Just what we need: More joyless, foolish bureaucrats quashing theatrical productions. "The interactive show is set at an Italian-American wedding, with a three-course meal, live music and dancing." - BBC
The openly homophobic and transphobic law means that "even if granted parental permission, minors may not have materials available to them." Texas is likely to follow suit, even more harshly. - Book Riot
For immigrants, it's seeing their own history on a Broadway stage; for their children, it's a major lesson. ("Growing up, the only thing I really knew about Imelda was her shoe collection.") For the all-Filipino cast, it's revisiting "a past that's hardly in the rearview mirror." - The New York Times
"Here's what to know about Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos, the People Power Revolution of 1986 and the controversies the show" — Here Lies Love, now on Broadway after runs Off-Broadway and elsewhere — "has faced." - The New York Times
"Nothing bothered me more than being cast in Lifted, a 'groundbreaking' show designed to feature only ABT's Black dancers. … I trained to be an elite dancer, not a Black elite dancer. Emphasizing my race before my skill infantilizes me; there's no such thing as a Caucasian-American dancer." - The New York Times
For years he managed the tricky business of remaining a committed Catholic at Elizabeth's Protestant court before settling in a rural haven. He wrote an extraordinary body of sacred music — large-scale and small-, in English and Latin — along with keyboard and chamber works, madrigals and solo songs. - The New York Times
Comments from Caroline Shaw, James MacMillan ("Classical music audiences tend to forget about the pre-Baroque, and it's a pity because William Byrd is one of music history's great figures"), Roxana Panufnik, and Nico Muhly (There's always a Byrd for something"). - The New York Times
"In the firms that cater to mid-market developments, art-school graduates spend their days pumping out huge volumes of the kind of innocuous work a person might gaze at across a hotel bar while winding down after a real-estate-brokers conference in Kansas City." - MSN (Curbed)
In 2009, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution dropped its arts section altogether, and the region's cultural community was aghast. So a couple of the AJC's laid-off critics decided to launch ArtsATL to fill the gap. Despite one near-death experience, the site's now thriving — and even providing content to the AJC. - Musical America
"Around the country, in blue states as well as red, theater teachers say it has become increasingly difficult to find plays and musicals that will escape the kind of criticism that, they fear, could cost them their jobs or result in a cutback in funding." - The New York Times
Goodreads was solid, and then Amazon bought it. Now it's got some major issues. "Former employees said Amazon seemed happy to mine Goodreads for its user-generated data and otherwise let it limp along with limited resources." - Washington Post
"Theaters must think more expansively of themselves as communal spaces, not merely entertainment venues for stage presentations to ticket buyers; what does it mean to be a civic space, a public space, a 'third place'? No, really." - Culturebot
How do those books and authors strike me now? For one thing, that mini pantheon makes clear why old-fashioned literary histories employed phrases like “the bubble reputation,” “Fortune’s wheel” and “the whirligig of taste.” - Washington Post
The science of bioacoustics opens up a novel window into worlds of sound unheard by human ears. Across our planet, sound is a primordial form of conveying complex ecological information; a vast range of species — even those without ears — are remarkably sensitive to sound. - Noema
The Brooklyn Academy of Music's president, Gina Duncan, "said that the changes were necessary in part to help BAM to 'weather the downturn in charitable giving for the arts, and address an outdated business model that heavily relies on a shrinking donor base.'" - The New York Times
"In addition, Ken McConnell, who served as the company's general director and CEO since 2018, has resigned. Aaron Beck, a longtime Tulsa Opera staff member who took over as artistic director in 2022 following the departure of Tobias Picker, has been named the interim general director." - Tulsa World
In a furious and impassioned plea, Castillo writes, "I'm tired of hearing how much David Zaslav loves classic movies when his action scream otherwise. If he loves classic movies so much, then invest in the people who bring classic movies to the masses." - Monica Castillo's Patreon
"The Brooklyn Museum wanted to do an exhibition with a Netflix celebrity, so the institution isn't going to say anything too plainly about the flaws in Gadsby's arguments. … Gadsby, meanwhile, admits that they participated, even though they hate the show's subject, because 'I thought it would raise my profile.'" - Artnet
A poll of 79 film critics, with the results assembled and curated by J. Hoberman and Julian Epp. (There's also a separate reader poll.) And these are definitely not all "great"; there are a few that are downright despicable, but there's no question that they were significant. - The New Republic
Everyone's criteria will be different. (One critic declined to participate in TNR's poll by saying "Every film I care about is political.") And yet, writes J. Hoberman, "There is a consensual idea of what constitutes political cinema, if not a universal buy-in." - The New Republic
