THEATER
TUESDAY - SATURDAY, JULY 17 - 21 (continuing through JULY 28)*
7:30 PM TUESDAY - THURSDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY

Ivo van Hove:  The Damned
Comédie-Française
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan

$35-$175
http://armoryonpark.org/programs_events/detail/the_damned

When the greatest theater director in the world mounts a production in New York, you don't have to think too hard about whether to go.  In this one, van Hove reinterprets the screenplay of Luchino Visconti's great, twisted (but controversial) film about a decadent culture capitulating to Nazism (no contemporary relevance there!).  (What with the recent showing of the director's cut of another of Visconti's so-called "German" films, the absolutely bonkers Ludwig, we seem to be having a Visconti Moment here in New York.)  It's difficult to wait to see what van Hove will do both with this material and with the soaring Drill Hall space.  (Holy fuck!  Did you see that van Hove and the greatest choreographer in the world are collaborating on a Broadway revival of West Side Story next year?  I don't know about you, but I may die of overanticipation.)

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT:  After more than two hours of grinding decadence and degradation, you deserve something nice:  JoJo.