Program. He got back to us with a great list of preferred spots and some reasons why he picked them. We have a feeling the Stanislavski Catering Company would have been into it.


New York Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church (now Union United Methodist Church)
101 New York Avenue between Dean and Bergen Streets, Crown Heights

photo by Emilio Guerra

A bold and powerful essay in orange brick designed in 1889 by J. C. Cady & Co. This building has a series of severe geometric forms stepping up to a tall tower, with the masses punctuated by enormous round-arch windows. One of the gutsiest buildings in New York.

To Each His Own Hilde

Wrenn Schmidt. Photo by Graeme Mitchell.

From newspaper reviews of the British and American premieres of Ibsen's The Master Builder. Wrenn Schmidt (Boardwalk Empire) plays the enigmatic Hilde in BAM's current production of the play.

The New York Times, January 18, 1900:

[Hilde Wangel is] a healthy, buoyant creature from the mountains, who still has a touch of the neurotic in her composition, and is united to the unhappy architect by a mystic bond; who invades his household as one answering a spiritual call, awakens the better side of his nature to a mood of self-revelation, and inspires him to the symbolical feat which causes his [spoiler redaction!].

London's Pall Mall Gazette, 1893:

Hilde Wangel is perhaps the most detestable character in the drama’s range. In one regard a victim of nymphomania; in another a deliberate murderess; in any aspect, mean, cheap, and hateful, Hilde Wangel stands out in dishonourable distinctness.

Finally, director Andrei Belgrader's description of Hilde in the current BAM production:

A free spirit, bubbling with physical and mental energy. [...] a beacon of hope and a sexual force [...] Solness' nemesis, a bewitching breath of fresh air while simultaneously a source of temptation. Wise beyond her years. Headstrong, forthright, has immense beauty and allure. Possesses the body of a woman and the fixed thinking and literality of a child. [...]  Embodies myth and light. 

If you've seen The Master Builder, tell us who Hilde Wangel is to you.

Mur-Mur—The Walls Have Ears (and Eyes...)

Ahearn/Torres' Life on Dawson St. in the Bronx. Photo: clocktowertenants.com

by Susan Yung

Mur-Mur (The Wall), by DynamO Théâtre (presented by BAM Education & Humanities at the BAM Fisher, May 18) is a fascinating case of art inspired by art inspired by life. Director Robert Dion saw John Ahearn & Rigoberto Torres' wall installation Life on Dawson St. and was inspired to create a theater work, which evolved into Mur-Mur. The everyday people who had inspired larger-than-life sculptures had in turn inspired DynamO to re-enliven them. A full creative circle.

Mur-Mur. Photo: Robert Etcheverry

Art in the Bronx in the late 1970s—80s often meant graffiti. In stark contrast, John Ahearn (who later teamed up with an early subject, Rigoberto Torres) had been making casts—busts and full figures—of his Bronx neighbors, painting them realistically, and mounting them on the sides of buildings. Not only did the sculptures enliven blank walls in a borough blighted by drugs and violence, they were (literally) heightened representations of average citizens done in the manner of classical representational sculpture, a medium often reserved for heroes. 

Ahearn/Torres' art is quintessentially about folks from a specific geographical area, but it wound up being universally embraced and exhibited internationally. While it originated  from the streets of the Bronx, it had nothing to do with the vandalism and turf wars of graffiti. It didn't try to lionize the emerging hip-hop artists' scene. It simply depicted everyday peoples' lives, at work or play, and remains a timeless inspiration for viewers and other artists.

In Context: The Master Builder

Katherine Borowitz, John Turturro, and Wrenn Schmidt. Photo by Graeme Mitchell.

Henrik Ibsen's The Master Builder runs at BAM through Sunday, June 9. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of articles, videos, and original blog pieces related to the show. For those who've already seen it, help us keep the conversation going by telling us what you thought below.

Friends of BAM Learn About the Royal Ballet of Cambodian's Dazzling Costumes

by Sarah Mischner

Sylvain Lim. Photo: Elena Olivo

Anyone who attended the Royal Ballet of Cambodia’s The Legend of Apsara Mera last week will admit to being dazzled by the ornate costumes worn by the dancers. Friends of BAM gathered in the Hillman Studio for an afternoon reception and discussion on these costumes given by fashion and costume designer Sylvain Lim.

