Curtis Brown: “No. There isn’t. It might be a bit more complicated than that but not much. I was about to write ‘child molestation’ when I remembered the comic novel generally regarded as America’s greatest after Huck Finn (which, for its part, joked about slavery).”
North Korea Releases An Instructional Dance Video
“It shows how to perform a variety of moves for the country’s traditional mass dance events, like this one, that took place on May 1 in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang.”
Falling Down A Rabbit Hole? Uh-Oh. We’re Not In Kansas Anymore
“These days when we say that we fell down the rabbit hole, we seldom mean that we wound up somewhere psychedelically strange. We mean that we got interested in something to the point of distraction—usually by accident, and usually to a degree that the subject in question might not seem to merit.”
The Literary Force Who Started And Still Runs One Of The Oldest Black Publishing Houses In The U.S.
“He writes energetically and reads voraciously, has a personal collection of ‘some 50,000 books and growing’ and cannot recall ever reading a book that he did not like. He can, however, easily and vividly remember the book that started it all.”
From Zero To Hero (AKA, How ‘Bridesmaids’ Got Director Paul Feig Out Of Movie Jail)
“It’s about as dramatic a career turnaround as possible for a Hollywood filmmaker, but escaping his five-year stint in movie jail was far from the only time Feig’s found himself standing at the precipice of a professional chasm. It’s happened, in truth, with some frequency.”
Theatre People Love To Hate On Broadway. But…
“The truth is, there is plenty that is worthwhile on Broadway, maybe more this season that has just concluded than most. And, equally important, there are some promising developments.”
Guggenheim Director Richard Armstrong: Our Plans In Abu Dhabi
“Construction on the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has not begun. Since 2007, we have worked together with the Tourism Development & Investment Company to improve conditions for the workers who will build the future museum. Documented progress has been made on worker accommodation, access to medical coverage, grievance procedures and passport retention, and additional work is underway.”
The Man Who’s Reinventing The American Musical
“While fans of Kristin Chenoweth and Kelli O’Hara duke it out, let’s raise a glass to Oskar Eustis, the Public Theater’s game-changing artistic director who, since he began his tenure 10 years ago, has been retooling the American musical at the historic off-Broadway venue founded by Joseph Papp.”
After Protests, Death Threats, And Knife Attack, Morocco Bans Film About Sex Workers
“The film, Much Loved, by the Moroccan filmmaker Nabil Ayouch, includes scenes of prostitutes in Marrakesh partying, speaking raunchy Arabic and servicing wealthy Saudi clients. Within few days after the May 19 premiere [at Cannes], the clips had received more than two million views on YouTube. The movie became the subject of protests outside Parliament in Rabat and of heated discussions on social networks in Morocco and France.”
Medici-Style Patronage Can Save The Arts? Don’t Be So Sure
For one thing, how interested are today’s Medici – tech moguls – in funding arts? For another, “if you go back historically, you see that arts patronage was hardly a great deal for the artist the first time around.”
Günther Schneider-Siemssen, 88, Met Opera’s Favorite Set Designer
“And while he embraced a variety of visual styles over the course of his career, he became best known in the United States for the unapologetically traditional sets he designed for a memorable run of operas at the Met directed by Otto Schenk, particularly from the Wagner canon. The productions, which flew in the face of the modern reinterpretations that were in vogue, proved popular with operagoers.”
Dudley Williams, 76, Alvin Ailey Dancer For Four Decades
“Mr. Williams was dancing with the Martha Graham Dance Company when he was recruited by the choreographer Alvin Ailey as a last-minute replacement for an Ailey troupe member in 1963. He performed with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater until 2005, continued to dance with Paradigm, a trio of older dancers he formed with Carmen de Lavallade and Gus Solomons Jr., and taught at the Ailey School, on West 55th Street in Manhattan, until he died.”
NY’s Park Avenue Armory Has Chosen Its Next Artistic Director
“He has led the Dutch National Opera since 1988 while also serving as artistic director of the Holland Festival in Amsterdam from 2004 until 2014. Somehow he found time to work as a critically acclaimed director, after founding London’s avant-garde Almeida Theater.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.04.15
The Sleeping Beauty Wakes Up
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2015-06-04
The Frick’s Little Noticed “Prized Garden” Saved; Vital Expansion Still Planned
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-06-04
Multiplicity
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2015-06-04
What Silicon Valley means For Culture
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2015-06-04
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Frick Collection Abandons Controversial Expansion Plan
“Facing a groundswell of opposition to a proposed renovation that would have eliminated a gated garden to make way for a six-story addition, the [Fifth Avenue] museum – long admired for its intimate scale – has decided to abandon those plans and start over from scratch.”
What’s ‘Billy Elliott’ In Tagalog? Manila Street Kids Get Ballet Scholarships
“Despised as pests and preyed on by thugs, rapists, pimps and murderers,for tens of thousands of abandoned orphans and abused runaways life on the streets in the Philippine capital region is unspeakable misery. … In recent years, [a few lucky street boys have] undergone a complete transformation, thanks to an opportunity to join ballet classes at the Academy One Music and Dance Centre.”
Nico Castel, 83, ‘The Henry Higgins Of The Metropolitan Opera’
“A highly regarded operatic tenor, Mr. Castel was himself a mainstay of the Met’s stable, appearing in nearly 800 performances with the company from the 1970s onward. A well-traveled polyglot, he also had a parallel career as the company’s staff diction coach, a post he held for some three decades before his retirement in 2009.”