Former Royal Ballet member Will Tuckett conceived, organized anc choreographed a new version of the Christmas chestnut that would have the audience at tables as guests at the Act I Christmas party and wandering through the space (a converted industrial print shop) to take in the set pieces of Act II. Then the cash ran out.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Lost Stravinsky Work, Now Found, Gets Modern-Day Premiere
The Funeral Song, written in memory of Rinsky-Korsakov in 1908 and believed lost in the Russian Revolution, turned up last year in a back room at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire. Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra will premiere the piece early next month in a concert carried on medici.tv and Mezzo.
Customs Withheld These Paintings At The Airport For Three Months Because They Didn’t Count As ‘Art’
Bjarne Melgaard sent 16 of his works from his studio in New York to his gallery in Oslo – which couldn’t collect them without paying $153,000 in VAT because customs agents insisted the paintings didn’t qualify for tax-free status. You see, they weren’t, as regulations require, “executed entirely by hand.”
B-Boy Zulu Rema, The Amputee Breakdancer Of Tunisia
Oh yes, he can definitely do the moves. (photo gallery)
The Religious Movie Boom You Probably Haven’t Heard About
You’ll remember Mel Gibson‘s The Passion of the Christ, and you probably know about the recent biblical epics Noah and Exodus: Gods and Kings and this year’s Jesus bopics, The Young Messiah, Risen and Last Days in the Desert. There’s a similar trend in Middle Eastern cinema covering the early days of Islam.
The Founding Novelist Of Israeli Literature (Even Israelis Have Trouble Reading Him)
S. Y. Agnon, the only Israeli writer to win a Nobel, has never broken through to an international audience. Yet even present-day Israelis, who can read his Hebrew perfectly well, no longer have all the common knowledge required to comprehend Agnon’s work – and the ones that do likely avoid it on principle.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 11.21.16
Monday Recommendation: Bill Frisell’s Music From Movies & TV
Bill Frisell, When You Wish Upon A Star (Okeh) … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-11-21
The Rise and Fall (?) of a Superhero (or Not)
Faye Driscoll presents Thank You for Coming; Play at BAM Fisher. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-11-21
Hod O’Brien, 1936-2016
Friends of Hod O’Brien report that the pianist died yesterday at 80 following a long battle against cancer. He continued an active playing life even as he underwent treatment for the disease. Born in Chicago, … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-11-21
Why I’m Waiting for Asher’s Algren
Having said in The Revenge of the Mediocre that both Bettina Drew and Mary Wisniewski fail to capture Nelson Algren’s personality in their biographies of him, I realize I didn’t mention something equally … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-11-21
At Long Last, David Oyelowo Takes On Othello
It’s the one Shakespearean lead that he resisted for years – “I don’t want to do anything that feels pedestrian or obvious,” he said. Now he’s finally playing the role – Off-Broadway, opposite Daniel Craig – and here he talks about why. (For one thing, the producer spent two years wooing him.)
The Grandfather Of The Information Age (He Died 300 Years Ago This Week)
Before Alan Turing, before Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, there was Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who developed the binary number system and the first mechanical calculators – and who envisioned artificial intelligence and even data overload.
Extra Money Really Is Not The Best Way To Motivate People
Jessica Gross talks to Dan Ariely, Mr. Behavioral Economics, who explains just what behavioral economics is (it’s the way to leave behind “Assume x“) and why bonuses just aren’t such a good idea.