Lincoln Center Festival Lights Up
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The Lincoln Center Festival, which starts Wednesday, has done a bit of a juggling act this year. Ongoing renovations ruled out the New York State Theater and Alice Tully Hall, while Avery Fisher Hall is operational for only one week of the festival’s 25-day duration. “The underlying thread this year is that we have had to look elsewhere for performance spaces,” the director of the festival, Nigel Redden, said.
The original intentions of the festival organizers, such as staging the New York premiere of the Chinese opera “Monkey: Journey to the West,” co-written by Damon Albarn and Jamie Howlett of Gorillaz, at the State Theater, had to be discarded. (Instead musicians from Honest Jon’s, Mr. Albarn’s record label, are playing at the festival.)
But logistical headaches haven’t diminished the ambition of this year’s program. Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s 1965 epic German opera “Die Soldaten,” which the festival terms its “centerpiece,” fills the Park Avenue Armory while ballet and performance art move to the Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. “The festival seeks to reflect the eclecticism that you find at Lincoln Center and even to go beyond that,” Mr. Redden said. “We offer classicism from all parts of the world.”
Herewith, a guide to the festival’s bounty:
WHAT TO SEE IF YOU ONLY GO TO ONE PRODUCTION
Zimmermann considered “Die Soldaten” too immense for an opera house, and for the first time in America it will be shown in a non-proscenium space — the Drill Hall in the Park Avenue Armory. This monumental production of “Die Soldaten,” considered one of the finest German operas of the 20th century, features a 10-piece orchestra and a cast of 40, and is a transfer from the Ruhr Triennale arts festival in western Germany. The bleak opera depicts the rape and corruption of a young girl by a soldier during World War II. Mr. Redden is unconcerned that its downbeat subject matter jars with the joys of summer. “Fans of lighthearted musical comedy will be disappointed, but there are many people who want to see something provocative and intellectually stimulating whenever it is presented,” he said. “‘Die Soldaten’ appeals on so many levels.”
“Die Soldaten” at Park Avenue Armory, July 5, 7, 9, 11, and 12.
WHERE TO SEE STARS SOUL-SEARCHING ONSTAGE
Dublin’s Gate Theatre, which staged a complete retrospective of Samuel Beckett’s plays at the first Lincoln Center Festival, returns to perform three Beckett dramas, none of which were originally written for the stage. “Eh Joe,” in which Liam Neeson plays a man confronted by a voice in an empty room, made its premiere on television. Ralph Fiennes stars as a homeless man who befriends a mysterious woman in “First Love,” based on a 1946 Beckett novella, while “I’ll Go On,” featuring the Irish actor Barry McGovern, is derived from three of Beckett’s 1950s novels. The plays are being staged separately and then together on two same-day marathons. If a five-hour Beckett marathon conjures up some head-scratching, consider that Messrs. Fiennes and Neeson last collaborated on Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List.”
“Eh Joe,” “First Love,” and “I’ll Go On” July 16 -July 25 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College. Marathons, July 26 and July 27.
WHAT TO SEE IF YOU’RE MUSICALLY INQUISITIVE
Mr. Albarn, once the lead singer in the rock group Blur, has become British pop’s most unlikely polymath. “Damon has gone beyond being a rock musician. He’s someone who is musically extremely inquisitive,” Mr. Redden said. Damon Albarn & the Honest Jon’s Revue will feature performances by 10 artists on the Honest Jon’s record label co-founded by Mr. Albarn in 2002. Honest Jon’s specializes in African music but, reflecting the label’s diversity, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Los Angeles-based soul singer Simone White will also be performing. Other musical highlights include veteran performance artist Laurie Anderson presenting her new politically charged work “Homeland” (don’t rule out a guest appearance by her husband, Lou Reed). Innovative Balkan rock musician Goran Bregovic returns after his acclaimed 2003 festival debut with his Wedding and Funeral Band. Damon Albarn & the Honest Jon’s Revue at Avery Fisher Hall, July 12. Laurie Anderson’s “Homeland” at the Rose Theater, July 22 through July 26. Goran Bregovic’s Wedding and Funeral Band at Avery Fisher Hall, July 8 and July 9. WHERE TO GO FOR FLAMBOYANT GREEK TRAGEDY Alan Cumming heads the cast of the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of “The Bacchae,” Euripides’s Greek tragedy, first performed in 405 before the common era. Mr. Cumming, a New York-based Scot renowned for his exuberance on the social circuit, plays Dionysus, the androgynous god of ecstasy and wine, who avenges Pentheus, the King of Thebes. “It’s a role Alan was born to play,” Mr. Redden said. “He has that mixture of charm and malevolence.” John Tiffany (“Black Watch”) directs a production in which the Greek chorus is made up of R&B soul divas. “The Bacchae” at the Rose Theater, July 2 through July 13.
For more information, visit lincolncenter.org.