"People are focused on survival … and caring for their loved ones," says one artist in Yangon. Adds another, "It's dangerous to do a good show now, since … it is impossible to speak about the present in Myanmar without putting yourself in danger." - The Art Newspaper
Director Na Gyi and his wife (and leading actor) would be in hiding even if their latest film weren't about a lesbian romance: they gave financial help to people striking against the coup. Here's a Q&A he gave from a safe house. - The Hollywood Reporter
"An actress and singer who first appeared in movies as a teenager, (she) became a sunny stalwart of Hollywood musicals in the 1940s and 1950s, most notably opposite Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding and Howard Keel in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." - The Washington Post
The instrument, designed and handmade by Wayne Stuart of Stuart & Sons in Australia, has a nine-octave range, two octaves more than a standard grand piano and about the same as most pipe organs. - Classic FM
As he told Stephen Colbert this week, "I've been working on a show for a couple years with a playwright named David Ives, and it's called Square One. … With any luck, we'll get it on next season." - The New York Times
"Study for 'Worn Out,' as the drawing is being called, has lived in a private Dutch collection since the first decade of the 20th century. Its current owner … approached the museum to determine if it was a legitimate van Gogh." - Artnet
That would be Christophe Leribault, until now director of the city's Petit Palais and, before that, of the Musée Delacroix. He replaces Laurence des Cars, who was recently appointed director of the Louvre. - Artforum
The main thing these former fellows may take home from L.A. is indoctrination. New music here is part of the daily diet. Dudamel’s curiosity has led to a far more varied repertory at the L.A. Phil than that of any other major orchestra. - Los Angeles Times
The long-running industry report card finds that in the 2020-21 television season, women accounted for 52% of major characters on streaming programs were women, while networks trailed behind with 45%. - Variety
The evolutionary biologist E O Wilson once said of the source of human challenges in the 21st century that ‘we have palaeolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology’. - Psyche
His long career has become, for many, a caricature or outright failure, the stuffing wedged between the two disasters of the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex in St. Louis and the World Trade Center in New York. - The Baffler
Luke Jennings: "His behaviour (was) egregious and exploitative, but his is not an isolated case. It is symptomatic of a culture I have seen up close over many years that shaped and enabled him, that allowed for his own exploitation as a young man." - London Review of Books
Since shortly after the pandemic effectively closed the world down in March 2020, Jim Clayton’s Danforth area home — more specifically his dining room — has become Jim’s Piano Bar, with Clayton logging more than 425 performances, turning a personal Facebook following of 250 into an international audience of more than 30,000. - Toronto Star
"Forty-eight years after the original aired, Ullmann is still aghast at her character's decision to have a later-in-life affair with her ex-husband — 'In our version, I hated it!' she says — while Chastain sees it as 'free love,' something pure and beyond moral reproach." - New York Magazine
