It's a bit safer than most productions; there are "no mesmerizing choreographed musical numbers, no enchanted sets, no multi-page bios of cast members in the Playbill. The show consists of a man alone onstage; his ensemble a microphone, a harmonica, a piano and six steel strings stretched across a select slab of spruce wood." Still, Broadway. - The New...
This year, it's all Freud. Why? The author of Real Life and Filthy Animals: "At the start of the year I read a lot of American mid-century critics, people like Lionel Trilling and Alfred Kazin. They kept talking about Freud. I realized I should read Freud because he’s had such an impact on contemporary literature. It had immediate dividends....
Da Rocha was one of Brazil's most well-known architects, despite being blacklisted by a brutal military regime for 20 years. "'Concrete acrobatics' is how many architecture writers described his work. He called concrete, his material of choice, 'liquid stone.'" - The New York Times
Ali Smith won for her Summer, the concluding novel in her seasonal quartet - and one that encompasses Brexit, Australian wildfires, COVID-19, and the murder of George Floyd. She cited Orwell’s combination of political writing and art as an inspiration. "The place where these two things meet can’t not be a place of humane – and inhumane – revelation."...
Arles is famous for Van Gogh and for its Roman ruins. Now there's a new show in town: Luma. "The center doesn’t fit neatly into given ideas about museums, art collections or cultural hubs. ... Luma doesn’t have a predictable program of exhibitions, artist residencies or performance pieces." But it does have a Frank Gehry building, and a lot...
And the virus killed two of the three "marimba healers" of Los Angeles, men who restored the old, cracked, broken marimbas of the area's Guatemalan community. And "in addition to taking a devastating toll on the Central American community, the pandemic shut down indoor dining at Guatemalan restaurants where marimbistas would ply their trade." Now, with vaccines, things are starting to...
At least, the Black choreographers and dancers do - following the lead of dancer Erick Lewis, who posted a massively viral video saying, "This app would be nothing without Black people." And yes, the loosely organized "strike" is having a pretty big impact on TikTok's numbers. - Washington Post
Of course they didn't, even if some of them believed their work deserved that rating. "It’s easy to forget that for most of them at the time, their work was a risk – to create art in the way they felt was right, they needed to make personal and financial sacrifices." - The Guardian (UK)
Director Quentin Lee: "Creating queer Asian content is hard because you're really hitting on two major issues of America that are challenging." But he and director Fawzia Mirza are two of many trying to change the (truly terrible) numbers. - NBC News
The world of brick-and-mortar stores would look very different without Altuna, who "designed the prototypes for a certain kind of store, one that infused shoppers with a sense of — there's no other way to put this — bourgeoise well-being." - NPR
Great, 58,000 people and only 28 positives - but at the time of the test events, "virus levels were low and testing before and after events was also low, making conclusions difficult." - BBC
Wines was an actress and director who was enrolled as a child in acting lessons to help her overcome shyness. She "brought consummate artistry to dozens of productions at the Arena Stage and Olney Theatre Center." - Washington Post
