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Laura Benanti Reveals How She Literally Sang Through An Onstage Miscarriage

"On Monday April 3rd, I performed on stage for 2000 people while having a miscarriage. I knew it was happening. … If it had been our first loss, or even our second, I likely wouldn't have been able to go on." - Yahoo!

The Conflicting Complications Of De-Colonizing Classical Music

As Black and brown musicians, the question is not whether we can “solve” classical music’s issue with racism. Rather we wonder: Why do we try to change a world that isn’t ours? Under that: Can this be our world? And the trickier phrasing: Should it be? - Van

The Enslaved Painter Who Modeled For Velázquez And Became A Star Artist In His Own Right

"(Juan de Pareja) remains an elusive figure within art history, with details of his life prone to myth, his paintings often misattributed and no more than two of his works ever exhibited in the same place." - CNN

More Research On Building Better Brains Through Participating In The Arts

"Children that are playing music, their brain structure actually changes and their cerebral cortex actually gets larger." - NPR

A Critic Makes The Rounds Of Immersive Art Shows

Adam Platt: "As you move from one pleasantly distracting set piece to another, pondering when to ingest the lemon-flavored edible in your pocket, it feels like playing hooky — a reprieve from the hushed, ponderous solemnity of the Establishment museums and galleries." - New York Magazine

Fandom, Fake Friendships And The Real World

In 2021, psychologists found that forming parasocial bonds was strongly related to avoidant attachment. That is, people who tended to push others away in their day-to-day lives were more likely than others to relate to fictional characters, and especially to characters who are also emotionally avoidant. - The Atlantic

Brussels Museum Schedules, Then Cancels, Sparring Match Between Police Officers And Local Boxers

"The MIMA contemporary art museum in Molenbeek had planned to host a sparring session between around 20 amateur boxers from the Ixelles branch of the Brussels police and two local boxing clubs in an on-site boxing ring. But the museum canceled at the last minute, citing 'tensions on social media.'" - Politico

Museum Of Peru’s Shining Path-Armed Forces Civil War Is Abruptly Closed

"Since its controversial inception in 2015, the Place of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion has received about 60,000 visitors a year. But Lima's ultra-conservative mayor has now presided over the museum's closure, (reflecting) a growing denial of the mass killings carried out by the armed forces in the conflict." - The Guardian

It Took A Dozen Years For “Shucked” To Plow Its Path To Broadway

"The history of iterations of Shucked is an interesting one, since it bears almost no resemblance to the show that McAnally and Clark started working on. … That first conception of the production depended on existing IP, albeit in not much more than name: It was called Hee Haw: The Musical." - Variety

Will A Proposed New York City Law Banning Size Discrimination Make A Difference On Broadway?

"The bill … would 'prohibit discrimination on the basis of a person's height or weight in opportunities of employment, housing, and public accommodation.' … If Bill INT 0209 passes, it would push producers to see a wider pool of applicants, and encourage them to cast outside of the stereotypical Broadway body." - Playbill

This Magazine With 1,000 Subscribers Has Become A Serious Force In Irish Literature

"Founded in Dublin in 1997 as a receptacle for 'all this great writing floating around,' The Stinging Fly has reached its 25th year as a launching pad for some of the country's most promising, and in time, some of its best known, poets and novelists." - The New York Times

Pergolesi Meets Pole Dancing In Performance; Priest Punished With Death Threats

A performance titled Passions croisées (Crossed Passions) in a historic Strasbourg church featured Pergolesi's Stabat Mater accompanied by athletic (and non-raunchy) pole and silk dancing by former champion Vincent Grobelny. The priest of the church rented for the performance then received letters saying he should be beheaded. - Yahoo! (AFP)

Mimi Sheraton, Restaurant Critic And Food Writer, Is Dead At 97

"It's hard to find anywhere in the food universe that wasn't touched by (her) pen or panache. She helped shape modern food writing as a mix of storytelling, history and a worldly palate. Her relentlessly curious tastes were also part of a major shift in American eating." - MSN (The Washington Post)

How To Fight Book Bans

A poll published found 61 percent were more concerned that “some schools may ban books and censor topics that are educationally important” than by the prospect that instructional materials might offend students or parents. That skepticism isn’t partisan, either. - Washington Post

An Architect Dreams Of Rebuilding A Ukrainian City As A City of The Future

The vision that he outlined was grand. It included restoring the largely bombed-out building of the regional administration as a functional monument, the way Norman Foster did with the former Reichstag building in Berlin by capping it with a giant glass dome. - The New Yorker

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