Author: Matthew Westphal

Emmy Nominations: Two New York Times Critics Dish Surprises And Snubs And So On

Margaret Lyons: “Do you want to start with the dumbest nomination? Modern Family? … There is absolutely no reason Modern Family should be nominated ever, ever again.”
James Poniewozik: “Agreed on Modern Family – which was solid, eons ago – but House of Cards, always a disposable drama in prestige clothing, crossed straight into unintentional-comedy territory this season, but kept its lifetime pass.”

The IRA Was Behind The Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist, Insists Investigator

“The 13 stolen masterpieces valued at around half-a-billion dollars included a Rembrandt and a Vermeer … ‘I’m 100 percent sure that they are in Ireland. Hundred percent sure. No doubt in my mind,’ art investigator Arthur Brand said. He’s described as the Indiana Jones of the art world. It’s an audacious claim to make after nearly three decades. But Brand alleges his leads point to the Irish Republican Army.”

Sacramento Ballet’s New Artistic Director Spent Years Dancing Under The Old Ones

In January, the company’s board of directors decided not to renew the contracts of Ron Cunningham and Carinne Binda, who had led Sacramento Ballet for three decades and developed it into a fully professional outfit. They’re being replaced, as of next season, by Amy Seiwert, who spent most of the 1990s dancing in the company under Cunningham and Binda.

Three Ballerinas From Three Great Companies On The Three Facets Of Balanchine’s ‘Jewels’

Each of the ballet’s sections is said to represent one of the art form’s great stylistic schools: French (“Emeralds”), American (“Rubies”) and Russian (“Diamonds”). Marina Harss talks with stars from the companies that embody those schools – the Paris Opera Ballet, New York City Ballet, and the Bolshoi Ballet – about Jewels, which they’ll be performing together at this year’s Lincoln Center Festival.

V&A Museum’s New Director Is Not, In Fact, Against Digitization (Despite What You May Have Read)

“‘Museums are rethinking the rush to digitise their collections amid concerns that such projects are costly and of little value,’ wrote the Times [of London] newspaper, in a report on [Tristram] Hunt‘s comments at the Hay Festival in Wales. … Responding to a question from the audience about the V&A’s use of digital technology to widen access in the regions, Hunt actually said that the museum is ‘involved in a massive programme of digitising [its] collections’ and is ‘very passionate about it’.”

West End Tickets Aren’t Expensive, They’re ‘Incredibly Reasonable’, Says One Of Theatre’s Richest Men

Andrew Lloyd Webber: “Theatre is highly labour-intensive. On the whole, the prices of West End theatre are incredibly reasonable considering the cost of putting something on.” Told that tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are over £100, ALW said, “We don’t charge anything like that for School of Rock.” (Orchestra/stalls seats for School of Rock in the West End are currently £129.50.)