"Ping Pong Diplomacy" was on the mind’s of members of the NY Philharmonic in Pyongyang, North Korea last week. I watched the historical concert in a rebroadcast on PBS. A grand gesture between the US and a totalitarian regime. An optimistic initiative, indirectly asking their citizens to open their minds toward western culture and democracy. I listened and observed. Amused by the dichotomy between the orchestra’s animated performance of Gershwin’s “An American In Paris” and the expressionless faces in the audience. I wondered, did they get the picture? Like the Hollywood versions from back in the golden age of MGM. An old-fashioned stroll through “gay Paree.” Marion Cotillard came to mind and her portrayal of Édith Piaf in “La Vie En Rose.” In Los Angeles, her Oscar acceptance speech was magnifique. Endearing as she awkwardly shook, thanking life and love and the angels of LA in broken English.
Following the Times’ coverage of Paris fashion week, I was attracted to John Galliano’s new fall collection for Christian Dior. Fashion authority Cathy Horyn called the collection “safe, respectable and ladylike, seemingly culled from the early 1960s pages of Paris Vogue...” They say Galliano’s genius is his ability to take the past and make it modern. I was curious if Lorin Maazel was capable of the same, conducting Gershwin in Pyongyang. I factored in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. It gave an edge to “An American In Paris.”
