Uncategorized: April 2007 Archives

Art reviews are often compelling not because of the absolute "rightness" of their critique but because they draw out the elements of what makes a show tick.

NEA Fellow Sherry Deatrick and her colleague Rebecca Haithcoat published their summary of the recent Louisville Humana Fest, providing two different perspectives on a variety of shows. It's an approach that sparks interest in many of the offerings while illuminating why one person might hate a show that another loves.

A review at the Cleveland Plain Dealer had me inspired and almost wishing I had the time to make the five-hour drive to Cleveland to see the performance of St. John Passion as performed by Apollo's Fire.

What's interesting is that this compelling review appears to have been submitted by a reader. It leaves me of a mixed mind because I don't know whether the person writing the review is associated with the company and therefore writing a promotional piece or whether the person was truly an audience member who was so moved that he/she had to share the experience.

Then again, the person who posted it has a Plain Dealer e-mail address--which begs the question why the newspaper would not simply include a byline and make it clear that this was a staff critic or freelancer.

After spending an hour cruising the sites of various Midwestern newspaper sites, I was starting to think that the only thing happening anywhere was American Idol and Keith Richards snorting his father's ashes--or not snorting them. It's all that was plastered across the arts pages of newspapers large and small and all the articles said basically the same thing.

Now, I realize that Easter weekend is a slow one in the performing arts, but it isn't dead.

So it was with a great deal of relief that I came upon the entertainment page of a newspaper from a small beach town, Grand Haven, Michigan. Yes, they still led with the story of Michigan's American Idol entry and the Keith Richards wire story was included toward the bottom, but for the most part, the page was packed with arts events happening in and around Grand Haven. Sure, the articles are relatively pedestrian and some read like press releases, but at least the coverage is there. That puts them a step ahead of some of their larger siblings in major cities.

This news item caught my attention in an Ann Arbor newspaper. It talked about the theater students of the University of Michigan was going to be taking a Nilo Cruz play to Prague this summer. However, the two paragraphs are no more than teaser--telling me to hang around for more details.

I have mixed feelings about this. I'm not a regular reader of the Ann Arbor News and am likely to miss the future developments--despite being very interested in learning more details. At the Institute we attended a play by Nilo Cruz, Life is a Dream. I'm now eager to see more of his work--especially some of his work that is not a translation like the Lorca in a Green Dress. Perhaps, though, the teaser is enough that I will keep watching, which is just what the publishers want me to do.