A century ago, Maude Adams was such a renowned actress that one critic described her as “the most popular person in the United States.” Peter Pan was the role that made her a superstar, and she was also famous for her Napoleon II. Yet the play she loved most was an adaptation of the old fable of Chanticleer.
Author: Matthew Westphal
How ‘Crash’ Got Made Against The Odds And Won The Best Picture Oscar Against Even Bigger Odds: An Oral History
These folks don’t think they beat Brokeback Mountain because of Academy voters’ homophobia (or at least skittishness). But they made the movie, so they would say that, wouldn’t they? Even so, they have quite a story to tell.
Publisher And Author Withdraw Children’s-Book Parody After Too Many People Fail To See The Joke
Some of the reaction seems to be Poe’s Law in action (though you’d think the title – Bad Little Children’s Books: KidLit Parodies, Shameless Spoofs, and Offensively Tweaked Covers – would clue folks in), and some seems to be indignant virtue-signaling.
Lynn Nottage, Playwright Of ‘Sweat’, On Getting To Know Locked-Out Middle-Aged White Steelworkers In Reading, PA
“I found that the way in which they spoke was really familiar to me, as an African-American woman who has struggled with marginalization throughout my entire life. For the first time, they were saying, ‘We feel unseen, unheard, frustrated.’ At the end of the meeting, I said, ‘You guys sound like socialists.'” A Q&A with Slate‘s June Thomas.
David Hallberg’s Recovery Down Under Hasn’t Been Easy
“I came to Australia with a shaved head and a swollen foot. … It’s been extreme hard work, extreme dedication, and also extreme loneliness. This isn’t my home. But it feels so comfortable and I’ve been made to feel so welcome.”
Sergei Polunin’s Hollywood Career Begins
“The 27-year-old Ukrainian … has been cast in two hot upcoming titles: Kenneth Branagh’s all-star adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express and the spy thriller Red Sparrow from Fox, appearing alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton.”
Indianapolis Symphony Posts Record Ticket Sales Income
The figure for last season was up 15% over 2014-15 and is the fourth increase in a row. Total attendance was down slightly, and there was a $561,000 deficit after three years of surpluses; both decreases can be blamed on (yes, really) the weather.
Sotheby’s Buys Forensics Lab So It Can Catch Forgeries Before It Sells Them
The auction house has acquired Orion Analytical and is folding the firm into its newly-created scientific research department. James Martin, the firm’s founder (and now a Sotheby’s exec), has helped the FBI in a number of art fraud cases, not least the Knoedler Gallary debacle.
Louisville Orchestra Keeps Teddy Abrams Through 2019-20
Executive director Andrew Kipe says that the 29-year-old music director has
“really changed the conversation about the orchestra and its mission and direction. He has wanted the orchestra to do more than be in the concert hall giving concerts.”
Looted Antiquities From Palmyra And Yemen Seized In Geneva
The artifacts, which range between roughly 1,800 and 2,400 years old, were stored at the Geneva Free Port in 2009-10, before the current Arab civil wars and the rise of ISIS.