Music@Menlo prepares online ‘Intermezzo’

In place of its planned summer season, the Peninsula chamber music festival will offer a series of online events ranging from live solo recitals to archival footage and artist interviews. The series title, “Intermezzo,” strikes an optimistic note that this is all a temporary glitch we just need to get through.

For the series’ opening event, Music@Menlo artistic directors Wu Han and David Finckel promise an overview of events to come, along with unspecified musical performances by some of the festival’s guest artists.

— Joshua Kosman

In 1963, documentarian Robert Drew and his team were given remarkable access to President John F. Kennedy, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and their respective staffs, as they dealt with a standoff between the federal government and Gov. George Wallace over the integration of Alabama schools.

“Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment” is fascinating for a number of reasons. First, it shows us what a functioning presidency and Justice Department look like. Second, it documents the leadup to one of JFK’s finest moments, his civil rights speech. It also puts us in a room with Kennedy, in a way that we’ve never been before. He has miles on him. He has the poise of a youngish man who has been to war, and so he’s old and young at the same time — serious, but unfazed. If the film’s intention was to make us think Kennedy was one heck of a good president, it succeeds.

— Mick LaSalle

“Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment”: Rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video.

Lisa Marie Mazzucco