Author: Matthew Westphal

Brazil’s Top Telenovela Star Drowns On Set As Bystanders Think He’s Shooting A Scene

“[Domingos] Montagner played the leading role in Velho Chico, a soap opera named after the São Francisco river where he died. The 54-year-old had gone for a swim with an actress after a day of shooting in the north-eastern state of Sergipe. … The actress, Camila Pitanga, cried for help but local people failed to act initially as they believed the drowning was a scene in the soap opera.”

Top Posts From AJBlogs 09.19.16

What Neuroscientists Know About The Brain And Creativity: It’s Disruptive, Not Systematic
It appears many of us want a formula for creativity. There are 11,386 books on creativity for sale on Amazon, most of them promising to unlock the secrets of being creative. Scientists studying how the brain works are … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennanPublished 2016-09-19

Kraftwerk at the Hollywood Bowl
Krautrock has rarely been my cup of ale … But I’ve heard so many good things about the shows Kraftwerk — who all but invented the genre, and scored its first big U.S. hit with “Autobahn” — performed at Disney Hall a few years ago, that their Bowl show was hard to pass up. … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2016-09-19

‘Street Gangs of the Lower East Side’
It’s rare that the tireless staff of thousands agrees to post a guest review. But there are exceptions. … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-09-19

Interim
In 2003-04, I served as Interim Dean at the North Carolina School of the Arts.  It was quite an education, an introduction to the niceties and nastiness of arts administration.  … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2016-09-19

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A Panel Of Doctors Argues Over What Exactly Ailed Vincent Van Gogh

“The diagnosis came out of a meeting of experts sponsored by the Van Gogh Museum [in Amsterdam], in connection with its current exhibition, ‘On the Verge of Insanity.’ It included 35 international psychiatrists, other doctors and art historians weighing in on evidence about van Gogh’s medical case. The debate was lively and sometimes ‘fierce.'”

BC’s Provincial Museum Launches Global Program For Repatriating First Nations’ Artifacts

“The Canadian province of British Columbia has dedicated C$2m in funding to establish a First Nations department and repatriation programme at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria to help First Nations in the province recover their cultural heritage – including religious items and ancestral remains – scattered in museums across the world.”

Is Turning Old TV Shows Into Stage Plays Really A Workable Idea?

“In theatre, there’s typically somewhere between 90 minutes to two and a half hours to establish characters, take them through a plot and wrap up their story. … A successful television series operates under a different model: most episodes are only between 30 and 60 minutes, but the lives and stories of the characters can go on for years, sometimes adding up to hundreds of hours.” Howard Sherman looks at some upcoming attempts to bridge this gap.

This Season’s New Sitcoms Explore ‘Manxiety’

“This fall, broadcast television will turn its attention to the battle of the straight white man to assert his masculinity in an increasingly alien world. And you won’t need to wait until the first presidential debate to see it. The male protagonists of several new sitcoms are not as belligerent as the male protagonist of the election. (A possible exception: the one who wields a broadsword.) But they are besieged. At home and in the office, they find themselves struggling to prove that they matter in a world they no longer exclusively run.”

Opera Needs A Radical Overhaul, Says Director Of Britain’s Most Radically Overhauled Opera Company

Graham Vick of Birmingham Opera Company: “So much is encouraging about opera just now, most of it found in the sense of adventure of performances in pub theatres, supermarkets and car parks. … Making this expensive art form accessible does sometimes mean finding less costly ways of presenting it. … But trapped between tyrannical, unyielding musical values and a theatrical inferiority complex, artists and programmers, artistic directors and marketing departments cling on to outmoded models by the fingernails (or do I mean by co-productions?). They fear the implications of radical change. But we need to bend – there’s no use pretending something’s not broken.”

‘Opera Companies Should Just Bite The Bullet And Start To Use Amplification,’ Argues One Maestro

Conductor and radio presenter Guy Noble: “The houses are too big for many of the voices to cut through and as a consequence audiences are leaving with a less than exciting experience. Amplification is seen as such a dirty word. … I sincerely hope that opera doesn’t disappear in a puff of purist smoke. And if it does, might we not even be able to hear it?”