Tony Adams, artistic director of Chicago’s Halcyon Theatre: “There is no way any argument could be made that a classical theatre can’t find plays to broaden their season beyond exclusively white men-other than [Joe Dowling] didn’t bother to try. I stopped and thought about it for a couple minutes. Two. I set a timer for one-hundred twenty seconds. I was curious to see if I could come up with a possible twelve play season, without consulting Google or my bookshelf.”
Month: April 2012
Hey Visitors To London, Don’t Expect Friendliness; Do Expect Curry
As tourists plan to flood London with people for the Olympics, what should they know? A.A. Gill: “London is a city of ghosts; you feel them here. Not just of people, but eras. The ghost of empire, or the blitz, the plague, the smoky ghost of the Great Fire that gave us Christopher Wren’s churches and ushered in the Georgian city. London can see the dead, and hugs them close. If New York is a wise guy, Paris a coquette, Rome a gigolo and Berlin a wicked uncle, then London is an old lady who mutters and has the second sight. She is slightly deaf, and doesn’t suffer fools gladly.”
Cirque du Soleil In Russia In A Knock-Down Fight For Stars [With Video]
“When Cirque du Soleil first set up in Moscow’s Kremlin theatre in February, Russian circuses were nervous about losing their audiences. That hasn’t happened, as the Montreal troupe’s Zarkana differs from the traditional Russian circus fare. However, the Cirque then began hiring away their performers.”
What’s The Point Of A Newspaper, Really?
A recent suggestion that the The New York Times sell information before printing public stories has the media world in an uproar – but what’s the purpose of a newspaper in the 21st century, anyway?
Hugo Fiorato, 97, Longtime Conductor At New York City Ballet
“Mr. Fiorato, who was with the City Ballet for 56 years, was a figure of continuity surpassed only by George Balanchine, who founded it in 1948 with Mr. Fiorato’s mentor, the conductor Leon Barzin. Mr. Fiorato held almost every job the company had to offer, starting as its first concertmaster in 1948. ‘I was concertmaster, librarian; I did everything except sweep the floors,’ he once told an interviewer. ‘It was wonderful to be there in those early days.'”
After A Terrible Year For The Detroit Symphony, Trial By Fire For Concertmaster Candidate
“The appointment of a new concertmaster is always a landmark in the life of an orchestra, but for the DSO the stakes are even higher. A standout hire would signal an artistic and psychological turning point in the drive to rebuild the ranks after last season’s tumultuous strike.”
Amazon Versus Publishers/Progress Versus Hanging On
“The technologically obsolete system, in which physical inventory is stored in publishers’ warehouses and trucked to fixed retail locations, will sooner or later be replaced by the more efficient digital alternative. The government’s case against book publishers arises from this continuing transformation–Amazon’s pricing model for e-books reflects the digital imperative while Apple’s and the publishers’ response attempts to delay it.”
How The Met’s HD Movie Theatre Productions Are Changing Opera
“At an HD broadcast are you at the movies or at a performance? The most disconcerting part of the HD experience comes when it is time to applaud. Or not.”
UK Performers’ Union Starts Campaign Against Exploitation Of Performers
“Working for nothing is becoming too usual for newcomers to the profession, and not just newcomers. An Equity working party has been examining this whole matter. Underlying our whole approach is the belief that if anyone makes money out of a show, then the performer makes money.”
Five Myths About Classical Music
“The implication is that those institutions or lineups can’t have anything to contribute to musical thinking, that the musical ideas that composers in the past have dreamed of in their orchestral works, quartets and operas, have filled the repertoire, and our imaginations, to the brim.”