“The industry excuse for whitewashing is often that bankable star names are needed to make a project commercially viable. Yet few of these examples [that have come in for criticism in the past few years] have been hits.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
An All-Girl Remake Of ‘Lord Of The Flies’ (The Twitterverse Is Pretty Skeptical)
As Roxane Gay tweeted, “An all women remake of Lord of the Flies makes no sense because … the plot of that book wouldn’t happen with all women.” (What’s more, the movie will be written and directed by two guys.) Other people, pointing to Mean Girls and Heathers, argue that the idea isn’t so farfetched.
The Shaggs Have A Reunion Concert (This Will Never Happen Again)
The three New Hampshire sisters who formed a rock band because their father forced them to (when he died, in 1975, they stopped) developed a serious cult following, either despite or because of “deficits in what is commonly understood as standard musicality.” Five years ago, a Brooklyn musician did a Shaggs tribute concert; he’s since made meticulous transcriptions of their songs, and this summer he got the two surviving sisters to perform with him and his band at Mass MOCA. Howard Fishman was there.
The American Theatre Is About To See Huge Changes At The Top
“The leadership of the American theatre is at a crossroads like it hasn’t seen since the birth of the regional movement in the 1960s. … There are more than 20 artistic director vacancies at major theatre companies across the country, along with a handful of high-profile executive and managing director positions. One way or the other, the new guard will alter the leadership landscape in the American theatre for decades. The question is: how?”
A Glass Ceiling At America’s Regional Theatres
Joseph Haj, artistic director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis: “A 2015 study … of 74 LORT theatres … found that there were zero managing or executive directors of color and, on the artistic side, just six people of color. Since then the figures have worsened. … That same study also found that women made up 59 percent of managerial staff presumably next in line for leadership positions (associate artistic directors, general managers, finance directors, development managers, etc.). But women have historically never held more than 27 percent of leadership positions in the American theatre, and the needle on that percentage hasn’t budged in 30 years.”
Bartlett Sher Talks About ‘Oslo’ And Political Theatre In 2017
As the Brexit vote and the US. presidential election proceeded last year, the director and the company of Oslo made a decision that, “as it became more tumultuous in our political world, we would get further and deeper into 1993 and try less to make associations with now.” Audiences can – and do – make those associations on their own.
How Mikko Nissinen Keeps Boston Ballet At The Top Of Its Game
“It’s the same as in sports. Once you win a season, repeating everything that you did the next season is the surest way not to win. To stay on that edge, you have to question and risk everything. Once you get used to winning, then you just love that edge. You love the fact it’s risky. Otherwise, I’m sorry, it gets really boring. So there is no formula.”
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Receives Largest Gift In Its History
The $1.5 million donation, “called the ‘Allan Vogel Chair, endowed by the Henry Family,’ supports the principal oboe chair. … The gift is significant for LACO, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary season. The orchestra’s annual budget is $4.5 million.”
NEH Pledges $1M For Cultural Institutions Hit By Hurricane Harvey
“The grants are intended to fund the preservation of humanities collections impacted by the storm, as well as helping institutions – from universities and libraries to museums and historical societies – to get back up and running.”
British Museum To Completely Overhaul Its Displays On World Cultures
“The British Museum is embarking on what could be the most far-ranging redisplay of its collection for more than 150 years. In his first in-depth interview since taking over as director in April 2016, Hartwig Fischer has revealed plans to reorganise and revitalise what could amount to half of the museum’s 95 galleries.”