Peter Marks: “In an age of high anxiety – economic or political – we tend to reach into the cabinet of our comforts and scrounge for reminders of stabler periods. So now, it seems, is prime time for nostalgia. As a relatively popular presidency, and the most vulgar and corrosive national election of modern times, both wind down, a nation looks for reassuring signs – and often finds them in the rearview mirror.”
London Theatre Building A New Home Wants To Give Away Its Old Theatre
It’s a 240-seat venue and it’s dismantleable. “It’s going to cost somebody a bit to move it but it’s a very good opportunity for a new company or a school, or somebody like that, provided they’ve got a suitable space to put it in,”
Media Exec Comes Up With Provocative Proposal To Fund Canadian Content (In Canada)
“His plan would fold Telefilm Canada (which invests in film) and the Canadian Media Fund (which supports TV and some digital) into a single new agency that would rely solely on tax credits to encourage the production of any Canadian content. If a Canadian online service wanted to produce a series, it wouldn’t need a broadcasting partner to trigger funding; if a newspaper wanted tax credits for the Canadian articles it published, it would be eligible.”
Rick Steiner, 69, Producer Of ‘The Producers,’ ‘Jersey Boys’, And Lots Of Other Broadway Hits
“Mr. Steiner, who won five Tony Awards as a producer, was a Broadway anomaly with a colorful past in a wild assortment of businesses. He operated from his hometown, Cincinnati, and over the years assembled teams of investors that often included his childhood friends, notably Rocco Landesman.”
Benefits Of The Arts? A Review Of All The Studies Suggests Something Compelling
“Our review of the literature addressing these questions yielded a surprising result: the most compelling evidence of the value of the arts revolves around improving the lives of older adults. Better understanding the relationship between the arts and aging may help to identify areas for improvement in future research into wellbeing, as well as opportunities for investing in the quality of life of older individuals.”
If You Understand 21st Century London At All, It’s Probably Because Of Zadie Smith
Her books White Teeth, NW, and the new Swing Time are clear-eyed about the state of the city in this century: “diverse, vivid, at times cacophonous, stuffed full of dreams and aspirations, of fear and friction, where the houses of the wealthy abut the estates of the poor and tension simmers beneath the humour.”
Thousands Of People Mass Outside British Museum To Protest Cultural Services Budget Cuts
Since 2010, more than 300 libraries have closed across the UK because they’re “non-essential services.” With even broader cuts, the Tories – say the protesters – threaten more libraries, and museums and galleries too.
Where, Aside From The Presidential Candidates, Did Hollywood’s Money Go This Election?
Initiatives to legalize pot are quite popular among the, er, show business set.
Remember The Five Disappeared Hong Kong Booksellers? The Action Seems To Be Having Its Desired Effect
Shops that sold the political books banned in mainland China have closed; publishers that put the books out have gone out of business; and printers refuse to print the books for the writers and publishers who are left.
Hamburg Has A Thrilling New Concert Hall, But Will It Win Over The Citizens Who Funded It?
It’s a weird, stunning space, but no one yet knows how its acoustics will (or won’t) deliver.
That Time The Guardian Hosted Haruki Murakami Talking With Seiji Ozawa About Music, Creativity, And Everything
Novelist Murakami says of conductor Ozawa: “We both maintain the same ‘hungry heart’ we possessed in our youth, that persistent feeling that ‘this is not good enough,’ that we must dig deeper, forge farther ahead. This is the major motif of our work and our lives.”
An Actor Who Was Ready To Quit Sexist Hollywood, Returning In Triumph
Amy Adams might have gotten paid peanuts to her male co-stars’ big bucks in “American Hustle,” but she’s on fire in Hollywood right now: “She is a 42-year-old woman whose name can get a movie made – and pretty much any kind of movie. … In terms of sheer variety, to find her equal you’d have to look towards Meryl Streep.”
Are Americans Just Not Funny Anymore, Or Has U.S. Comedy Lost Its Clout?
“Independent U.S. comedy — especially the out-and-out gut-busters that skew toward the male audience that flocks to Baron Cohen — is having a trickier time generating global laughs (the less said about The Brothers Grimsby, the better).”
Why Does New Music Need Defenders?
The New York Times’ Anthony Tommasini says we pretty much have to blame it all on Schoenberg.
The Dallas Black Dance Theatre Invites Participation, And Works On Breathing Into What Comes
Audience members pick their own music as dancers dance to the music that works for them.
The Writer Who Collaborated With David Bowie On The New Musical ‘Lazarus’ Says Bowie Had Much More To Write
“Anyone who worked with David will tell you he was an incredibly positive man. He was very, very funny and had no ego. So although last summer I knew David was going for treatment, there was so much going on that it really didn’t loom large – however crazy it seems to say that now.”
John Berger Changed Everyone’s ‘Ways Of Seeing’ (And He’s Not Stopping Yet)
The man who wrote the now-classic “Ways of Seeing” (and hosted the TV series of the same name) has turned 90. Filmmaker Sally Potter says the book changed her life – and Tilda Swinton’s as well.