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Snapshot: Boris Karloff in Heart of Darkness
Playhouse 90’s TV version of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” originally telecast live by CBS on November 6, 1958. The adaptation is by Stewart Stern and the telecast was ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-20
Almanac: Joseph Conrad on the meaning of life
“Droll thing life is—that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself—that comes too late—a crop ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-20
ArtPlace America Engagement Resources
As I mentioned in an earlier post I recently had the opportunity to engage with Lyz Crane of ArtPlace America in a discussion about creative placemaking and community engagement. ... [read more]
AJBlog: Engaging MattersPublished 2019-03-19
Tainted “Tintoretto”: Venice Mayor Mars Kaywin Feldman’s Blockbuster Debut at National Gallery
Having heard Luigi Brugnaro, Mayor of Venice, expound on Tintoretto‘s “values” during yesterday’s livestream of the National Gallery of Art’s press preview for the Venetian artist’s first full-scale retrospective in ... [read more]
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2019-03-19
Lookback: the fifteen greatest American musicals
From 2009: I see a good many pre-1970 musicals as part of my duties as drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, and it occurred to me the other day ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-19
Almanac: George Saintsbury on majority rule
“Majorities are generally wrong, if only in their reasons for being right.” George Saintsbury, The Book of the Queen’s Dolls’ House ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-19
Thank Heaven for Museum Renovations!
I’ve been away for a few weeks–but I don’t want you to miss notice of an excellent exhibition at the Kimbell Art Museum: The Lure of Dresden: Bellotto at the ... [read more]
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2019-03-18
Culture Closures: Trump’s FY2020 Budget Proposal Would Ax NEA, NEH, IMLS
Is it mere coincidence that First Lady Melania Trump tweeted a shoutout to the National Endowment for the Arts (@NEAarts) on the same day that her husband released a FY2020 ... [read more]
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2019-03-18
Ferlinghetti: ‘Pity the Nation Whose Leaders Are Liars’
Lawrence Ferlinghetti must be wondering what all the fuss is about. After all, he’s only going to turn 100 on Sunday. What’s the big deal? I’m betting he would prefer ... [read more]
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2019-03-18
Patchel’s ‘Plinkout’
Keith Patchel, a New York-based composer and producer, has created a free online/mobile application called Plinkout, which he is touting as “the easiest way to teach anyone,” especially kids, how ... [read more]
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2019-03-18
Just because: Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten in concert
Peter Pears, Benjamin Britten, and the London Symphony perform “When most I wink, then do my eyes best see,” the final movement of Britten’s Nocturne. The text is by ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-18
Almanac: George Saintsbury on fanaticism
“Fanatical and, as it were, monomaniacal efforts to prove a thing true often bring indifference to telling falsehoods about it.” George Saintsbury, The Book of the Queen’s Dolls’ House ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-18
My remarks at the 8th World Summit on Arts & Culture
This past week I had the privilege to participate in the 8th World Summit on Arts & Culture, produced by the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA). ... [read more]
AJBlog: JumperPublished 2019-03-17
This Week in Audience: How Real Is Virtual? How Do You Build A “Better” Audience (As Opposed To “More” Audience)
This Week’s Insights: Can live theatre be replicated in virtual reality?… Better performances versus better audiences… Recapturing our first experiences in the theatre… Are movies still movies on the small ... [read more]
AJBlog: AJ Arts AudiencePublished 2019-03-17
A Reader Remembers Don Ellis
In response to yesterday’s Mikrojazz! review, reader Richard Weyuker wrote: “I’m surprised that you left Don Ellis off of your list of musicians who experimented with quarter-tones. He had a specially-constructed ... [read more]
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2019-03-16
Molesworth Speaks! Silenced at LA MOCA, She Vents (about Alice Neel) at Zwirner (with video)
Having been fired a year ago from the prestigious (but precarious) perch of chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Helen Molesworth resurfaced with a splash on ... [read more]
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2019-03-15
Young geeks in love
In today’s Wall Street Journal I review two Broadway musicals, the transfer of Be More Chill and a new revival of Kiss Me, Kate. The first is terrific, the second ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-15
To squabble over a mockingbird
We’re back! The twenty-seventh episode of Three on the Aisle, the twice-monthly podcast in which Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I talk about theater in America, is now available on ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-15
Replay: August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson
The Hallmark Hall of Fame TV version of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, adapted by Wilson from his 1987 play and directed by Lloyd Richards, originally telecast by CBS on ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-15
Almanac: John Kenneth Galbraith on what great leaders do
“All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-03-15