The musical “began its pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago this month and received several positive reviews from critics — but also a pointedly tough one full of criticism from that city’s most influential theater critic, Chris Jones of The Chicago Tribune, who concluded that the show ‘needs to be funnier and more visually spontaneous.'”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Introducing Fela Kuti, And Afrobeat, To Broadway’s Masses
“Audience members at Fela! aren’t allowed to be passive. They sing along with songs by following lyrics projected on the set — and, at one point, they get up on their feet and shake their booty … or, as Kuti would call it, their nyansh.”
Poet Dennis Brutus, Who Fought Apartheid, Dies At 85
The South African’s “first collection of poetry was published while he was still in prison. Sirens, Knuckles and Boots was printed in Nigeria as he was forbidden to teach, write or publish at home. His writing was celebrated for its lyrical intensity and his earlier works for their narrative complexity, although some critics found his later political works akin to sloganeering.”
Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Life Was No Children’s Book’
“Louisa made herself a brand,” says Alcott scholar Harriet Reisen. “She suppressed the fact that she had written pulp fiction that included stories about spies and transvestites and drug takers.”
Did Theo’s Nuptials Prompt Van Gogh’s Self-Mutilation?
“A scholar has found evidence that a distraught Vincent van Gogh slashed his ear after learning that his brother, Theo, on whom he depended financially and emotionally, was about to get married.”
On Christmas Day, Amazon Sold More E-Books Than Books
“As people rushed to fill their freshly unwrapped e-readers – one of the top-selling gadgets this festive season – the online retailer said sales at its electronic book store quickly overtook orders for physical books.” It was a first.
Ursula K. Le Guin Resigns From Authors Guild Over Google
“In a strongly-worded letter of resignation the award-winning science fiction and fantasy author said the Guild’s decision to support Google in its plans to digitise millions of books meant she could no longer countenance being a member.”
Artist Buys Cliff Property To Film Its Demise
“Kane Cunningham has paid £3,000 for the next bungalow set to fall over the cliff and will film its end. He said the house symbolised ‘lost dreams, financial disaster and threatening sea levels’.”
The UK’s Most-Played Classical Music Of The Past 75 Years
Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna” came in at number one, while “Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia On A Theme was in second place. Third place went to a 1990 recording of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade by the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sir Charles Mackerras.”
In ’09’s Tighter Art Market, Some Works Thrived At Auction
Among the top 10: “Henri Matisse’s 1911 still life of cowslips, ‘Les coucous, tapis bleu et rose’ from the collection of late couturier Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge fetched 35.9 million euros ($45.6 million), an artist record, at a Christie’s Paris auction on Feb. 23.”