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Antony performing 'Marina Abramović' at Park Ave Armory, has old song on new 'Hunger Games' soundtrack

Antony in ‘Marina Abramović’ (photo: Lucie Jansch)
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As befits an art-world star, the drama of Ms. Abramovic’s pseudo-sendoff has been entrusted to another aesthetic luminary, the avant-garde theater and opera director Robert Wilson. The inception for the project came when Ms. Abramovic called Mr. Wilson and asked if he’d be interested in staging her funeral — death being a primary preoccupation of this self-punishing artist; he agreed, as long as he got to stage the life, too. Also providing eulogistical and biographical interpretation are well-known figures from other artistic realms: the composer and singer Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons), dressed in space-age black velvet and appearing as a sort of avatar of Ms. Abramovic, and the actor Willem Dafoe, looking like a skeleton raised from the dead himself in his white makeup under a flaming pouf of red hair. – [NY Times]

Lavish new operatic spectacle The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, which stars Abramović, Willem Dafoe and Antony Hegarty and is directed by Robert Wilson, made its US debut last week (12/12) at Park Avenue Armory and runs through Saturday (12/21). Most of the shows are sold out, but you can still get tickets for Saturday’s matinee and evening performance.

Meanwhile, you may have heard Antony’s song “Angel on Fire” on the deluxe edition of the Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack, that also features songs by The National, Coldplay, Lorde and others. According to Antony, his contribution was written in 1992 and the backing track for the song is “partly comprised of 4track recording that Antony once used in club performances in NYC.” If you haven’t heard it, you can stream it below.

Antony & The Johnsons – Angel On Fire