This Is What Happens When Britain Invades Broadway
Real glassware in the theatre bar, for one thing. And the patrons like it. "'It shows class,' said Billy-Grace Ward of Manhattan, who was drinking Champagne before a performance of 1984. 'It’s not a disposable experience.'" … [Read More]
Top Posts From AJBlogs For The Weekend Of 07.23.17
Opera: America’s War Without End Anthony Haden Guest calls “The Plain of Jars” — a chamber opera by Keith Patchel about America’s secret war in Laos — “the lineal descendant of Stravinsky’s ‘Nightingale’ and Alban Berg’s ‘Lulu’ and ‘Wozzeck.'” Click ... read more AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2017-07-21 From Montreal to Massachusetts Compagnie Marie Chouinard performs at Jacob’s Pillow, July 19 through 23 Marie Chouinard’s 24 Preludes by Chopin (an earlier cast). Photo: Marie Chouinard The immaculately groomed women in the above photograph don’t look much like ... read more AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2017-07-22 From Dreams to Reality Did you ever dream of being in a certain profession when you were little? Of traveling to a distant land, or gaining the skills of heroes who you admired? … [Read More]
Is The Stirling Prize For Architecture The Worst Prize Ever?
Rowan Moore is not happy with it. The Stirling "has a magnificent record of not recognising the projects that define their time, of favouring everyone’s second choice and nobody’s first choice, with the result that you could write a convincing history of modern British architecture based on the projects that haven’t won." And this year? It missed again. … [Read More]
For A Better Life, Turn Off All Of Your Push Notifications
Why? Because you'll be happier. Way, way happier. Push notifications are for brands, not for users: "Allowing an app to send you push notifications is like allowing a store clerk to grab you by the ear and drag you into their store. You're letting someone insert a commercial into your life anytime they want. Time to turn it off." … [Read More]
Does ‘The Big Sick’ Throw South Asian Women Under The Bus?
The problem isn't necessarily The Big Sick or Master of None but that South Asian women don't have enough representation on screens big or small. "The word 'erasure' comes up frequently in the criticism, and it’s neither new nor unfounded." … [Read More]
The Modern-Day Palaces (Or Are They Cathedrals?) Of The Tech Giants
The tech giants "have, plainly, colossal resources, with the ability to do almost anything they like. They can have new materials invented, or make old ones perform as never before. They can build the biggest and most expensive workplaces yet seen. They can change cities. They have already redefined 'architecture' in the sense that the word can now refer to the structures of software and hardware. Now the old-fashioned version of architecture finds itself an adjunct of the new sort. " … [Read More]
An Immense Screw-Up Over A New Building May Kill This Drama School In England
One of the current students; "It's sad to see such a unique, outstanding, renowned college be let down by a bunch of suits who didn't make their mind up over the future of it, and there's at least a hundred of us that have been left with the mess they patched together for us." … [Read More]
Sure, Netflix Does Original Shows And Reboots – But Its New Secret Weapon Is Genre Movies
Directors, showrunners, and cast members were at San Diego Comic-Con. "To hear them say it, Netflix could do no wrong. 'I was able to do my shit here,' Ayers said. 'I was able to tell my fucking story. I was able to do my thing.'" … [Read More]
Opera In Europe Is Not Exactly Content With The Way The World Is Working
"Aix’s outgoing general director, Bernard Foccroulle, described his vision as one in which opera has 'a vivid and creative relationship to the past, with a focus that is of our time.' The model should be one of 'participation, not consumerism.'" … [Read More]
It’s Time (Probably Way, Way Past Time) For Women And Power To Be All Over Our Screens
Why? Because that's real, even if Wonder Woman, The Handmaid's Tale, and Game of Thrones are al fantasies. "Challenging power is itself a liberal, anti-authoritarian act, which means that power’s answer is much less important than the act of posing the question, because that’s what speaking truth to power looks like. The feminist question is how much our culture is prepared to reconcile women and power. And on that question, the jury is very much out." … [Read More]
How Did Rotten Tomatoes Become Both So Influential And So Feared?
It's like Amazon or something even bigger (if there is such a thing): "As people are bombarded with more and more entertainment options, quality has become a determining factor for a movie’s success. And moviegoers use Rotten Tomatoes to select films the same way they turn to Yelp to determine what restaurants they visit." … [Read More]
21st Century Fox Asks Matt Groening To Make The Simpsons Nicer To Fox News (And The President)
This was "after a joke that dubbed Fox News 'not racist, but No. 1 with racists,'" the creator of The Simpsons said. "'Then Bill O'Reilly called us pinheads and look what happened,' Groening added." … [Read More]
Actor John Heard Of The ‘Home Alone’ Movies And ‘The Sopranos’ Has Died At 72
One of Heard's favorite jobs was in the 2013 original Sharknado movie. "'I knew it was going to be a cult classic,' he told the Baltimore Media Blog last year. 'It's just ridiculous. I thought it would replace people calling me the Home Alone dad.'" … [Read More]
It’s Been More Than A Year Since This City In Canada Had A Newspaper, So How’s It Coping?
