“The town is so crowded … that even voices from the small independent sector have begun to wonder aloud whether the city is oversaturated. Washington also teems with competition for audiences increasingly lured by a burgeoning restaurant scene and the cyber circus of online diversions. All this adds to the special pressure faced by big troupes: They have the most seats to sell, night after night.”
Archives for January 2015
Male-Female Inequality Is Still A “Dangerous Subject” In The Arts, Says London’s Top Arts Exec
Jude Kelly, artistic director of the Southbank Centre: “I think cultural spaces are the places to talk about dangerous subjects, and gender equality is still a dangerous subject, and it’s just as relevant in the arts as anywhere else.”
Why Scientology Appeals to Aspiring Actors
Lawrence Wright, author of Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, and Alex Gibney, director of the book’s film adaptation, explain. (video)
This Opera Company Just Got A Regular Gig At Versailles
“Opera Atelier is already the busiest touring opera company in North America, but its 30th season will enhance that reputation even further. Already a regular guest at the Opera Royal at the Palace of Versailles in France, the Toronto company will now make it official, appearing at Versailles every other season.”
Who Was Chaucer, Really? We Know More Than We Think
“In Chaucer’s case, the division between life and art is especially glaring: 494 different ‘records’ of his life survive, including matters such as courtly and civic posts he held, awards he received, and at least one place he lived … but not one of them mentions that he was a poet. Why, then, bother to look at these records? What had Chaucer’s busy London life and world of work to do with his poems, other than preventing their completion?”
How “Hedwig” Transformed My Life
“In Hedwig’s story, I found a message of resilience and self-expression. Keep going, the film screamed at me. Let your freak flag fly, no matter how much shit people throw at you. This experience was shared by millions of queer and trans kids around the world, for whom the movie and stage show became a kind of modern Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Why Do All American Movies Have Scenes In Diners?
Okay, not absolutely every one, but the roadside eatery is so common in films that American viewers have long taken a diner scene for granted. As it turns out, a diner serves a couple of very useful purposes in a screenplay.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.27.15
Who bears the burden of auction house fees, buyers or sellers?
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2015-01-27
Glenn Lowry as AAMD’s Improbable Expert on “Public Trust”
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-01-27
Nick Travis
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-01-27
Bronson or Louisa? The Alcotts Question
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2015-01-27
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Did Archaeologists Just Find Cervantes’ Grave?
“Archaeologists made the find over the weekend during excavations to solve the centuries-old mystery of where the famed Spanish writer was laid to rest. The initials on a plank of the coffin were formed with metal tacks embedded into the wood.”
Smithsonian Considers Opening A London Outpost
“The institution announced today that it is considering opening an exhibition space in east London’s planned cultural quarter in Olympic Park. The 40,000-sq.-foot gallery would feature rotating and permanent exhibitions drawn from across the Smithsonian’s collection of 138 million objects, which range from Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz to the space shuttle Discovery.”
The Comcast/Time Warner Mega-Merger Once Seemed Inevitable. Now It Isn’t
“The landscape has changed dramatically since the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal was announced last February.”
Is There TOO Much Arts Journalism?
It’s uncomfortable to think that more arts writing is creating less substantive engagement with the arts, but the arts are not the only field wrestling with this issue. As Alice Robb reported (ironically, in The New Republic, last September), “Science has never been so democratic. It’s just not clear whether democracy is what science needs.” There may be no correlation between current arts participation numbers and the increase in arts journalism, but arts journalism played a significant role in audience development during the 20th century.
An Ambitious Plan To Bring Out-Of-Print Academic Books Back To Life
“Over the past 100 years, tens of thousands of academic books have been published in the humanities, including many remarkable works on history, literature, philosophy, art, music, law, and the history and philosophy of science. But the majority of these books are currently out of print and largely out of reach for teachers, students, and the public. The Humanities Open Book pilot grant program aims to “unlock” these books by republishing them as high-quality electronic books that anyone in the world can download and read on computers, tablets, or mobile phones at no charge.”
She Won Two Oscars But Facing Moving Out Of Her Apartment For Lack Of Work
Dianne Weist “earned Oscars for best supporting actress for 1986’s Hannah and Her Sisters and 1994’s Bullets Over Broadway, both directed by Woody Allen. But after that, she found she was only getting offered roles to play “a nice mom, and that’s it. That’s all that ever came, except in theater.”
UK Museums Are Hiding Away Artworks Depicting Muhammad
“The Victoria and Albert museum has attempted to conceal its ownership of a devotional image of the prophet Muhammad, citing security concerns, in what is part of a wider pattern of apparent self-censorship by British institutions that scholars fear could undermine public understanding of Islamic art and the diversity of Muslim traditions.”
Iconic Air And Space Museum Needs A Major Overhaul
“The window walls are outdated, skylights leak, the mechanical systems are dying, and the terraces are leaking into the basement car storage. But much worse than that, the stones that clad the building are bowing and cracking, which threaten to make it uninhabitable.”
Reconsidering The Maria Callas Phenomenon
“Callas wasn’t perfect, to be sure. (And perfect can be boring, as some of her successors have demonstrated.) But she was something more: even when she falls short of her best, she gives an intimation of what an ideal performance might sound like. Few more perfect singers have managed to do that.”
Dozens Of Artworks Missing From Irish Parliament Feared Stolen
“There are concerns that some may have been stolen. It is feared that others may have been moved amid the upheaval within Leinster House following the largest ever changeover of TDs following the 2011 General Election.”
San Diego Opera’s Joyful Return To The Stage
“The company survived the drama of its board leadership and longtime director trying to kill it and opened its 50th season Saturday night … with La Bohème. There’s nothing like a near-death experience to wake you up, and if the company had an elitist identity before its near-death experience, it now promises to become the community’s opera company.”
What Do Conductors Really Do? Two Of Them (Both Women) Tell Us
Rising young Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra and mid-career Australian maestra Simone Young discuss learning and shaping a score, keeping your head about you on and off the podium, and why they’d rather not have to deal with the woman-conductor thing. (audio)
A Charlie Hebdo Survivor’s Testimony
Philippe Lançon: “I thought about Bernard, Cabu, and the others in my narrow field of view, all dead now, and I wondered, with no idea of how seriously I was hurt, what determined life or death … The only difference between us was a couple of inches’ variation in the paths of the bullets and our respective locations when the black-legged men came in.”
Osipova And Goddard Make History At Britain’s National Dance Awards
“The Royal Ballet principal Natalia Osipova and contemporary dancer Jonathan Goddard become the first to win in both major dancer categories, while Carlos Acosta takes home the lifetime achievement honours.”
The Many (English-Speaking) Lives Of “Anna Karenina”
“Why does a novel that already has at least six or seven English-language editions need yet another update? Journalist and author Masha Gessen discusses the difficulty of translating a literary masterpiece and argues the more the better.” (podcast)
Learning How To Sound Like A Woman After You’ve Become One
‘The hormones used in male-to-female transitions have no effect on the vocal cords, meaning that even after a cosmetic and surgical transition into women, the male-sounding voice often keeps transgender people tied to their old identities.” So a small group of voice specialists have developed techniques to teach transgender women how to make their speech patterns match their gender expression.
Scientists Have Discovered What Makes Someone A Good Dancer
“Northumbria University conducted a study about the male dance moves that are attractive to women. Now you won’t have to think twice the next time you go to a wedding. Just take a look at the science.” (video)