CULTURAL ACTIVITY HEATS UP SUMMER VENUES (c) By Polly Guerin

Cate Blanchete left and Isabelle Huppert spice up Genet's drama.

A plethora of cultural activities make living in New York one of the greatest city's in the world...no wonder all the tourists are flooding the streets on their sightseeing ventures. But, we alas, the lucky New Yorkers need only step outside and Voila!!! there's more than meets the eye at museums, theater and elsewhere.Here's the scoop!!!
THE MAIDS Literary bad boy Jean Genet's play, first performed in Paris in 1947 is in the top form line up in this summer's Lincoln Center Festival. It's sordid tale, the kind of gory details that people sometimes like to relish, so if you're a bit squeamish, well!!!
   On a quiet February evening in 1933, two unassuming and reticent domestic servants Christine and Lea Papin murdered and mutilated their longtime employer and her daughter in Le Mans, France, when holly hell brook loose making headlines across France and igniting an international debate about class struggle. Did their employer and daughter deserve such a fate?
   Making its North American debut, the Sidney Theater Company's production trio includes exuberant actress Cate Blanchette and Isabelle Huppert with rising star Elizabeth Debicki as the mistress. Curiously enough, Genet originally intended for all those roles to be played by men. Really!!!!
   Nonetheless, the show delivers a rare insight into celebrity, glamor, the high art of theater and true, yes my dears, it is based on a true crime. Aug. 6-16. lincolncenterfestival.org.
ALLIANCE FRANCAISE'S Tuesday movies honor the great work of famed actor Vincent Lindon starting tomorrow at 4pm with WELCOME. In this poignant and tragic film about the plight of illegal immigrants in France, Lindon plays a middle-aged swimming instructor who is reeling from the breakup of his marriage. His friendship with Bilal, a student is an arresting study in a relationship struggle.
   At 7:30 pm the film is FRIDAY NIGHT is a virtually stunning and atmospheric film about a one night stand after a couple meets amid a dreadful Paris traffic jam, sparks fly, A Free wine reception follows each screening. Florence Gould Hall, 22 E. 59th St. Check ticket price at: info@fiaf.org or call 212.355.6100.
NYC MAKERS: The MAD Biennial The first in a series of exhibitions examining cultures, NYC Makers Biennial showcases more than 100 participants and celebrates the artisans, artists, designers and other makers who live and work throughout the five boroughs of new York City today.
   There's innovation and some things are shocking, but there's plenty to titillate your imagination.The galleries are immersive environments, created entirely by the makers within the Biennial and they sometimes act as stages for educational programs and other live components.
   The project also spills out into other spaces in the museum--including stairwells, theater, lobbies, elevators---and beyond, into the streets, parks and studios of New York City. Taken as a whole, NYC Makers are worth the visit to see how skilled makers contribute to the ongoing vitality of New York City. Through Oct. 12, 2014. madmuseum.org.
Ta Ta darlings!!! I'm checking in, gonna see what the MAIDS are doing!!! It's so nice to hear from you. Fan mail welcome at pollytalk@verizon,net. Visit Polly's Blogs at www.pollytalk.com and click in the left hand column Blogs on men, women, fashion or poetry.

LOVE in the WARS, A ROMANTIC DRAMA at BARD (c) By Polly Guerin

Penthesilea...World Premiere at Bard College, Annandale- on-Hudson, N.Y.--- Summerscape July 16 through July 20: Fisher Center, Theater Two.
The world premiere of a new version of Heinrich von Kleist's, " Penthesilea" by the  Irish novelist, John Banville resonants in modernity with overtones of love, hate and war. This production keeps you riveted to your seat as high drama unfolds an ancient story, drawn loosely from Homer. This new production is great in many ways, one of the most striking of which is the depth of psychological insight it presents on the subject of the unending war between the sexes.
 It recounts the meeting between its eponymous heroine, The Queen of the Amazons, Penthesilea and the Greek Hero Achilles. The action goes full blown with the ferocity of her passion which collides with Achilles' stubborn will, setting in motion  a tragicomedy of love and misunderstanding. Sounds familiar? The fact that the actors are in modern attire also helps to convey the up-to-date message that conflict between the sexes is an ongoing battle.
At the post performance talk, I mentioned to the two-time Obie Award winner, director, Ken Rus Schmoll, "It reminds me of the battle between the sexes in the corporate world, the Amazons representing the women who break through the class ceiling and the men they beat as they scale the executive ranks, yet it just takes one modern day Achilles and love in the end conquers all."  Director Ken Rus Schmoll responded: "You're on the right track, but  for each person the play has different interpretations."
 Incidentally, Mr. Schmoll is a master of nuances of genre and language, and an ideal interpreter of Banville and Kleist's theatrical game playing. The stark white background in half shadow also creates a mystical boundary to the action in the play.
However, Love in the Wars is an adaptation of Penthesilea and in this production the great romantic playwright has met an an ideal present-day interpreter in John Banville who brings the play up to speed with Actor's Equity Association actors including Birgit Huppuch as Queen of the Amazons and Chris Stack as Achilles. These two combatant's high energy driven performance keeps the presentation in high gear during the production's two hour performance (no intermission). The supporting cast of performers are no less remarkable, as they, too, bring the play forward in modern dress with dramatic flair the telling of  the ancestral story.
To recap: At the height of the Trojan War, the armies of Greece and Troy are locked in a seemingly endless stalemate. Suddenly the Amazons, a fearsome nation of all-female warriors led by Queen Penthesilea, arrive at Troy. By seductive and violent force, the Amazons take many Greeks captive, including the mighty general Achilles. These women have for generations sworn to live without men, but once a year they capture the strongest and best-bred males they can find, using them to procreate in order to further their kind. With the Amazons now involved in the mythic battle at Troy, things seem to be going badly for the Greeks---until Penthesilea and Achilles begin to fall in love.
Bard Sunmerscape is a seven-week Arts Festival also exploring the life and times of Franz Schubert and the first U.S. revival in 100 years of Weber's Opera Euryanthe and the return of the Trisha Brown Dance Company.A courtesy bus ($20 round trip) is available for some performances. Box office:
845.758.7900 or contact:  fishercenter@bard.edu/summerscape/2014 preview.
Ta Ta Darlings: Love in the Wars is a riveting experience. Trust me, I saw a performance this past Sunday and it lives up to its ancestral message with a vibrant modern twist.  Fan mail welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net. Visit Polly's Blogs at www.pollytalk.com on amazing women, visionary men, hidden treasures and poetry.

