The powerhouse Chicago company commissioned a stage adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath in 1985, but the show didn’t open until the fall of 1988 – and didn’t make it to Broadway (via La Jolla and London) until 1990. The man who wrote the script and ended up directing it, the woman who cast it, the man who designed the production, and the woman who played Ma Joad (Lois Smith) remember how it all came together.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Can You Even Stage ‘The Mikado’ Anymore Without Giving Offense? This Company Is Giving It A Try
For the past few years – starting with an ugly battle in Seattle – the yellowface issue has raged around productions of the Gilbert and Sullivan favorite in the U.S. Last year, facing likely protests, the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players cancelled its production and did Pirates of Penzance instead. (One wag wrote in to decry the failure to cast real pirates.) This year, after much consideration, care, and consultation, the company is trying again, with a new approach.
Tapestry Of Sabra And Shatila Massacres Could Hang Next To Picasso’s ‘Guernica’
“Ramzi Dalloul, a Palestinian businessman and collector of Arab art, has commissioned the Royal Tapestry Factory in Madrid to transform Iraqi artist Dia al-Azzawi’s drawing of the atrocity into a 21-sq.-m wall hanging. … On a visit to the 300-year-old factory when work on the tapestry started, the Spanish culture minister asked Dalloul if the finished piece could be displayed alongside Picasso’s Guernica” at the Reina Sofia Museum.
A Tuition-Free Ballet Program Changes The Lives Of Baltimore Boys
“Last school year, 31 boys attended Peabody Dance (which can cost thousands a semester) tuition-free, breathing new energy and life into the mirrored-walled studios and bringing economic, racial, and social diversity to a world that ‘hasn’t always been that way’.”
Zubin Mehta To Retire From Israel Philharmonic
When he steps down in October 2018, Mehta will have been the orchestra’s music director for 40 years.
It’s Time To Link Arts Philanthropy With A Broader Social Mission
Ian David Moss argues that funders have tended to keep their arts programs in a “silo” rather than connecting them with their organizations’ wider goals.
Major Vinyl LP Manufacturer About To Double In Size
The headline makes it seem like United Record Pressing is shutting its Nashville plant down. Not at all: while the company is leaving its old facility, where the Beatles’ first US release was pressed and Berry Gordy had Motown records manufactured, United Record Pressing is moving to a new factory that’s at least the size of two football fields.
‘The Red Shoes’ A Daunting Property To Put On Stage? Not For Matthew Bourne
In fact, he’s wanted to do it for as long as he’s had his own company. “Virtually every project I have undertaken in my career has had this potential problem attached to it,” he says. “Much-loved pieces that you touch at your peril!”
Cellist And Conductor Heinrich Schiff Dead At 65
“Most known for his mastery of the cello, his recordings of works by Bach, Shostakovich and Brahms earned him several prestigious music prizes. Later in life, Schiff turned increasingly to conducting after health problems ended his solo career.”
Why George Michael Really Mattered
“If you missed Elvis or James Dean or the Beatles, if you were immune to what they did to other people’s hormones, maybe George Michael’s ‘Faith’ registered strongly on your superstar Richter scale. Maybe he triggered your gaydar, too.” An appreciation by Wesley Morris.