Lim, a native Cambodian who lived in Paris for more than 30 years and worked in fashion houses including Dior and Balmain, described the history of the costumes and their construction—a process that has barely changed since the 11^th century.

Costumes in Cambodian ballet consist of pieces of raw silk or velvet brocade, stitched with thick spring-like coils of golden threads, metalwork, and sequins or beads to catch the light. It can take one person five months to create one costume, or four people can make a single costume in a month with three people doing the intricate embroidery. The costumer works up to the moment a dancer goes onstage; the dancers are sewn into their costumes. (Those dancers playing male roles often can’t use the bathroom for up to 4 hours.) As Lim explained, the Royal Ballet dancers' costumes are stitched tightly to their bodies, which helps them make the shapes of the deliberate choreography.

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry: An Epic Recap

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Part Deux is over, but we're still reliving the event through your photos, tweets, blog posts, Instagrams, and yes, even Vines. (In fact, we started our very own Vine account just for the occasion.) Whether you were there for all three nights or just one, it was impossible not to get caught up in the infectious energy that comes from discovering a new artist, tasting a mystery brew, rubbing shoulders with a talking head, and dancing with 3,000 other kindred spirits in the Opera House. Here is our collection of unforgettable moments—what were yours?

John Turturro: The Mid-Eighties Hat Trick

by Nathan Gelgud

BAM podcast: Get It Out There

The crowd at Get It Out There. Photo by Etienne Frossard

Listen to the first episode of the BAM podcast. Host Adam Sachs takes you behind the scenes of the March edition of Get It Out There: Comedy by BAM & IFC. Get It Out There curator Caroline Creaghead and Emily Heller discuss comedy in New York, all female line ups, and naked crowd rushers.

60 Years of Cambodian Dance at BAM

by Sharon Lehner

Rama from the dance The Ramayana, Classical Khmer Dancers of Cambodia, 1971.
Courtesy of the BAM Hamm Archives.

The Royal Ballet of Cambodia rarely performs in the United States, but appearances are not unprecedented at BAM. In October of 1971, the first extensive US tour of Cambodian classical dance enjoyed its New York premiere here. According to a 1971 BAM press release, “until recently the company performed only in the Royal Palace in Phnom Penn and was the personal property of the Royal Family, their origin going back 1400 years.” In 1971 the company was billed as “The Classical Khmer Ballet of Cambodia,” probably because members of the Royal Family were prohibited by government from joining the tour.

BAMcinématek—Booed at Cannes

By David Reilly

Jodie Foster and Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, courtesy Photofest

Since its inception in 1946, the Cannes Film Festival has gained a reputation as the film world’s most reliable hotbed for scandal: scenes clipped by censors moments before a film’s premiere, torrents of walkouts, and endless volleys of vicious repartee between the droves of moguls, critics, starlets, and dignitaries who descend upon the Palais des Festivals. Yet within the cavernous repository of Cannes controversy, there remains a place of honor for those films and directors eliciting that most visceral, ear-catching of hostile audience responses: the boo.

In recent years, booing at Cannes has become virtually de rigueur, the tabloids brimming with reports of Mel Gibson, Sofia Coppola, Brad Pitt, and Terrence Malick savaged by finicky Croisette crowds. But the practice has a long and colorful history, and BAMcinématek’s survey Booed at Cannes (May 8—12 & 16—23) reveals a diverse array of films maudits and canonical classics subjected to a hearty hooting on the French Riviera.

We begin in 1960. As the new decade ushers in groundbreaking avenues of filmic expression, bewildered Cannes audiences start to voice their displeasure at “the shock of the new,” taking aim at Michelangelo Antonioni. His infamous L’Avventura (1960) premiere left leading lady Monica Vitti “crying like a baby” (in her words). Despite the emboldening support of a vocal contingent of critics and fellow filmmakers, the pair fared little better two years later when L’Eclisse (1962) met similar disdain.