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Making The Final Ballet Of Jerome Robbins

"What’s amazing is how young looking and exuberant this ballet is. ... Mr. Balanchine did all these dark, morbid ballets toward the end of his life. Jerry was going on like he was going to live forever." - The New York Times

That Time Yahoo Could Have Bought Netflix, But Went For Tumblr Instead

Wow, did that not go as planned. Apparently, Yahoo was also looking at Hulu. "Either of those, with hindsight being 20/20, would have been a better acquisition." - Variety

Don’t Let The Pigeon Go To The Opera

Beloved children's author Mo Willems, who is bringing a Pigeon opera to the Kennedy Center, says children's lit and opera have commonalities, including big emotions. "It’s direct communication. It’s interior dialogue. It’s self-discovery. And both forms really have been pushed off to the side." - The New York Times

The Deep Anonymity Of The Superstore, According To A Nobel Prize Winner

Annie Ernaux, writing about a French superstore, "faces the harder emotional truth: you can hate everything the superstore stands for, ... the superstore offers a real opportunity to feel the edges of your own anonymity, one you don’t get anywhere else." - Paris Review

War? Flood? Fire? The Cultural Emergency Response Team Is At The Ready

Cultural Emergency Response, based in the Netherlands, coordinates "first responses to damage and to prevent future damage by shielding sites against threats posed by war, natural disaster and climate change." - The New York Times

Elevating Papier-Mache To A High Art – With Animal Masks

Liz Sexton "can spend upwards of 100 hours on a mask, honing the details using woodworking techniques, be that carving more than a hundred tri-pointed teeth of a marine iguana, or using an orbital sander to achieve the milky smooth skin of a beluga whale." - Minnesota Public Radio

Hollywood Producers Push Back Against Writers Union Claims

“We don’t agree with applying a one-size-fits-all solution to shows that are unique and different in their approach to creative staffing,” the AMPTP stated. “Some writers are the sole voice of a show and others work with only a small team. The WGA’s proposals would preclude that.” - Variety

Most Artists Have Day Jobs. Are They Asset Or Liability?

Day Jobs makes the countersuggestion that, for people with creative ambitions, day jobs should be recorded not as losses but as gains. - The Baffler

Movie Audiences Returning? Theatre Owner AMC Posts Strong 20 Percent Sales Gain

Losses narrowed by $102 million to $235 million, for an adjusted EPS of 17 cents a share, a also ahead of expectations. Shares popped higher this morning on the numbers. - Deadline

Immersive Shows: Hated By Critics, Loved By Audiences

Critics generally hate the shows, but, if attendance figures are anything to go by, the paying public loves them. Museums have taken notice of the excited crowds, and now, they’re beginning to try their hands at digital showmanship. - The New York Times

Memorials To Pushkin In Ukraine Are Under Threat

Pushkin has been falling rapidly in Ukraine. Since the start of the full-scale invasion last February, more than 30 monuments to the poet have been dismantled. From a western European or anglophone perspective the loathing of a poet who died nearly 200 years ago can seem bewildering. - The Guardian

When Screens And Live Theatre Collide

One of the most intriguing aspects of the celebrated show is the live video recording, with close-ups of the actors and occasional puppetry interludes presented on an attendant screen, which also allows room for subtitles for the invented language spoken by the performers. - ArtsHub

A YouTube Channel Helps Revive Qawwali, The Ecstatic Sufi Music Of Pakistan

"The Dream Journey aims to promote traditional, Sufi-style music, the popularity of which has declined in recent decades" due to the spread of militant, severe brands of Islamism. "Their channel has amassed over 36 million views and 169,000 followers, and has launched several careers." - The Christian Science Monitor

Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Out In Midst Of Emergency Fundraising Campaign

What led to Nataki Garrett’s resignation after just four years in the post, in which she spent as much or more time handling crises and fielding criticism as programming and making theatre? And what led OSF to the point where they had to put out their hand for help? - American Theatre

The Instagramization Of The Broadway Stage

These unmissable logos seem designed to engage audiences with the stage quite actively, creating an Instagrammable moment in a space where cameras are mostly frowned upon. - The Stage

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