Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – TRIPTYCH sets Robert Mapplethorpe’s provocative photography to radiant music and poetry

• By drediman
• June 7, 2019
• No Comments

Martell Ruffin and Roomful of Teeth in “Triptych (Eyes of One on Another)” at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House. Photo by Maria Baranova.

Over at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House, just in time for Pride Month, comes Triptych (Eyes of One on Another). The hybrid performance piece explores the provocative photography of Robert Mapplethorpe through poetry, music, and theatre. As a gay man, Mr. Mapplethorpe’s photographs induce in me intense contradictory emotions. Yes, the images of mostly gay men in various modes of frank – and at times extreme – sexuality are jarring and in-your-face. But the photographs nevertheless pulsate with the universal vibrancy of life being lived authentically and to the fullest, by way of unfiltered honesty. Indeed, there’s an undeniable potency in these images’ defiance.

For the truly unclassifiable performance (a compliment), Mr. Mapplethrope’s uncompromising photographs have been richly set to music and poetry by composer Bryce Dessner and librettist Korde Arrington (using text by Essex Hemphill and Patti Smith), respectively. Even if the beauty of the rapturous music, despite its accomplished compositional range, and the opaqueness of some of the text don’t quite correlate with the gritty beauty of the images, they nevertheless serve as mesmerizing gateways into Mr. Mapplethorpe’s worldview. The piece also features the observant presence of dancer/actor Martell Ruffin.

Director Kaneza Schaal skillfully ties it all together with a simple but effective staging that works beautifully in performance, giving us just the right amount of theatrical variety through smart blocking and elegant pacing. The radiant, meditative music-making by renowned vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth (featuring special guests Alicia Hall Moran and Isaiah Robinson) and music director Brad Wells is worth the price of admission in and of itself. Strictly sonically speaking, Triptych is utterly captivating.

RECOMMENDED

TRIPTYCH (EYES OF ONE ON ANOTHER)
Off-Broadway, Performance
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
1 hour, 10 minutes (without an intermission)
Through June 8