Matthew Westphal – Page 2010 – ArtsJournal Wayback

Carolyn See, Longtime Washington Post Book Critic, Retires

“See, who celebrated her 80th birthday earlier this year, has been championing great books and wittily skewering bad ones for decades. (Her first review – of C.Y. Lee’s China Saga – ran in The Washington Post on Sept. 3, 1987.)”

Broadway Will See Its First Black Cinderella

“Apparently, being the youngest person in television history to host her own talk show wasn’t enough. Actress Keke Palmer will be making history yet again when she takes the Broadway stage in the title role of Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” beginning Sept. 9.

Metropolitan Opera Forecasts ‘Significantly Larger’ Deficit This Year

“Last year’s $2.8 million deficit followed a backlash to an increase in ticket prices that, along with superstorm Sandy, hurt box-office sales. The latest disclosure document, dated July 25, attributes this year’s deficit to a decline in charitable contributions.”

Rupert Murdoch Drops Attempt To Take Over Time Warner

“He was put off both by Time Warner’s apparent hostility to the prospect of the deal and by the response of his own shareholders, who have been driving the price of Fox’s stock down since news of the offer broke, fearing he would overpay to secure victory.”

Steve Post, 70, NYC’s Gloriously Grumpy Classical Radio Host

Possibly the most brilliant, and surely the funniest, on-air fundraiser public radio has ever had, Post was (in the words of a WNYC executive) “a world-class curmudgeon whose irreverence and iconoclasm have entertained audiences and appalled radio station managers for four decades.”

Critic Launches Foundation To Support And Commission American Music

“Lawrence A. Johnson, a Chicago music critic, got tired of complaining that musical organizations were not performing enough American music and decided to do something about it. Mr. Johnson, the founder of The Classical Review, a group of websites with Chicago, Boston, New York and Florida editions, … [has founded] the American Music Project, a nonprofit foundation that hopes to put a brighter spotlight on the American repertory, old and new, and to commission new works.”

Fantasy Football For Art Critics: Holland Cotter Imagines His Dream Show

Well, more of a memory show – the New York Times‘ chief art critic imagines an exhibition of paintings, sculptures, buildings, books, and other objects that “have altered the atmosphere [and] changed how I see.”

Sacramento Philharmonic And Opera Cancel Fall Season

“The decision follows months of financial uncertainty for the Sacramento Region Performing Arts Alliance, the organization formed last year when the philharmonic merged with the Sacramento Opera. … It remains unclear whether its musicians will return to the stage in the spring of 2015.”

Sony Gives Up Manufacturing E-Readers

Having already abandoned its e-book stores for North America and Europe, the tech giant announced that it will stop producing e-reading hardware because it isn’t “economically viable”. … “Sony will instead focus on the Japanese e-reading market and in particular business customers.”

Author: Matthew Westphal