Top Picks: Opera and ballet on the big screen, a PBS documentary on Detroit, and more
Big-Screen Events
Hungry for an alternative to the big summer movies? Emerging Pictures and NCM Fathom Live may be your answer. Emerging Pictures launches its summer roster of opera and ballet with 鈥淩omeo and Juliet鈥� (June 2) from the Bolshoi Ballet and 鈥淭he Magic Flute,鈥� reconceptualized by Kenneth Branagh (June 9). More events will follow, all presented in nearly 300 multiplexes, art houses, museums, and performing arts centers throughout the United States. Fathom offers up 鈥淔irst: The Story of the London 2012 Olympic Games鈥� (May 30). Check out and for more info and times.
Brilliant bow
If the popular Yo-Yo Ma turned you into a cello fan, broaden your palate with the brilliant cellist . He has just released Bach鈥檚 The Cello Suites on Sony Classical on his 1707-10 Stradivarius 鈥淓x Castelbarco/Fau鈥� cello, which, he says, 鈥渋s a font of new inspiration and new sounds.鈥�
Broadway鈥檚 roots
Without the rich history of Jewish musical theater, there would be no Broadway musicals. In a delightful and well-documented two-disc set, Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy explores the roots of this treasured American art form in the Yiddish Theater of immigrant New York. The list of composers is illustrious: George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, Kander and Ebb, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim. It鈥檚 a very tuneful history lesson from Athena on DVD.
Hope for Motown
Once the fastest-growing city in the world, Detroit has been in steady decline for decades. Detropia, an 鈥淚ndependent Lens鈥� documentary on , reveals the slow death 鈥� and hint of rebirth 鈥� going on in one of the nation鈥檚 most iconic cities. Even though industry and residents have fled, artists and the curious are part of a remnant that refuses to give up. It airs May 27.
They fought Hitler
reminds us once again that when it comes to understanding World War II, the surface has only just been scratched. The three-hour documentary Inside World War II (May 31, 7 p.m.) provides a visual timeline of this complex war, with personal, in-depth stories from veterans. It combines archival footage with more than 50 testimonies from American, British, German, and Soviet servicemen; a former member of the Hitler Youth; and Jewish and black Germans who endured persecution under Hitler鈥檚 reign.
Americana bliss
Some albums have the power to transport you to a summertime front porch sipping sweet tea. , an Americana acoustic cello/fiddle duo out of Boston, do just that with their new album, Land on Shore. Mia鈥檚 feisty fiddle and banjo work and Ari鈥檚 rich cello playing melt deliciously into their sweet, playful vocal harmonies as they interweave deceptively sophisticated melodies that are inspired by Appalachia, folk, and a touch of jazz.
