“[Brian McCarty] was shocked to find an altered version of his photograph Cinderella photoshopped with the terrorist group’s flag. … The [altered] text reads, ‘Even if war destroys everything, the Islamic sign and state is protected and will never fall down.'”
Author: Matthew Westphal
North Korea Now Runs A Cheesy Museum At Cambodia’s Angkor Temples
“On Dec. 4, North Korea’s government officially debuted its Angkor Panorama Museum in Cambodia, one of Kim Jong Un’s few foreign allies. The display was created by members of a 4,000-person ‘work unit’ devoted to deifying the Kim dynasty through statues, panoramas and other propaganda pieces. … But this exhibit instead glorifies Cambodia’s ancient Khmer kingdom.”
Where Frida Kahlo Got Her Sartorial Style
“‘Mi vestido soy yo,’ Frida Kahlo used to say – my clothing is me. … Kahlo’s look was inspired by the traditional clothes of the Tehuantepec region of southeast Mexico, where women often earn more money than their husbands and administer the family assets.” (photo journal)
In Theatre, Necessity Really Can Be The Mother Of Invention
Lyn Gardner: “Complicite’s early shows evolved as much from a lack of resources as they did from a particular aesthetic, and it’s been the same with plenty of other companies, from Improbable and Kneehigh to Little Bulb and Action Hero. That’s not an argument for artists starving in garrets or being unable to access subsidy and investment … But it is a reminder that need can be a spur to creativity and make artists think about different ways of making theatre.”
And What Was This Year’s Drama At La Scala’s Opening Night?
“It looked like the first night of La Scala’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Joan of Arc had gone off without a hitch.” But no. On a backstage audio recording later broadcast on national radio, “‘I’m here, congratulations maestro, really congratulations,’ Leiser can be heard saying in English. After a pause, he then screams ‘asshole’.”
Director Of Royal Opera In London To Step Down
“Kasper Holten, the Royal Opera’s director of opera since 2011, has announced he will leave Covent Garden in 2017 in order to be closer to family in Denmark. … The departure appears to be entirely amicable.”
West End’s ‘Charlie And The Chocolate Factory’ Coming To Broadway Without Its Director
Sam Mendes – best known in the US as a film director (American Beauty and the James Bond films Spectre and Skyfall) – said, “I knew I couldn’t marry the time commitment to make a Broadway production with the development of my next projects.”
‘Flesh And Bone’ Star Says Ballet Teachers Told Her To Get Breast Reduction
Sarah Hay, whose regular gig is with the ballet at the Semperoper Dresden, says that when she was studying in New York, “I had a lot of controversy about my figure.” One teacher even pulled her offstage, told her, “Your breasts are distracting me,” and gave her a sports bra to put on.
Ballet Hispanico Eliminates Its Executive Director
The 45-year-old company “announced Wednesday that Eduardo Vilaro, its artistic director since 2009, would become its chief executive officer as well. … [He] has experience running both the artistic and managerial sides of a company: he served in both roles for the Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago, which he founded in 1999.”
Margaret Atwood Takes Up Writing Superhero Comics
From her announcement: “Due to some spilled genetic Super-Splicer, our hero got tangled up with both a cat and an owl; hence his fur and feathers, and his identity problems. … Angel Catbird is a humorous, action-driven, pulp-inspired story. And the only other thing I can tell you at this early date is to expect a lot of cat puns.”