Despite a lot of new outlets "sniffing opportunity" and opening new offices or expanding coverage, people in Guelph, Ontario, miss their daily paper. there's "a creeping dread that fact-free U.S.-style politics – enhanced by the canny use of social media by those in power – could be spreading north." … [Read More]
Dick Van Dyke Apologizes For His ‘Cockney’ Accent In Mary Poppins
'Strewth: "Van Dyke, 91, was chosen this week by Bafta to receive the Britannia award for excellence in television. Speaking afterwards, he said: 'I appreciate this opportunity to apologise to the members of Bafta for inflicting on them the most atrocious cockney accent in the history of cinema.'" … [Read More]
Trending on AJ
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21st Century Fox Asks Matt Groening To Make The Simpsons Nicer To Fox News (And The President)
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They Exhumed The Corpse Of Salvador Dali For A Paternity Test, Only To Find His Mustache In Perfect Shape
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French Singer Dies In Mid-Performance Onstage
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Dick Van Dyke Apologizes For His 'Cockney' Accent In Mary Poppins
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An Immense Screw-Up Over A New Building May Kill This Drama School In England
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DataArts, President and CEO
The President & CEO will work collaboratively with DataArts’ board to envision and lead the implementation of its strategic action plan, comprehensive resource development, and delivery of high … [Read More]
Vice President, Community Engagement – Peace Center, Greenville, SC
The Peace Center, a major multi-theater performing arts center, located in Greenville, SC seeks a Vice President, Community Engagement to design and lead an innovative arts community engagement … [Read More]
Producing Artistic Director – Theatreworks, Colorado Springs
THEATREWORKS, on the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs campus, is a professional theater company located on this growing campus. THEATREWORKS will move into their new theatre in the $60,000,000 … [Read More]
Ballet West Keeps Connections To Cuba Despite New Trump Restrictions…
"'Being in Utah, and seeing those mountains is one of the best experiences of my entire life,' 17-year-old ballet student Marcos Ramirez-Castellano said. Likewise, watching Ramirez-Castellano's strength and precision in partnering class last week was awe-inspiring. Sklute said 'there is no better training for male dancers in the world" than in the Cuban system.'" … [Read More]
When You Make A Jane Austen Banknote But ‘Egregiously’ Misuse A Jane Austen Quote…
Hint: If Jane Austen had Caroline Bingsley say something, probably you shouldn't quote it for gentle surface meaning. "In short, Austen wrote the line as a satirical comment on how we perform certain admirable qualities to win approval." … [Read More]
Monopoly Was Invented For Just Such A Time Period As Ours…
The original game, that is, was made to show the, let's say, challenges of capitalism. So in its spirit, "as you set out piles for the Chance and Community Chest cards, establish a third pile for Land-Value Tax, to which every property owner must contribute each time they charge rent to a fellow player. How high should that land tax be? And how should the resulting tax receipts be distributed? Such questions will no doubt lead to fiery debate around the Monopoly board." … [Read More]
Who Gets The Most Arts Money? The Answer Will (Not) Shock You…
Yes, another study found that it's large, mostly white organizations. And whoa, the disparities: "The study found that organizations focused on communities of color make up 25 percent of all arts nonprofits but receive just 4 percent of all foundation giving." … [Read More]
Director Jane Campion Says ‘The Clever People’ Have Switched From Film To TV…
Campion (The Piano, Bright Star), who makes the TV series Top of the Lake, says that "movies have become conservative cash cows," but "in television, there is no concern about politeness or pleasing the audience. It feels like creative freedom." … [Read More]
They Exhumed The Corpse Of Salvador Dali For A Paternity Test, Only To Find His Mustache In Perfect Shape…
Yes. The mustache, in "classic 10-past-10 position," survives. "Narcís Bardalet, who had embalmed Dalí’s body in 1989, told the Catalan radio station RAC1 that finding the mustache intact was 'a miracle.' He added: 'Salvador Dalí is forever.'" … [Read More]
Have Selfies Gotten In The Way Of Real Experiences?…
"A symptom of modern living, but a no less inevitable one, require we live in a state of constant negotiation: between the pull of the world and one’s own conditioned desires. The writer Jenna Wortham, in 2013, described selfies as part of “a timeless delight in our ability to document our lives and leave behind a trace for others to discover.” If social media first intended to connect us, its promise has taken a sharp, inauspicious turn inward: the self has become paramount, the correspondence second." … [Read More]
Portrait Of The Cellist As An Artist Of A Different Sort…
As a corollary of his mission to rethink the performer’s role, Parker Woods refuses to let his identity as a cellist be restricted by conventional perceptions of what a classical string player does. Which is why, even at this still-early stage of his career, he’s already been leaving his imprint on a fascinating variety of collaborations across disciplines. … [Read More]
French Singer Dies In Mid-Performance Onstage…
Barbara Weldens was singing at a church in the village of Goudron in southwestern France as part of the Festival Léo Ferré when she collapsed mid-song. There are conflicting reports regarding her cause of death with some reporting that she suffered a cardiac arrest and the BBC saying that she may have been electrocuted. Police are investigating, and the remainder of the festival has been canceled. … [Read More]
When Empathy Was “Aesthetic Empathy”…
The feeling we call “empathy” has shifted dramatically over the last century from a description of an aesthetic response, to a moral and political aspiration, to a clinical skill, and today, to the firing of neurons. Returning to empathy’s roots—to once again think about the potential for “in-feeling” with a work of art, a mountain, or a tree—invites us to re-imagine our connection to nature and the world around us. … [Read More]