(718) 260–2500 Brooklyn Paper’s essential guide to the Borough of Kings September 6–12, 2019
CINEMA
Toon town
This flick will really draw you in!
A new animated short film will take viewers
on a two-dimensional tour of the iconic landmarks
of Kings County. “Brooklyn Breeze,” which
makes its borough debut at the Coney Island Film
Festival on Sept. 15, is an illustrated celebration
of Brooklyn’s past, said its creator.
“I tried to use landmarks and things that
disappeared during the 16 years that I lived in
Brooklyn,” said Alex Budovsky. “I wanted to
capture the Brooklyn that I saw when I got to
New York in December 1994, and show things
that are gone now.”
Budovsky, a Russian-born animator who now
lives in Colombia, used his film to take a final
tour of the borough — highlighting both worldfamous
landmarks and lesser-known spots close
to his heart, including the Parachute Jump, the
Kentile Floors sign in Gowanus, and Redbird
subway cars.
“Overall, I showed most of Brooklyn waterfront
from Coney Island to the Williamsburg
bridge,” he said. “For me, this film is a way to
say goodbye, and to let Brooklyn go.”
The former Brooklynite found inspiration for
his animated short in the 1920s jazz tune “Breezin
Along With the Breeze,” recorded by contemporary
act Michael Arenella and His Dreamland
Orchestra — which provides the short’s
smooth soundtrack.
The three-minute short will screen during a
block of other animated films on the third day
of the Coney Island Film festival. The 19th annual
arts event will kick off with an Opening
Night Party on Sept. 13, featuring burlesque
and sideshow performances, an open bar from
Coney Island Brewery, and food from Gargiulo’s
restaurant.
Over the next two days, 106 short films and
features will screen at the fest. Highlights include
the music video “The Day the L Train
Died” — a parody of “American Pie” that deals
with commuter woes (Sept. 14 at 7 p.m.), the
festival’s annual screening of the iconic 1979
Coney Island film “The Warriors” (Sept. 14 at
10:30 p.m.), and the short documentary “How
the Trumps Brought Death and Destruction to
Coney Island” — about the Trump family’s real
estate escapades in the People’s Playground (Sept.
15 at 6 p.m.).
“Brooklyn Breeze” in the Coney Island Film
Festival at Coney Island USA 1208 Surf Ave. at
W. 12th Street in Coney Island, (718) 372–5159,
www.coneyisland.com. Sept. 15 at 1 p.m. $8.
Festival Sept. 13–15. Day passes $12–$15 ($50
all-festival pass). — Aidan Graham
Alice Teeple Emcee threats
Willkommen: Park Slope’s Gallery Players present “Cabaret,” a play about the turbulent Berlin nightlife scene in the late 1920s, during the rise of the Nazis, featuring, from
left, Cait Farrell as Rosie, Brian Edward Levario as the Emcee, Lorinne Lampert as Fritzie, and Ryan S. Lowe as Lulu.
Musical recalls the decadent backdrop to rise of Nazism in Berlin
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
Maybe it can happen here.
A Park Slope theater company
will present a timely take on a musical
set in Berlin during the rise of the
Nazis. This version of “Cabaret,” opening
on Sept. 7 at Gallery Players, uses the tale
of a nightclub’s denizens dealing with the
rise of fascism in Europe to warn today’s
audience about hateful ideologies that are
on the rise in the United States, according
to its director.
“We were trying to draw a correlation
from the 1920s and 1930s Berlin to 2019
in our own country,” said David Cronin.
“It feels like these same issues are still
around: homophobia, racism, transphobia,
terrorism.”
THEATER
The musical, which launched on Broadway
in 1966, is set at the Kit Kat Club, a
seedy Berlin nightclub during the Weimar
Republic, when the capital city’s nightlife
offered a tolerant refuge for people on society’s
margins, whether because of their
gender, sexuality, religion, or race. Previous
iterations of the show often glossed over
the club’s diverse character by employing
casts that were predominantly male, white,
and straight, according to Cronin.
“The thing that gets blown over in usual
productions is that the Weimar Republic was
very queer and inclusive,” Cronin said.
The director has expanded the story arcs
of some minor characters, while keeping the
script largely the same. The cast in this show
also features several gender-non-conforming
actors and cross-gender casting.
“We tried to make it so that the actors
on stage are like the people you see on the
street,” he said.
The show’s sleazy nocturnal frolic foreshadows
German society’s descent into the
darkness of the Holocaust, showing how
many people ignored its horrors until it affected
them directly, said Cronin. He drew
parallels between Germany’s hateful politics
and the encroaching policies of the
Trump administration, including the transgender
military ban and putting migrant
children in cages.
“It can shift so quickly,” he said. “I
think that maybe even I ignored it, and
within two years it was, ‘What country
do I live in?’ ”
Watching the topical show might not be
easy, but the director believes that he has a
responsibility to truly represent how quickly
a liberal society can fall for hate. He hopes
the production will ignite discussion and
reflection among the audience.
