“Today, the lighthearted, humorous romance, once primarily associated with the multiplex, thrives more in indie cinema and on television, particularly on cable and streaming platforms. It explores love from specific perspectives … and often with an honesty that eschews fairy-tale endings. While it hasn’t entirely abandoned certain tropes, more often than not, the modern rom-com deconstructs them. In other words, a type of storytelling that once remained unsubverted is now constantly being subverted.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Puppets Are Now Infiltrating Themselves Into All The Performing Arts
Hand puppets, rod puppets, shadow puppets – with visits to a festival in Chicago, an Off-Broadway play, and a gallery show, Laura Collins-Hughes gives us an update on the state of the art.
PBS NewsHour Pays Visit To Dallas Opera’s Institute For Women Conductors
“According to industry data, of the nine largest American opera companies by budget, none has a female music director and principal conductor. And Marin Alsop in Baltimore, who served on the faculty at the Dallas workshop, remains the sole woman music director at the nation’s 24 largest orchestras. In Dallas, [general director Keith] Cerny hired Nicole Paiement as principal guest conductor, and she played a large role at the institute, encouraging.” (video)
I Threw $100M Worth Of Stolen Paintings In The Trash, Says Co-Defendant In Trial
A thief nicknamed “Spider-Man” because of his ability to scale walls is on trial for taking a Picasso, a Matisse, a Modigliani, a Braque and a Léger from the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris in 2010. The paintings have never been recovered, and one of the fellow defendants – the fence – tearfully told the court that, afraid of being caught, he broke all the stretchers and threw the canvases in the garbage. (Nobody believes him.)
Jerry Saltz Says Trump Could Drive Small And Medium-Sized Galleries Out Of Business
“Support your local galleries simply by going. Many galleries secretly terrified of closing now. Trump’s chaos has brought sales to a standstill.”
‘Written On Skin’ Composer George Benjamin Is Writing A New Opera
Since its world premiere in 2012, Written on Skin has become one of the best-received new operas of the (still-young) century. The same team – Benjamin, librettist Martin Crimp, director Katie Mitchell, soprano Barbara Hannigan – will premiere Lessons in Love and Violence in London in 2018, with performances in six more cities to follow.
Lawsuits Over, Maurice Sendak’s Rare Book Collection Is Finally In Philly – Here’s What’s In It
The great author-illustrator specified in his will that all of his ‘rare edition books’ go to the Rosenbach Museum and Library, part of the Free Library of Philadelphia. But the Sendak Foundation didn’t want to part with them (especially the ones worth millions), and two years of messy court battles ensued. At the end of last year, there was finally a settlement, and the Rosenbach’s share of the trove has now arrived. Peter Dobrin looks at what is (and isn’t) in it.
After 20 Years, Arundhati Roy Has Finally Written A Second Novel
Her first novel, The God of Small Things, won the Booker Prize; since then she’s become known as an activist and published reams of nonfiction. A few years ago she said, “I’ve always been slightly short with people who say, ‘You haven’t written anything again,’ as if all the nonfiction I’ve written is not writing.” For those people, and the rest of us, the wait will be over this summer.
How A 33-Story Empty Shell Sat Smack In The Heart Of Patrician Philadelphia – For 15 Years
Inga Saffron tells the long, sad story, and the happy ending, of the Rittenhouse Hotel, the tower with the pleated façade on Rittenhouse Square.
Jamie Barton Wins Met Opera’s Beverly Sills Award
“Ms. Barton jump-started her career by winning a series of prestigious prizes: the Met’s National Council Auditions in 2007, both the main and song contests at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2013 and the Richard Tucker Award in 2015.” Among previous winners of the $50,000 prize are Nathan Gunn, Joyce DiDonato, Angela Meade, Brian Hymel, and Michael Fabiano. (includes video)