Here, T+L’s short list of the season’s screenings and must-see events around the globe.
An exhibition at the New-York Historical Society (March 5–July 4; nyhistory.org) demonstrates the Grateful Dead’s enduring legacy and wide-reaching cultural influence, drawing on the University of California, Santa Cruz’s Grateful Dead Archive of letters, photos, recordings, T-shirts, and Jerry Garcia’s favorite guitar, Rosebud.
Celebrated for flamenco, Spain did not have a major classical ballet troupe until now. Ángel Corella, principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, has established Corella Ballet Castilla y León. The 60 dancers make their U.S. debut at New York City Center (March 17–20).
The Dallas Opera (dallasopera.org) hosts the world premiere of Moby Dick (April 30–May 16) by composer Jake Heggie, with Wagnerian tenor Ben Heppner as Captain Ahab at Winspear Opera House. The Fort Worth Opera (fwopera.org) presents Cuban American composer Jorge Martín’s Before Night Falls (May 29–June 6), which features young baritone Wes Mason as the gay dissident and poet Reinaldo Arenas in Fidel Castro’s Cuba.
Three new documentaries show the world in transit: director Thomas Balmès’s Babies (opens April 16) contrasts the first year in the lives of four infants from different continents. A Cambodian performer leaps from Angkor Wat to the American ballet scene in Dancing Across Borders (March 26), directed by Anne Bass, a well-known figure in New York society. Documentarian Don Argott’s The Art of the Steal (February 26) examines the controversial move of the Barnes Foundation’s art collection from its home in Merion, Pennsylvania, to Philadelphia.
Wellington’s International Arts Festival (through March 21; nzfestival.nzpost.co.nz) promotes Kiwi and worldwide arts troupes. Don’t miss Mark Twain & Me in Māoriland, a comic tale based on the writer’s 1895 trip to New Zealand and Australia.
