‘A most rare vision’ A friend dragged me to the cinema to see Julie Taymor’s production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” presented by Fathom Events. I protested much and very nearly did not go along, for I have seen my share of “Midsummers.” After 2.5 hours of intermission-less magic, I was utterly awestruck and immediately wanted to know how I can see it again or purchase it. I will see it in my dreams forever. Apparently, the Fathom screening was a one-shot deal. Very few attended the Mission Valley 20 showing of the Theatre for a New Audience production, which was the inaugural entry at Brooklyn’s Polonsky Shakespeare Center,Theatre for a New Audience’s first permanent home. According to a New Audience spokesperson, filming took place over four live performances with four cameras at each performance and several additional days of pick-up shots. Amazing and splendid. Methinks I had a wondrous dream. Taymor’s production of Carlo Gozzi’s “The Green Bird,” also produced by Theatre for a New Audience, toured at La Jolla Playhouse in 1996. Later noted for “The Lion King” and the film “Titus,” Taymor was the original director of the ill-fated, lawsuit-ridden “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.” This goes to show even that could not stymie her genius. According to the online IndieWire, Taymor’s “Midsummer” will show up in art houses later this summer. Watch for it. Mainly Mozart and ‘The Prodigy Year’ The 2015 Mainly Mozart Festival, a monthlong series of chamber music concerts that introduced new maestro/Music Director Michael Francis, concluded June 20 with his announcement of Mainly Mozart’s 2015 Mozart & the Mind program, which takes place Sept. 25-27 in La Jolla. Titled “This Is Your Brain on Music,” this year’s innovative program (neuroscientist/educator Tim Mullen is creative director) spreads out to include three days of concerts, lectures and family outdoor (free) activities. The locales are the Auditorium at The Scripps Research Institute and various locations on the campus of UCSD, including Atkinson Hall and Calit2. The prodigies include two 12-year-old boys, Gavin George and Ray Ushikubo, and grown-up prodigy Anton Nel, whose career began when he was 12. Mozart & the Mind explores the nature of genius, its connections to brain function, environment and nurturing and its possible connection to autism, through lectures by authors, experts and scientists, concerts by prodigies, youthful and matured, and the unique cultural influences of gamelan and youth orchestra playing. Says Mullen, “Mozart and the Mind offers us a fascinating opportunity to scientifically explore the concept of ‘prodigy’ as we delve into the life of the greatest prodigy of all: Mozart.” Mozart & the Mind, in its third year, is sponsored by ViaSat, Inc. and is presented by Mainly Mozart on the campus of UCSD in collaboration with The Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination. If that won’t blow your mind, I don’t know what will. For additional information, tickets and a brochure, phone (619) 239-0100, ext. 2. Other Music in the Air Opening: “Kiss Me, Kate,” July 1-Aug. 2, Old Globe Theatre
“The Music Man,” Moonlight Stage Productions, July 15-Aug. 1 Just opened: “West Side Story” Lamb’s Players Theatre, Coronado, through Aug. 2
