“Operagoers have been warned they will be banned from entering Milan’s prestigious La Scala theatre if they turn up wearing shorts, tank tops or flip-flops. Kimonos, however, are acceptable.” - The Guardian
Fans are actually pretty dialed in, but to international touring companies. "The country has struggled to build world-class companies and hold on to the top talent it trains. The National Ballet of Japan wants to change that.” - Financial Times
And it’s weirdly hopeful, deeply compelling stuff. “People were especially motivated to share their input when they were told that their contributions would be archived for posterity” (assuming the country & institutions, ah, survive). - Hyperallergic
“It has traditional skills and tricks and excitement, but instead of being a traditional succession of acts it’s a completely theatrical experience: a rollercoaster of a show.” Then there are the foxes that sneak in at night and steal costumes. - Irish Times
And be replaced with … people and print? "Indie local news publishers I know, already frustrated by the junkiness of digital distribution, are increasingly turning to in-person events, print editions and zines and printed handout cards with QR codes.” - Matt Pearce
“After nearly half a decade, Vinnie Bagwell, a self-taught sculptor-artist, is still waiting for the million dollars that the New York City department of cultural affairs promised for her to work on monument Victory Beyond Sims.” - The Guardian (UK)
One (male) audience member: “We want to see a good, solid male psyche. We want to see the full extent of the male experience. … You don’t always get that in theater.” - Washington Post (MSN)
“In the dark, brick-walled basement of the Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, a dance company has created a space protected from drones and bombs where audiences can lose themselves in performances of classic ballets.” - Globe and Mail
“‘We’re both interested in the accessibility of the arts,’ said 25-year-old Sian, who had come with her drama-school buddy. ‘I don’t know the show, but I know that the context of the song is her singing out to the peasants. And we’re the peasants!’” - The Guardian (UK)
Architects "balked at having their voices clipped. The compromise was to let architects write the texts they wanted (which can be full of jargon and a struggle to parse), and to let A.I. produce shorter, plainer summaries." - The New York Times
The news "came as a shock to authors who were swayed by the possibility that 8th Note could help engineer best sellers with elaborate marketing campaigns on TikTok. Instead, 8th Note has started taking down digital editions of their books, effectively unpublishing them.” - The New York Times
While the actors are high-profile, the production costs are kept down: small casts, minimal sets, simple tech, smaller Off-Broadway venue. A quarter of the tickets are free, distributed to community groups; another quarter are sold on show day for $35. Also, equal pay for actors, no star billing, no designated press nights. - The Guardian
Steven Lass: “L.A. is not scary. You could be in a bad place at the wrong time, but that can happen anywhere.” Jason Roblee: “They did cancel our brunch reservation though.” Lass: “I lived in Hawthorne during the riots, so if all the buildings aren't burning, everything is good.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
“The 35-day figures for the 2024-25 season show that for series that originate on broadcast or cable networks, five weeks of streaming can grow a show’s audience by 40 to 50 percent — and in a few outlier cases, practically double it — from its linear total over the same time frame.” - The Hollywood Reporter