On a Sunday in May, a friend and I planned to try for rush tickets to see Hugh Jackman at the Minetta Lane Theater in New York City. She woke up with bad sciatica and cancelled on me. But I went ahead to get in the rush line. I arrived at 11:15 for the noon
https://youtube.com/watch?v=uTnhLU56Q1w&feature=oembed The Soweto audience erupts. Video by Mathew Pimental Among my most telling experiences of South Africa, when
https://youtube.com/watch?v=QiQLyMtBErU&feature=oembed Video by Mathew Pimental At the precise moment that US President Donald Trump was accusing South African
My introduction of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu at New England Conservatory’s Commencement ceremony on Sunday May 18, 2025. She received an honorary degree.
Michelle Wu was a musician, a pianist, before she was a politician—and she remains a musician today.
You might have heard her play George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue across the street at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops,...
Prelude, from The Onion:
Prague's Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport
Now then. A few days ago, my son googled “Franz Kafka Airport” and here is what Google AI came up with:
Being a public spirited sort, son informed Google that they might want to tweak this a wee bit. And so I had to check this afternoon for an...
Plenty of studies, some of them published by the Arts Endowment, have shown how arts participation in early childhood appears to awaken greater social skills and behaviors at a crucial stage of development. It’s no surprise, especially among infants and toddlers, that most arts activities involve a parent or caregiver.
It stands to reason, therefore, that parents’ own preferences or backgrounds,...
At Indiana University each spring there is an arts festival in honor of Kurt Vonnegut, Granfalloon. This year’s theme is his novel Cat’s Cradle, which is the book where he introduces the term Granfalloon (although, to my mind, not really as something one would celebrate; Karass would have been a better choice to name a gathering?). Since that novel is about...
The Freakonomics series on the economics of live theatre continues with this third and final episode, in which I talk about its value – no, not economic value: all the other kinds…
Will 3 Summers of Lincoln Make it to Broadway?
Last Thursday’s episode of Call Time with Katie Birenboim, featuring actor and choreographer Aigner Mizzelle, marked the 100th episode of the show — in some form or another. Longtime listeners, friends, or fans might remember that a different version of Call Time, then known as “Theatre Book Club,” started under the auspices of Berkshire Theatre […]
Freakonomics Radio has a new three part series on the economic landscape facing live theatre. Part One is here, and part two is here, which as a supporting act in an episode with Lin-Manuel Miranda, has me trying to coherently explain cost disease in the theatre, where it comes from and its implications. Part three will come next week,...
In my last post I wrote about the Cato Institute’s Ryan Bourne’s call to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts. Here I will consider a different approach from the right, Mark Bauerlein’s “MAGA needs High Art, Not just Kid Rock”, from the New York Times. He writes about the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as the NEA, but I...