FAST FORWARD FASHION and COUTURE (c) By Polly Guerin

Van Cleef & Arpels' magical land Peau d:Ane Collection

Fashion's fast forward into the summer brings us to Paris and Magical Moments with Van Cleef Arpel..and if that doesn't liven things up the Metropolitan Museum's  Costume Center ushers in mourning attire.  Only in New York, my dears, the best of New York. Here's the Scoop!!!
IS COUTURE DEAD"? The pinnacle of luxury, Haute Couture, au contraire is alive and in fine fettle with a new generation of younger clientele flooding the market from as far away as China. These are women who covet high fashion and high heels and are thirtysomething devotees of the made-to-order craft, the mainstay of France's luxury trade.. As the couture shows go into high gear Dior is hosting a client event to introduce its latest high-jewelry collection with a dinner for 120 people at the Palace de Versailles. At one time couture was exclusive reserved for mature women, mothers, the occasional movie star or celebrity.
  Today fashionista daughters with dollars to spare, big buyers that are not affected by the global economic situation, are appreciating and purchasing this exclusive and high high-level form of fashion,. Here in the United States among the intelligentsia, the women who have scaled the glass ceiling are calling couture their own right. They can well afford to look "haute"  and wear exclusive clothes to differentiate themselves from their peers and subordinates.  Granted these executive women tend to order more daywear, but special eveningwear takes priority for special occasions and red-carpet galas.
   For women who are on a more restrained budget they can only dream of wearing couture, but when I worked at the House of Guy LaRoche in Paris, instead of reimbursement for my service, I was paid in the bounty of a couture dress and suit, and I can attest to the fact that when you wear couture it really fits quite differently and you carry yourself with a new "Hoity Toity" manner.
   By the way, Didier Grumbach has stepped down as president of the Federation Francaise de la Couture, du Pret-a-Porter des Couturiers et des Createurs de Mode and Ralph Toledano, has succeeded him as president of the fashion trade group.Mr. Toledano, president of Puig, a fashion and beauty house based in Barcelona, will retain his position while taking on the new responsibilities.
MAGICAL MOMENTS WITH APRELS Talking about sumptuous events Van Cleef & Aprels created a magical kingdom in which unicorns exist and Indian elephants and other mythical creature roam the Loire Valley's Chateau de Chambord in France. All this movie-star hype to launch its latest high-jewelry collection "Peau d'Ane (or Donkey Skin) inspired by the Charles Perrault fairy tale of the same name. 
   The chateau was privatized for for event and the first day the magical kingdom parade of models and creatures was given exclusively for customers and the second for the visiting press. Guests were welcomed into the 16th-century chateau, which was transformed for the occasion into a magical realm with masked dancers in medieval costume,  men wearing deer's heads and performing owls.
   Everything about the collection was magical from the Chateau Enchante clip centered with a 39-carat oval-cut Brazilian emerald to the Gateau d'Amour ring made of white and yellow gold with gradated yellow to brown diamonds and centered with a 4.48-carat emerald. The magic wasn't over until the guests were treated to a medieval-style banquet followed by a performance of songs from "Peau d'Ane," by opera singers Natalie Dessay and Laurent Naouri accompanied by musician and composer Michel Legrand, who wrote the original score.
MOURNING BECOMES YOU A different kind of fashion history comes to New York this fall when the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Anna Wintour Costume Center unveils "Death Becomes Here: A Century of Mourning Attire. The predominantly black palette of mourning dramatizes ensembles with jewelry and acessories. Curator-in-Charge Harold Koda said, "Even in a subject so fraught  with emotion, clothins becomjes a physical manifestation of grief."  Approximately 30 ensembles will reveal the impact of high-fashion standards on the satorial dictates of bereavement rituals as they evolved over a centuryl. Mark your calender: Opens October 21 to February 2, 2015.
Ta Ta Darlings!!! For the moment I am stay with the magical moments in life!!! Fan mail welcomn pollytalk@verizon.net. Visit Polly's Blogs at www.pollytalk.com and in the left-hand column click on the links to Blogs on visionary men, hidden treasures and amazing womne.