Perloff said her biggest regret was the failure to sustain A.C.T.’s core acting company. (“The city got too expensive — artists can’t afford to live here anymore.”) But the theater’s thriving acting conservatory remains, and in an era that has seen nonprofit theaters become clearinghouses for jukebox musicals and other commercial trifles from Broadway, she has shored up A.C.T.’s reputation as one of the most principled regional theaters in America.
Author: Douglas McLennan
Renée Fleming Wants To Clear Something Up: “I’m Not Retiring!”
“I never said that I was stepping away from the opera stage for good. Never, never, never did I say that to anybody,” Fleming insisted in a phone conversation from her home in New York City earlier today. “I think it misleads people,” she added. “They sort of imagine that I’m an opera singer and I’m now retiring. So I just want to make sure that gets cleared up.”
London’s Southbank Hires TV Exec As New CEO
It’s Elaine Bedell, who was director of entertainment and comedy at ITV. “As well as becoming the organisation’s first woman chief executive in its 66-year history, her appointment alongside Susan Gilchrist as chair and Jude Kelly as artistic director will mean that the arts centre – Europe’s largest – has an all-female leadership team.”
Big Warning: Moths Are Devouring England’s Important Heritage
“A particularly destructive species, Monopis sp., also known as the pale-backed clothes moth, has recently been discovered for the first time by English Heritage, which is now enlisting the help of the public to map the spread and intensity of a menace that only a few decades ago seemed as relevant a historical plague as the Black Death. Anyone with a precious cashmere sweater now resembling a piece of lace will sympathise.”
The Rise Of High-End TV Festivals (Makes Sense, Right, Now That TV Beats Movies)
“The French government raised eyebrows recently when it decided to back the creation of a large-scale international drama fest in Northern France’s Lille, which it wants to become the TV counterpart of the iconic Cannes Film Festival. The announcement came as city officials in Cannes itself said they would create their own rival international drama festival to run alongside MipTV.”
A Million People Have Moved Out Of New York City Since 2010 (Only Half The Story)
“Net domestic migration to New York City metro area (which includes the five boroughs plus slivers of New Jersey and Pennsylvania) is down by a whopping 900,000 people since 2010. That means that, since 2010, almost a million more people have left New York for somewhere else in America than have moved to New York from another U.S. metro—more than any other metro in the country. This is the “fleeing” that the Post finds so “alarming.” But the New York metro has also netted about 850,000 international migrants since 2010. That number is also tops among all metros—more than Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, combined. So, that’s the story of New York City, today.”
Atlanta Ballet Is Losing Half Its Dancers, Including All Its Stars
“Multiple sources within the company told ArtsATL that the departures are the culmination of a culture clash between the open and modernistic atmosphere fostered by previous artistic director John McFall that was embraced by the dancers, and the classical ballet ethos favored by Gennadi Nedvigin, the new Bolshoi-trained artistic director.”
What It Really Costs To Attend The Coachella Festival
Entry fees are only half the battle. You’ll spend quite a bit on lodging, transportation, food and alcohol as well. In fact, hotel prices for Coachella weekends are 140% higher than normal, according to hotel booking website Trivago. Even compared to last year, hotel costs for properties within 10-miles of the festival are up by $120.
A Growing Nationalism In Harpsichord Playing Is Killing It
I’ve heard leading figures in the harpsichord world give recitals that were played as if someone had died. Personally, I’d rather have dental surgery than hear recitals such as these, but there are those who applaud the fact that “you always know where you stand with them.” Really?! Could you imagine going to bed with someone like that, always knowing where you stand with him? “OK, see you same time, same place next year!”
Does Banning Cultural Appropriation Lead To A Dead End?
“Should an artist be prohibited from painting certain subjects because of her background, and what happens to the fluidity of culture if artists are fenced-in by their identities and ethnicities? Does perceived injustice resulting from the appropriation of black suffering justify censorship? Or is the destruction of art fundamentally illiberal?”