“The idea currently being discussed by Lear and Sony executives would be to have new actors recreate classic episodes of the shows, working from the original scripts, and package them as short, six-episode anthologies. The scripts would be treated similar to plays being mounted in new productions.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Breaks The $1-Million-A-Week Mark On Broadway
“The musical, about an anxious adolescent whose social status improves after the suicide of a high school classmate, has benefited from strong reviews and positive word of mouth. And, in another sign that it is breaking through in a crowded theater season, it has begun attracting a stream of celebrities.”
Handel’s ‘Messiah’, Class Warfare, And The 1%
Mark Swed: “Last week there happened to be something remarkable: two different (and they couldn’t have been more different) performances of Handel’s oratorio oriented around the one percent – the top and bottom one percent, that is.”
The Art In New York’s New Second Avenue Subway Line
Chuck Close, Sarah Sze, Vik Muniz and Jean Shin each got a station “to treat … as their very own and make them into individual installations” as part of what the Times calls “one of the most ambitious contemporary art projects that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has ever undertaken.”
What We’ve Lost With The Destruction Of Aleppo’s Old City
“Lina Sergie Attar, a writer and architect who grew up in Aleppo, remembers a city that has been nearly lost after years of conflict.” (audio)
Another Yellowface-In-Theatre Battle Breaks Out
“London fringe venue the Print Room has moved to defend itself over casting Caucasian actors in a production set in ancient China, describing the play as a ‘very English’ one. The theatre was widely criticised for its use of four Caucasian actors in a play by Howard Barker called In the Depths of Dead Love.”
Theatre’s Explanation For Yellowface Row Is Clueless
Howard Sherman: “The Print Room would do well to consult with Asian artists … if they wish to remedy this situation, rather than forging forward with abstract, disingenuous excuses that fool no one who actually understands what diversity and inclusion genuinely mean.”
Nashville Symphony Posts First Budget Surplus Since Bankruptcy Scare
“It’s been a trying three years for the Nashville Symphony, which was teetering financially and barely avoided foreclosure on its iconic Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Now, audited financial statements show an organization that is operating in the black.”
Will Brexit Be Bad For Literature? Maybe Not (Oops, Is That The Wrong Answer?)
Author and translator Tim Parks writes of taking part in a recent London panel discussion: “It was evident that we were expected to find Brexit detrimental. … All the same, none of us were quite able to conjure up the required predictions of post-Brexit literary decline.”
Composer Karel Husa Dead At 95
“[He] won the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1969 for his String Quartet No. 3, and the 1993 Grawemeyer Award for his Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, and many other composition prizes over his career.”