Entertainment at home
Zoellner Arts Center’s season features Joan Osborne and Grammy-winning artists
The joy of live music has escaped most of us throughout this pandemic.
But Lehigh University’s Zoellner Arts Center is offering a unique opportunity that comes close, keeps us safe and is accessible to everyone.
Zoellner’s first virtual season is underway, offering a series of performances from Grammy Award-winning acts you can watch from home.
Tickets for $10 or $20 per household will be sold but those unable to afford it will be offered free access to the performances.
Here’s the season lineup: Sankofa Danzafro, (Now through March 5): This Afro-Colombian dance company will present “The City of Others.” Artistic director and choreographer Rafael Palacios created this work by drawing from the troupe’s personal
experiences with racism and oppression in their daily lives.
Ulysses Quartet (Feb. 26 to March 26): This youthful string ensemble, whose members hold a prestigious fellowship at The Juilliard School, has mastered classical repertoire such as Bach, Haydn, Schubert and Ravel while performing notable engagements in Alice Tully Hall, Beijing’s Harbin Grand Theatre, and the Eastman School of Music.
Third Coast Percussion (March 19- April 19): A Grammy Award-winning Chicago-based percussion quartet that redefines the classical music experience. This group is known for speaking from the stage and inviting audiences to play along as part of their push to create a sense of community during their performances.
Dom Flemons (April 9-May 9): This Grammy Award winner
is a songwriter, music scholar and multi-instrumentalist, who is an expert player on the banjo, guitar, jug, rhythm bones and more. He is “The American Songster” with a repertoire that covers more than a century of early American popular music
and a founding member of the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops.
Casey Abrams (April 30-May 30): This jazz bassist and vocalist is a familiar face to “American Idol” fans. More than 550 million people have seen Casey’s performances on YouTube.
Joan Osborne (May 21-June 21): Multi-platinum recording artist Osborne performs “Songs of Bob Dylan.” Known best for her hit song “One of Us,” the seven-time Grammy nominee has explored a diverse range of genres from pop, gospel, roots, soul, and country.
For info, tickets: 610-758-2787, ext. 0
Morning Call features reporter Jennifer Sheehan can be reached at 610-820-6628 or jennifer.sheehan@mcall.com.
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Thanks to the pandemic, there’s been shortages of everything from hand sanitizer to toilet paper to cat food. But, at least, there’s still plenty of mustsee movies and series.
You can check out flicks like “Wonder Woman 1984,” “Sound of Metal,” and “Pieces of a Woman” on the small screen. And then there are such Oscar contenders as “Nomadland” and “Minari” in theaters as well as peak TV entries “The Queen’s Gambit” and “Better Call Saul.”
The growing number of streaming platforms has also been a boon for teeny-tiny indie films like “The Mimic” and “King of Knives,” two provocative low-budget efforts that, at their best, are real conversation-starters.
“The Mimic” stars Thomas Sadoski, who is married to Allentown’s native A-lister, Amanda Seyfried. The actors met while performing off-Broadway in “The Way We Get By” and later fell in love shooting “The Last Word,” a comedy co-starring Shirley MacLaine.
A native of Connecticut, Sadoski is the best thing about “The Mimic,” a genuinely bizarre comedy revolving around a screenwriter known only as the Narrator, who is obsessed with his new neighbor, the Kid (Jake Robinson), whom he’s convinced is a sociopath.
Written and directed by Thomas F. Mazziotti, “The Mimic” benefits from Sadoski’s ability to sling a wisecrack. The former star of “The Newsroom” knows how to banter with the best of ‘em and that energy keeps the movie percolating along, at least for a little while.
Eventually, “The Mimic” collapses under the weight of its absurdities. None of the situations that Mazziotti comes up with reliably move the story along. Occasionally, it feels like you’re watching the same scene between the Kid and the Narrator over and over again.
That said, there are some pleasures along the way, including cameos by the likes of Gina
Gershon, M. Emmett Walsh, Jessica Walter, Marilu Henner and Didi Conn. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, “The Mimic” might fit the bill.
Though far from seamless, “King of Knives” is a compelling dramedy about a disintegrating family (Bethlehem native Mel Harris, Roxi Pope, Emily Bennett) which captures the realistic push-push of folks who love each other but are incapable of living together.
At the center of the action is Frank (Gene Pope, who also co-wrote the screenplay), an advertising exec whose midlife crisis dictates he spend a weekend partying in Brooklyn, crashing his sports car, experimenting with drugs and, finally, facing up to a tragedy from the past.
“Knives” is visually flat but the sharply-drawn characters give it plenty of edge. Harris, who is best known for her turn on “thirtysomething,” is particularly terrific playing a woman who’s grown weary putting up with her husband’s endless infidelities.
Harris, whose last on-screen appearance was in 2009, will soon pop up in the upcoming “thirtysomething” reunion series. The show will feature costume designs by Easton resident Amy Roth.