“The show is a lot to swallow, and we’re
certainly not downplaying the raw emotions
— it’s going to be uncomfortable,”
he said. “My goal is that people leave the
theater and have discussions about what’s
happening today.”
BOOKS
Reading picks
Word’s picks: “Frankly In Love,” by
David Yoon
When a book manages to exceed expectations
as much as this novel does, it’s mandatory
that you try your
best to get it into everyone’s
hand. “Frankly in
Love” is a home run of a
debut novel. It manages
to be hilarious and heartfelt
in the same breath.
Yoon perfectly encapsulates
what it is like to be
the child of immigrants,
tackling identity in such
a real way.
— Kim Small, Word
126 Franklin St. at Milton Street in Greenpoint,
(718) 383–0096, www.wordbookstores.com .
Greenlight Bookstore’s pick:
“Inland,” by Téa Obreht
I’ve been on a bit of a cowboy kick — the
kind where I am absorbed in tales of the Southwest,
but am also critical
of laudatory stories about
homesteaders and white
colonialist horse boys
— so this book was a
cool drink of water for
me. “Inland” is a deftly
written and well-plotted
novel; it’s a great read for
those looking for an escape
from New York or
a literary equivalent of
“Old Town Road.”
— Nora Tjossem, Greenlight Bookstore 686
Fulton St. between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland
Avenue in Fort Greene, (718) 246–0200,
www.greenlightbookstore.com .
Community Bookstore’s pick:
“Mount Analogue,” by Rene Daumal
Daumal’s surrealist masterpiece of “non-
Euclidean adventures
in mountain climbing”
follows our narrator’s
expedition towards a
fantastical mountain
that connects Earth to
Heaven. An inspiration
to generations of artists
from Jodorowsky to John
Zorn, this beautiful reissue
is now available
from Exact Change, in
the original English translation by Roger Shattuck.
Get yours now before it goes out of print
for another six decades!
— Samuel Partal, Community Bookstore 43
Seventh Ave. between Carroll Street and Garfield
Place in Park Slope, (718) 783–3075, www.
commu nityb ookst ore.net .
By Tammy Scileppi
for Brooklyn Paper
He’s taking a chance on Love.
The frontman of popular British
indie-pop act the Wombats
is flying solo for the next year or so.
After 16 years as the guitarist and
singer for the Liverpool three-piece,
Matthew “Murph” Murphy will play
with his new project Love Fame Tragedy
at Rough Trade in Williamsburg
on Sept. 25.
Playing an intimate show in the
back of a record store will mark a
major change from his last stop in
the New York area, when the Wombats
opened for the Rolling Stones at
Metlife Stadium. But Murph says that
he needed to shake things up a bit,
even as his band’s following keeps
growing across the U.S.
“Whether this project succeeds or
fails, I think it’s important for my
creativity and my brain,” he said. “I
just wanted to try something new. I
wanted to give myself an avenue in
MUSIC
which to do that.”
And he is not breaking up the Wombats,
he insists — he’s just adding
something else.
“I don’t really think I’m going solo,
just starting up another project; maybe
focusing more around collaborations
involving similar kinds of people I’ve
met over the years,” he said.
His debut album, “I Don’t Want
To Play The Victim, But I’m Really
Good At It,” which he recorded in
2018, features a stellar lineup of musical
friends and collaborators. The
name Love Fame Tragedy comes from
a Pablo Picasso exhibit that resonated
with the singer, he said.
“I was after a title for the new
project that had this looping feeling
to it; it seems like an endless cycle
or way of being. It triggered a lot of
things and a lot of songs flew out after
that,” Murph explained.
The album features catchy anthems
and classic synth-pop confessionals,
where hedonism, responsibility,
anxiety, and the fragility of
love collide.
“It’s kind of melodic alt-pop rock;
there’s always hints of self-deprecating
humor kind of coming through
it,” said Murph.
Two singles have already been
released: “My Cheating Heart” and
“Backflip,” which Murph describes
as “a fatalistic take on relationships
and dating apps.”
Despite the angsty tone of some of
the songs, Murph said that a snapshot
of his life now would reveal he is the
happiest he has ever been.
“My last bunch of albums and reaction
to going solo has been great,”
he said. “It’d be a picture of me with
a big cheesy grin!”
Love Fame Tragedy at Rough
Trade 64 N. Ninth St. between
Kent and Wythe avenues in Williamsburg,
(718) 388–4111, www.
roughtrad enyc.com. Sept. 25 at
8:30 p.m. $18.
“Cabaret” at Gallery Players 199 14th
St., between Third and Fourth avenues
in Park Slope, (718) 595–0547, www.galleryplayers.
com. Opens on Sept. 7 at
8 p.m., then Thu–Fri at 8 p.m.; Sat at 2
p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sun at 3 p.m. through
Sept. 29. $30.
Talkback after the Sunday, Sept. 15 performance.
His heart and solo
Wombats frontman takes chance on new album
Biel
Kate Gone to ‘bat: Matthew “Murph” Murphy, lead singer of the Wombats,
will bring his solo project Love Fame Tragedy to Williamsburg’s
Rough Trade on Sept. 25. Alex Budovsky
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