Complicité’s Simon McBurney, Improbable’s Phelim McDermott, Kneehigh’s Emma Rice (who takes over Shakespeare’s Globe next April), and Told by an Idiot’s Paul Hunter talk about the unusual approaches they use – and which Shakespeare plays they do and don’t get encouraged to stage.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Is Nefertiti Buried In Tutankhamun’s Tomb? This Archaeologist Thinks So
“With the help of a sophisticated radar, [Nicholas] Reeves aims to prove Nefertiti is buried there in a hidden chamber of the young pharaoh’s underground tomb that long hid the most fabulous treasure ever discovered in Egypt.”
Chicago Symphony Musicians, Board Ratify Three-Year Contract
“Following one of the longest and hardest-fought series of collective bargaining sessions in recent Chicago Symphony Orchestra history, the musicians finally have a new labor contract.” The agreement includes small raises each year and no change in health care benefits.
‘I Just Knew I Would Never Stop Tap Dancing’ – New MacArthur Fellow Michelle Dorrance
“I knew it was possible because our masters die with their shoes on. … You dance until your 90s. … To be able to be a dancer and a musician at the same time, there’s nothing like it.” (audio)
How Billy Crystal’s One Five-Minute Scene Nearly Derailed ‘The Princess Bride’
Mandy Patinkin came away with a bruise, and for some takes Cary Elwes had to be replaced with a mannequin.
Sale Of Harmonia Mundi Record Label Finalized
The acquisition by the Brussels-based indie rock label group PIAS, effective Oct. 1, includes all of Harmonia Mundi’s subsidiary labels, catalogues, inventory and other assets in classical, jazz, and world music, but not HM’s book publishing business or retail outlets.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 09.29.15
Phil Woods, 1931-2015
Phil Woods died today, less than a month after he announced his retirement from playing. He was 83. Woods’ longtime drummer Bill Goodwin told me this afternoon that the veteran alto saxophonist “went out on his own terms,” … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-09-29
Girls Growing Up Black
How fast their feet are! Skittering, stepping, bouncing up and down, kicking out those feet, six women dance as if the ground itself is both untrustworthy territory and something that needs mastering. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2015-09-29
Postminimalism Takes Finland
The Fifth International Conference of Minimalist Music, in Turku and Helsinki (harbor above), Finland, was a smashing success. I ate sautéed reindeer and plenty of herring. We ended up Sunday night with only a few people left in the upstairs bar at the Torni Hotel, … read more
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2015-09-29
Monday Recommendation: Playboy Swings
For sixty years, Hugh Hefner and his Playboy magazine have been easy targets for lampoon and parody. With their fixation on the care and feeding of the male libido, they have attracted plenty of both. But there has always been more to Playboy than preoccupation with sex. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-09-28
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MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ Winners For 2015 Include Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michelle Dorrance, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Nicole Eisenman, Basil Twist
“When puppeteer Basil Twist got the call in the middle of rehearsal for his new show, he bristled. ‘I was like, ‘Who is this, a bill collector?””
What Music Critics Want (Allan Kozinn Explains)
“Have I mentioned that one thing a critic learns, over time, is that there is not a single Right Way to hear music? … And that brings us to the slippery notion of taste. No matter what critics may assert, taste is both individual and fluid. Yes, there are rules and standards separating the tasteful from the crude, and in theory, there are absolutes and boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed. But if you listen long enough, you’ll hear a good many of them crossed after all.”
Dallas Museum Of Art Director Resigns For New Job In New York
“Maxwell Anderson, director of the Dallas Museum of Art since 2012, made public Monday what he told the board of directors last week: He is resigning, effective immediately, to take an executive position with the New Cities Foundation in New York City.”