“From The Walking Dead to The Knick to Jessica Jones, there’s a boatload of actors from the U.K. and Down Under currently imitating us on the small screen. Which means that, in addition to creating credible characters, they have to sound like natives week after week. So, which foreigners deliver consistently convincing American accents, and which are merely paying lip service?”
Author: Matthew Westphal
American Dance Institute Moving From DC Suburbs To Upstate New York
“It has already transformed itself from a dance school in Rockville, Md., to an organization with ambition to present contemporary dance and help choreographers develop new works. Now American Dance Institute is moving north: It announced on Tuesday that it would build a new headquarters at a former lumberyard in Catskill, N.Y.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.06.16
When you can afford the very best
A thought experiment: suppose you are in a middle-class household, around the median income. What goods and services do you purchase and enjoy that are the very finest available, such that people in the top … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2016-01-05
Public Policy and Community Engagement
Over a two month period last year, TRG Arts and Engaging Matters partnered on a series of posts examining relationship building as the foundation of effective fundraising, marketing, and community engagement. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-01-05
Will Venice Sell Art to Stay Afloat?
On Jan. 1, I wasn’t paying too much attention to the news, but The Wall Street Journal posted an article that day that should not go unremarked. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-01-05
New Year’s “Resolutions,” Pasternak Edition: What Artworld Uncertainties Should Be Resolved in 2016?
This is the second in my series of how thorny artworld issues that vexed us in 2015 could achieve satisfying resolution in the year ahead: … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-01-06
Memories of Boulez
So many memories came to me when I read that Pierre Boulez had died. One was something he did when I saw him conduct once at Carnegie Hall. Can’t remember which piece it was … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-01-06
Boulez est mort
I have little to say, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to use a headline I’ve been holding in reserve for three decades. When I interviewed Pierre Boulez in Chicago in 1987, we touched … read more
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2016-01-06
Passings: Paul Bley, Natalie Cole
Pianist Paul Bley died on Sunday. He was 83. His family announced his death through ECM Records … Natalie Cole died last Saturday at the age of 65. At first, she was reluctant to become a professional singer for fear of comparison with the success of her father … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-01-05
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They Want To Move Some Partitions At The Paris Opera, And Tout Paris Is Upset
“Last October, when word first got out about the project to enlarge the central boxes at Paris’s beloved 19th-century opera house, the Palais Garnier, by removing 12 damask-covered partitions, an indignant cry went up that was soon heard around the world. Since then, the scandal … has consumed and divided Paris opera fans, and raised alarm as far away as San Francisco.”
Italy Says It Will Spend €300 Million On Cultural Projects
“The funds will be available immediately for the 241 projects, which includes the renovation of palaces, including Rome’s Palazzo Venezia, galleries, museums and libraries across Italy, the minister said in a statement.”
Paris Museums See Attendance Drop Linked To Terror Attacks
Attendance at the Musée d’Orsay was down 1% in 2015; at the Louvre, down 7%; at the Musée de l’Orangerie, 4%. “A major factor was the cancellation – both after the attacks of Nov. 13 and those of last January – of thousands of class trips from schools in the city and suburbs.”
Shakespeare’s Globe’s New Artistic Director Will Aim For 50-50 Gender Balance In Casting
“The fact that just 16% of Shakespeare’s characters are women – and that most of the memorable lines are spoken by men – will not stop Emma Rice’s mission … ‘There is no reason why Gloucester can’t be a woman. ‘If anybody bended gender it was Shakespeare, so I think it just takes a change of mindset.'”
28 Authors On The Books That Changed Their Lives
“We asked a number of writers across the board – from Eileen Myles to David Mitchell to Chuck Palahniuk to Alexander Chee to leading genre authors – about the books that changed their lives. Here’s what they had to say, in their own words.”
Ancient Egyptian Shrines, Once Thought Destroyed, Reveal Six New Statues
“A team of archaeologists in Egypt has discovered six rock cut statues inside two adjoining shrines, previously believed to be completely destroyed by an earthquake that shook the region centuries ago.”
‘Hamilton’ $10 Ticket Lottery Goes Online, Crashes From High Demand
“‘Service Unavailable. Please try again later.’ That’s what potential ticket buyers saw on the new website set up to handle the Hamilton discount lottery for much of its first day, Jan. 5. The site returned briefly at 4 PM, but went down again after a reported total of 50,000 applicants rushed the site for the 21 available seats in the front row.”