“Sheffield Theatres took its first public step to reopening after a £15.3 million refurbishment project on Wednesday (April 8) by announcing its new artistic director. Daniel Evans, 35, an award-winning actor and director, will take on the position full time in June, to prepare for the complex’s grand reopening in November. Evans has won two Oliver Awards, both for best actor in a musical….”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Thanks To Downloads, Audiobooks On The Rise In Britain
“The digital generation has sparked a revivial in Britain’s love of audiobooks as figures from the BBC show there have been one million downloads of spoken word titles. … The US remains the biggest consumer of BBC audio books,” but the trend is picking up here.
Proms Go Populist? Bollywood Gets A Starring Role.
“The 2009 Proms programme was unveiled today, with organisers promising an eclectic programme blending the traditional with Bollywood, drum and bass, and ukuleles. The 115th Proms will include the annual event’s first ever Bollywood concert, as movie ‘playback’ singer and Indian TV star Shaan brings a blast of colour and energy to the Royal Albert Hall with his band and a troupe of dancers. His performance comes at the climax to an ‘Indian Voices’ day….”
Onstage, God And Faith Go Missing
“I’m not a God-squad type. I’m a beyond-lapsed Catholic. Yet something in me shudders at the thought that the only reference to a divine creator anywhere apparent on our stages this fortnight so far as I can tell, aside from the noble Italian invasion, is in His Dark Materials at the Birmingham Rep, where God, sorry ‘The Authority’, isn’t so much dead, as in need of a mercy killing. … And yet our rich theatrical tradition sprang from the church.”
Hadid Pavilion Will Rise, For A While, In Millennium Park
“Seeking to spotlight the 100th anniversary of the document that changed the face of Chicago, celebration organizers brought out the bling Tuesday night and unveiled designs for two temporary pavilions in Millennium Park by internationally-renowned architects,” Zaha Hadid and Ben van Berkel. “The pavilions … promise to join with the Art Institute of Chicago’s soon-to-debut Modern Wing to give five-year-old Millennium Park a fresh shot of energy.”
Dictionaries Offer Less Ammo For Gay-Marriage Foes
“Opponents of gay marriage generally have relied on two authorities, the Bible and the dictionary–the divine word and the defined word. A 2006 friend-of-the-court brief filed on behalf of anti-gay-marriage organizations in a Maryland marriage case cited no fewer than seven dictionaries to make its point. … But in their latest editions, the dictionaries have begun to switch sides–though until recently, no one seemed to have much noticed.”
Page Turners: Necessary Evil Or Noble Force For Good?
“‘If everything goes right, no one pays attention to the page turner,’ said the pianist Joseph Kalichstein. ‘And if something goes wrong, it’s the page turner’s fault.’ … As in so many relationships, the one between musician and page turner can be marked by miscommunication and misunderstandings.” Likewise, there are at least two sides to the story.
Bronze Duckling Swiftly Found
“The web-foot youngster reappeared before dawn yesterday on a Beacon Hill street corner, found leaning wearily against a tree like a lost boy looking for his mother. The bottom of his bronze heels offered the only evidence from the crime: a small slice on a right foot and a rough break in the two steel rods that once affixed him to cobblestones in an eternal march across the Public Garden.”
In File-Sharing Suit, Lawyer’s Tactics Are ‘Off The Charts’
Methods of the Harvard Law professor “defending a Boston University graduate student accused of illegally downloading music in a closely watched federal lawsuit … have drawn criticism,” and no wonder: He tape-recorded the judge on the case, posted the recording on his blog, and included it in an exam for his students. He argues that his approach reflects “the transparency that is the hallmark of [the student’s] battle – indeed the transparency that [the lawyer] says is the essence of the Internet.”
Untangling The Mess At L.A.’s Gorgeous New Arts School
“Unfortunately, the new high school of the arts is caught in one of those peculiar Los Angeles time warps — a gap created by the disparity between old grievances and the uncertain but hopeful future. Whether or not it was a good idea to build such a lavish arts education facility, we now have one. It, like our children, deserves a chance to succeed….”