“Gorgeous production values, but with a particular court intrigue kind of momentum, punctuated by violence and driven by ambition. Very tangible, exciting stakes that are a perfect tasty mix of very serious, but also distant enough that they don’t feel like a bummer.” - Vulture (MSN)
Sophie, who died in 2021, started young, going to music festivals with her dad and brother as a child. "One day, a friend of their dad gave Sophie an old synth, and she began experimenting, sampling sounds around the house and recording music." - The Guardian (UK)
“The amount and intensity of both the praise and the criticism of her output can feel a little outsize, a little confusing — including to Rooney, who, as she suggested over the course of two long conversations in July, would much rather let her work speak for itself.” - The New York Times
When you want to see the next land artwork, you just keep skiing (or hiking). The curator of Powder Mountain: "This is such a tremendous opportunity to really think about commissioning work in dialogue with seasonal rhythms.” - The Guardian (UK)
France was late to American-style drag, but as at the Olympics, it’s now prominent. So: “Answering hatred with glitter is a time-honored drag tradition, and Drag Race France Live, which premiered in Paris this week, showed French drag in defiant form.” - The New York Times
“‘Don’t call us publishers; we are a luxury brand,’ said Alex Assouline. … A special edition on Versailles, presented in a velvet clamshell, and priced at $4,900, is offered with a private tour of the château’s interior.” - The New York Times
"The opera’s three-and-a-half-hour running time has been cut to ... ninety minutes, and the exquisite Italian libretto is being projected in internet-speak English subtitles accented with the occasional emoji. The show promises to be art in line with that great contemporary ideal: frictionlessness.” - Paris Review
The complainers, and the police, said the painting of a naked woman could be pornographic. The artist: "I don’t know what kind of pornography they’ve been looking at, but it’s definitely not my painting.” - The Guardian (UK)
The act of the only Black woman magician touring during Jim Crow “was fun, full of 'marvelous, mystifying magic, music and mirth,’ as her advertising posters said, … cautioning that she ‘will not pay for doctor bills if you faint from laughter.’” - The New York Times
The 1906 building is now earthquake-retrofitted. Renovating “represents seismic change, pun intended, in the organization’s capacity to serve the community. Not only do you have areas for people to come and hang out and read and write … you have more formal spaces for teaching and work.”- Oregon ArtsWatch
Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, accused by many former dancers and staff members of body shaming and bullying, apologized and said, “I embrace the idea that the leadership style that people expect today involves more open dialogue, and more awareness of — and respect for — everyone’s limits.” - The New York Times
The chorus struck for three days last week, canceling the season opener. “An earlier proposal would cut choristers’ compensation by 65% and reduced their programs to five per year.” Now there’s a compromise proposal, but will that be enough? - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
Lauren Sánchez’s new picture book came out last week, but her former yoga teacher says it’s an idea that she came up with and shared with Sánchez years ago. - Los Angeles Times
True, "film festivals have become a crucial part of the industry’s infrastructure, which may work against what makes them valuable in the first place,” but still, there are perfect, brilliant surprises, even some of those movies never get a distributor. - Washington Post
