Reynold Levy’s They Told Me Not to Take That Job: Tumult, Betrayal, Heroics, and the Transformation of Lincoln Center “may not quite reach you’ll-never-eat-lunch-in-this-town-again levels but could make for some awkward encounters.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Defending British Dance Training: If It’s So Bad, Why Do So Many People Come To Work Here?
In response to serious criticism from three major choreographers of the quality of UK-trained contemporary dancers, Judith Mackrell considers the nature and purpose of the dance education on offer – and allows as how British dance is healthy enough that lots of artists from elsewhere want to be part of it.
Defending British Dance Training: Well, Everybody Seems To Like Our Choreographers
Kevin O’Hare, artistic director of the Royal Ballet: “Look at Benjamin Millepied’s first season for the Paris Opera. He’s got Wayne McGregor, Chris Wheeldon and Liam Scarlett involved, and Arthur Pita. In Britain, we’ve got choreographers that people around the world want.”
Food Has Now Become A Category Of Media Celebrity, Like Actresses
“Celebrity profiles are infamous, at this point, for their distinctive combination of erudition and ennui. Their adjective-happy explorations of hot-lady celebrities … treat their subjects like ‘irreducible mysteries, floating so high above the mortal (male) writers that they can only be described in terms of their effects.’ … Celebritized food profiles – celebrations of, among other things, actual rump roasts – treat their own subjects with a similar mingling of mysticism and frustrated desire.”
Dudamel And Rattle Have Some Competition In The Brilliant-Maestro-With-Wild-Hair Category
David Patrick Stearns meets Stéphane Denève: “I used to have my hair short, but then I neglected my hair, and that’s how it came to be longer. Later, I wanted to cut my hair, but my agent said, ‘No, no, no. It’s now a recognizable package, and I’m selling the whole package.’ … There’s a study to be done on conductors and hair.”
John Cameron Mitchell – He And Hedwig Have Both Changed A Lot Over 20 Years
“Sitting on his upholstered couch in his rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan’s West Village, we talk about being an openly gay actor in the ’80s, the healing that comes with watching parents age and why he says [his late ex-boyfriend] Jack was the best man he ever knew.” (podcast)
It Had To Happen: Author Of ‘So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed’ Gets Twitter-Shamed
And it was over a passage that didn’t even make it into the published version of the book. Laura Miller explains the what and how.
‘I Do Bad Sex Very Well. In Life And In The Novel Form’: Gary Shteyngart Interviews Adam Thirlwell
Thirlwell: “In [my novels] Politics and The Escape, these grand themes of history and politics were mischievously seen as equivalent to more apparently minor problems like sleeping arrangements in a threesome, or premature ejaculation.
Shteyngart: “But premature ejaculation and politics intersect quite a bit.”
Thirlwell: “Well that’s certainly true.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 04.15.15
Overserved
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-04-15
‘One-Way Ticket’s’ Missed Connection: Lawrence’s ‘Migration’ Show at MoMA Bypasses a Crucial Stop
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-04-15
Not Since Robbins
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-04-15
Just Because: Dave Frishberg And Friends
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-04-15
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What Went Wrong At NBC News (What Didn’t?)
“Brian Williams’s fabrication was just the latest, and worst, of the debacles that have plagued NBC News since NBCUniversal was bought by Comcast in 2011. Who is to blame?”