Gia Kourlas: "With so much emphasis on dialogue and character development, the tension — the very glue of West Side Story — seeps away. Tony, we learn, is on parole for almost killing a kid. Who cares?" - The New York Times
There’s a Warhol, there’s a Lichtenstein, there’s a Thiebaud. His work was routinely grouped with that of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, and thus he must have been a pop artist. But his art resisted the inclination not to look with marvelous energy. - Washington Post
"Are those towers the most powerful act of recycling that California has ever seen? Maybe." Christopher Reynolds recounts the history of their building, including the 100,000-pounds-of-pressure stress test they had to pass so as not to be demolished. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
The self-consciousness isn’t necessary; Disney transcended the high-low debate a long time ago. A better question is whether a major art institution dedicating programming to a multibillion dollar corporate behemoth best serves a viewing public. - The New York Times
Folks may love R2-D2 and WALL-E up on the screen, but they tend to be suspicious of robots in real life, especially when they don't look like people or movie characters. But even odd-looking machines can be given movement that lets humans relate to them. - Scientific American
Once you are attuned to disgust, it is everywhere. On your morning commute, you may observe a tragic smear of roadkill on the highway or shudder at the sight of a rat browsing garbage on the subway tracks. - The New York Times
"Put it this way," writes David Patrick Stearns, "in a year when Berlin, London, and much of the operatic world were abuzz over higher-profile Ring activity, this — (at least) in the Dutch radio broadcast I caught — was the most important Wagner performance (of 2021)." - Classical Voice North America
More than ever before, both in blockbusters (Spider-Man: No Way Home, Eternals) and prestige pictures (Nightmare Alley, The French Dispatch), casts are being packed with as many above-the-title names as possible. Just now, there are sound business reasons for doing that. - The New York Times
"It's impossible to separate out 'arts issues' and 'arts equity' issues, from the stabilization of our communities," says Michelle Wu. Among her priorities are a dedicated income stream for arts funding, making free admission more widely available, and getting more arts into city neighborhoods. - MSN (The Boston Globe)
Beginning in mid-January, audience members at all performances at the Ahmanson Theater and Mark Taper Forum, as well as those by the Philharmonic and Master Chorale at Disney Hall will have to show proof of booster vaccination status to be admitted. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
As cast members test positive for the new coronavirus variant and have to isolate, these under-recognized performers — many of whom must master two or three roles which they have little chance to rehearse — make the difference between the show going on and getting cancelled. - The New York Times
The director of the Oscar-nominated films Dallas Buyers Club and Wild and the series Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects, Vallée was found in his cabin near Quebec City, where he's believed to have had a heart attack on Christmas Day. - Deadline
"The Belgian government plans to set up an expert commission with the Democratic Republic of Congo that will determine the fate of thousands of museum artefacts acquired by Belgium during the colonial era, with a view to making the first restitutions in 2022." - The Art Newspaper
Since 2013, she has been commissioning scores for a monumental project called “Density 2036”; when it comes to completion, in the designated year, it will have added as many as a hundred pieces to the flute repertory. - The New Yorker
Dr. Wilson was an eloquent and immensely influential environmentalist and was the first to determine that ants communicate mainly through the exchange of chemical substances now known as pheromones. - Washington Post
