Hartford Stage Gets New Director

THEATRE Posted: June 11, 2019 1:31 pm

Cynthia Rider, who was executive director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival from 2013 to 2018, will begin her new job at Hartford Stage July 1, the theater announced Wednesday. – Hartford Courant

The Arts in America — Is the Pandemic a Perfect Storm?

In 1987, my Understanding Toscanini was the most discussed, most reviled book about classical music to have appeared in recent memory. Its subtitle was “How He Became an American Culture-God and Helped Create a New Audience for Old Music.” I used Arturo Toscanini — for decades, the most famous and influential classical... Read more

Source: Unanswered Question Published on: 2020-07-14
Garrulous Gary Garrels: The Thought-Police Nab Another Unguarded Curator

In the second of what threatens to become a series of parlous CultureGrrl posts, I’m again risking the wrath of the thought-police by coming to the defense of another consummate museum curator who has had the misfortune of wandering into the cancel-culture crosshairs. Joining Keith Christiansen, the Metropolitan Museum’s chairman... Read more

Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2020-07-14
Lookback: on incivility and the social media

From 2010: Somebody compared me to a Holocaust denier the other day for having spoken ill of Elie Wiesel. While I wouldn’t dream of dignifying such a remark by responding to it, I was struck by its sheer nastiness. It goes without saying that the world has always contained plenty of people... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-14
Almanac: Ron Shelton on professionalism

NUKE That was great, huh? CRASH Your fastball’s up, your curveball’s hanging. In the Show, they would’ve ripped you. NUKE Can’t you even let me enjoy the moment? CRASH The moment’s over. Ron Shelton, screenplay for Bull Durham Continue reading Almanac: Ron Shelton on professionalism at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-14
Bley, Swallow, Sheppard: Life Goes On

Sometimes it takes a while to catch up. Case in point: Carla Bley’s, Andy Sheppard’s and Steve Swallow’s Life Goes On. ECM released the album on Valentine’s Day. But the Rifftides staff (blame me) somehow managed to overlook what would ordinarily have been a quick and enthusiastic response to a... Read more

Source: RiffTides Published on: 2020-07-13
This Side of Grub Street

Readers wanted to know all about their celebrities, or at least about my encounters with them. From A-listers and B-listers right down to Z-listers. The whole stupid alphabet top to bottom. Names to be forgotten one day. They needed the publicity and I needed the job. I wasn’t a star... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2020-07-13
Just because: Stan Kenton makes his TV debut

Stan Kenton and his big band make their TV debut on Toast of the Town (later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show). The trumpet soloist is Maynard Ferguson and the drummer is Shelly Manne. This episode was originally telecast by CBS on December 3, 1950: (This is the latest in a series of... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-13
Almanac: Alistair Cooke on Humphrey Bogart and professionalism

“He measured all his fellow workers by the test of professionalism, and a professional is a man who can do his best work when he doesn’t feel like it.” Alistair Cooke, Six Men Continue reading Almanac: Alistair Cooke on Humphrey Bogart and professionalism at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-13
Porgy and the White Police

Though a prominent British reviewer of what became the hit Met production of Porgy and Bess called Gershwin’s landmark 1935 opera “a period piece,” it loudly resounds today. Consider the first act confrontation between a white detective and a black community. “Race is critical to Gershwin’s conception,” observes the Gershwin scholar... Read more

Source: Unanswered Question Published on: 2020-07-12
The New One By John Scofield And Friends

Several Rifftides readers have expressed concern that this blog has appeared infrequently of late and asked if the staff are all right. We are fine. Thank you for asking. Back to business: John Scofield brings together a pair longtime colleagues for a new collection reminding us that his range and... Read more

Source: RiffTides Published on: 2020-07-11
Replay: Oscar Levant appears on The Jack Benny Program

Oscar Levant is the guest on an episode of The Jack Benny Program. The co-stars are Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Mary Livingstone, Frank Nelson, and Don Wilson. This episode was originally telecast by CBS on November 30, 1958: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-10
Rattigan’s return

In Friday’s Wall Street Journal I review two important theater webcasts, the National Theatre’s 2016 revival of Terence Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea and the Mint Theater’s 2014 revival of George Kelly’s The Fatal Weakness. Here’s an excerpt. * * * If you’re looking for theater webcasts to keep you entertained during... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-10
Almanac: Walker Percy on identity

“I had discovered that a person does not have to be this or be that or be anything, not even oneself. One is free.” Walker Percy, The Moviegoer Continue reading Almanac: Walker Percy on identity at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-10
Trump’s New Sculpture Park for “American Heroes”? Fuhgedaboudit! The Bronx Already Has that Covered

I did a double take at the end of Donald Trump‘s long-winded July 3 paean to the four Mount Rushmore-enshrined Presidents, which devolved into a diatribe against “the violent mayhem we have seen in the streets of cities that are run by liberal Democrats in every case…the predictable result of... Read more

Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2020-07-09
Almanac: Walker Percy on loneliness

“I have discovered that most people have no one to talk to, no one, that is, who really wants to listen. When it does at last dawn on a man that you really want to hear about his business, the look that comes over his face is something to see.”... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-09
Snapshot: William Holden appears on What’s My Line?

William Holden appears as the mystery guest on What’s My Line? The host is John Daly and the panelists are Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, and Robert Q. Lewis. This episode was originally telecast by CBS on September 23, 1956: (This is the latest in a series of arts-... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-08
Almanac: Walker Percy on William Holden and the aura of a star

“Holden has turned down Toulouse shedding light as he goes. An aura of heightened reality moves with him and all who fall within it feel it. Now everyone is aware of him. He creates a regular eddy among the tourists and the barkeeps and B-girls who come running to the... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-07-08
Are You Paying Attention?

The Mellon announcement is not a wakeup call. The alarm has been sounding for years. Business as usual is not tenable. The future many have been trying to avoid seeing is now.... Read more

Source: Engaging Matters Published on: 2020-07-07
Hamilton | Lockdown Theatre Club 17

Watch Hamilton with Lockdown Theatre Club on Tuesday 30 June. Hamilton is available on Disney+. At 8pm everyone presses play and watches together. You can tweet along (#LockdownTheatreClub) or just enjoy the film knowing we’re all part of an audience together. What is Hamilton? You’re kidding, aren’t you? It’s Hamilton.... Read more

Source: Performance Monkey Published on: 2020-07-07
Booted!

This is what the people did back then: Infamous William M. Tweed, the corrupt 19th-century NYC power broker whose ring of cronies controlled the government purse, manipulated the legislature, and embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars, was booted from office in the election of Nov. 7, 1871. Thomas Nast depicted... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2020-07-06