That's the annual gala opening the season at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, which (by long tradition) happens on December 7. And there are always major celebrities and politicians, fabulous clothes, demonstrators for a variety of causes, and a big media circus. Oh, and superstitions. - The New York Times
Next month, LAMDA (London Academy of Musical and Dramatic Art) will open a location in midtown Manhattan with both office and flexible studio space. While there won't be full courses there, LAMDA will offer a set of short courses and masterclasses as well as New York auditions for its London program. - BroadwayWorld
Luis May Ku, a native Mayan artist and teacher in the Yucatán Peninsula, spent years researching Spanish colonial documents, interviewing village elders about their traditional methods, and experimenting with recipes in order to recreate Maya blue, an ancient synthetic pigment which is unusually durable. - Al Jazeera
Stardust is the latest in a niche genre of films about architects made by their children. The punishing profession is clearly something that inspires both a kind of filial awe and morbid curiosity, if you’re forced to grow up immersed in it. Each film seems to ask: ‘Why did my parents do this to themselves?’ - The Guardian
The version we see today is about half the length of Ailey's 1960 original; nine songs were removed for an overseas tour in 1962, and the cuts have stuck. But interim artistic director Matthew Rushing and composer Du’Bois A’Keen have reimagined those missing scenes for a piece titled Sacred Songs. - Dance Magazine
This year, the biggest categories for YouTube were sports and children’s entertainment. Watch time for sports content grew 30% year-over-year, according to the company, which did not give the exact watch times for either 2023 or 2024. - The Wrap
The broadcaster has undergone a series of radical transformations, often referred to using the shorthand TeleMeloni. A monologue in which the writer Antonio Scurati was set to criticize Italy’s “post-fascist” leaders for failing to repudiate their neofascist origins was canceled. - Columbia Journalism Review
Data found that during the 29 dates the initial €5 access fee was in force in 2024, Venice received on average 7,000 more visitors compared to the same days of the previous year. With a population of fewer than 50,000 residents, the city receives around 40,000 tourists a day. - The Art Newspaper
The artistic director of the Montreal-based troupe Le Patin Libre ("free skate") stresses that audiences shouldn't expect anything like Merce Cunningham or Pina Bausch or Alvin Ailey but in an ice rink. Yet their work is to conventional figure skating something like what contemporary dance is to ballet. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
The strike, following unsuccessful negotiations, concerns the remuneration of preparation time before performances. According to the union, only six hours of monthly preparation are paid, compared to a real average of 30 hours. - Gramilano
The company's new global linear networks division will house its networks of news, sports, scripted and unscripted programming like CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and the Food Network. A streaming and studios unit will house WBD's film studios and streaming platform Max. - CNBC (MSN)
"(The giant media conglomerate) said it is restructuring into two operating divisions, one focused on the legacy cable TV business and the other on streaming and studios, a move that could set the company up for dealmaking down the road." - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)
“While we did not secure all the improvements we had hoped for, the union was able to secure a number of wage and benefit improvements that went far beyond what SAM leadership initially offered,” the SAM VSO Union said. - Seattle Times
“A book sits atop a large language model, allowing readers to converse with an A.I. facsimile of its author.” At last: No more having to think about the meaning of complicated passages, or trace the lines of thought that got an author from A to B. - AV Club
To add sense memory to the penultimate scene, the prop crew cooks two pounds of bacon during every performance, using a box fan to blow the aroma onto the stage and into the audience. And every Wednesday there's a BLT party to use it all up. - The New York Times
