Author: Matthew Westphal

Cord-Cutting Really Is Starting To Strangle Cable TV. So What Are The Cable Networks Doing?

“The decline of cable isn’t a new story, but what has started to take hold is a change in narrative inside the industry. Rather than try to prop up what they all know to be a decaying linear business, cable executives are instead focusing on their still-healthy intellectual properties and the brands behind them. Some of those cable brands are even aiming to carve out a space in the streaming world.” – Variety

Black Theatermakers In Europe Talk About The Change They’re Working Toward

Excerpts from a recent Zoom conversation among three artistic directors — Kwame Kwei-Armah of London’s Young Vic, Julia Wissert of Schauspiel Dortmund in the Ruhr Valley, and Eva Doumbia of Compagnie La Part du Pauvre near Rouen — about their challenges as well as “white universality, decolonizing theater institutions and their issues with the word ‘diversity.'” – The New York Times

Arts Center In Sydney Is Saved From Liquidation — But At The Expense Of Some Artists

“Carriageworks has a clear path towards recovery after creditors voted unopposed on Tuesday for a proposal to rescue the arts company with the support of philanthropists and the New South Wales government, but not everyone is happy with the deal.” The problem: many of those creditors are small arts organizations and individual artists, who may get only about a third of the fees owed them. – The Guardian

When Lockdown Started, Powell’s Book Sales Soared. How’s Business Now? (Not So Good)

Emily Powell: “In some ways, it’s hard to say, because our trends have completely evaporated. Before the pandemic, I could have told you, ‘Oh, the first sunny day, and this month will look like this. The second sunny day will look like that.’ But all of those behaviors have gone away. So right now we’re on a relatively steady sales decline and trying to do our best to turn that in a different direction.” – Oregon Public Broadcasting

Disabled Performers On Their Place In The Arts Business

“Social movements like #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo have started important conversations about an industry with entrenched disparities. With that in mind, we asked entertainers” — actors Ali Stroker, Marlee Matlin, Micah Fowler, and Lauren Potter, and Leroy F. Brown Jr. of Krip-Hop Nation — “how they have navigated their careers, and where their hopes lie for the future of their industry.” – The New York Times

Zizi Jeanmaire, Ballerina Who Became Famous Actress And Cabaret Legend, Dead At 96

Trained at the Paris Opera Ballet, she became an international star in the title role of Carmen by her husband, choreographer Roland Petit (for whom she continued to dance for decades, sometimes with the likes of Nureyev and Baryshnikov as partners). She went to Hollywood and starred alongside Bing Crosby in Anything Goes. Back in Paris, where she and Petit were the toast of high society, she became queen of the city’s music hall scene, decked out in resplendent feathers for her signature tune, a lewd little number called “Mon Truc en plumes.” – The Washington Post