Charles McNulty: “I’m going to respect the tacit wishes of Mamet and not review the play as I would if it had had an official press opening. A work that’s still being tinkered with before it’s shipped to New York deserves the chance to evolve in peace even if it’s charging $50 a ticket to L.A. theatergoers. But the experience reminded me of what I admire about Mamet’s talent — the vigor and cunning of voices in all-out attack — and what I have found so off-putting since Oleanna — the stacking of the deck in ideological blood battles.” – Los Angeles Times
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Real Problem With That Open Letter Supporting The Fired Lyon Ballet Director Wasn’t Who Did Or Didn’t Agree To Sign It
“Unthinkingly defending one’s powerful friends has real-life consequences. What [illegally fired dancer Karline] Marion, and other dancers who may find themselves in a similar situation, will take away from this letter is that there is no winning against a well-connected director. Even if you gather the necessary evidence, play by the rules, and wait, the people you most admire may still call you crazy and obfuscate.” – Dance Magazine
Philadelphia Museum Of Art Retail Exec Abused And Hit Staffers For Two Years Before He Was Fired
“After [James A.] Cincotta was hired as the museum’s retail director in 2015, staffers who worked for him began reporting what they said was routinely abusive behavior. Cincotta slapped, punched, pinched, shoved, grabbed, and verbally berated workers, according to interviews with 14 current and former museum employees.” The museum investigated complaints against him in 2016, but he was not dismissed until 2018. – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Plácido Domingo Sexually Harassed And Abused Power For More Than 20 Years, Inquiry Finds
“The investigation, conducted by lawyers hired by the American Guild of Musical Artists, concluded that the accounts from 27 people showed a clear pattern of sexual misconduct and abuse of power by Domingo spanning at least two decades … when he held senior management positions at Washington National Opera and Los Angeles Opera.” (Domingo has now issued a statement saying “I am truly sorry for the hurt that I caused them.”) – Yahoo! (AP)
Italian Arts Venues Close And Venice Carnival Is Cancelled As Measures To Contain Coronavirus
Across northern Italy from Venice to Milan, theatres, cinemas, museums, and opera houses (including La Scala) have been ordered to stop operations for a week as cases of the disease spread. – Hyperallergic
Met Opera Orchestra To Tour For First Time In 18 Years
In late June and early July, music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead the orchestra in concerts at the Barbican in London, the Philharmonie de Paris, and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in Germany. The singers joining them will be Joyce DiDonato, Christine Goerke, Brandon Jovanovich, and Günther Groissböck. – Playbill
Remembering Tobi Tobias
Tobi was among the first group of writers I invited to blog on ArtsJournal. I had read her for years and appreciated her elegance, clarity and erudition. Though her judgments were crisp, they were never made lightly. She knew the art deeply and it informed her judgments. – Douglas McLennan
In Memoriam: Tobi Tobias (1938-2020)
Alongside the the wonderful, illuminating dance criticism she wrote for decades, she wrote wonderfully well about fashion, and only when I became a mother did I realize that while Tobi was raising her offspring, she was writing dozens of children’s books. – Deborah Jowitt
From caftan to opera hat: the greatest living playwright takes on the Jewish bourgeoisie and its destruction
There’s something a bit ho-hum, mean and pinched about the reception of Sir Tom Stoppard’s new (and, he says, perhaps final play), Leopoldstadt. – Paul Levy
How Pianist Igor Levit Hacked The Attention Economy And Made Himself Into A ‘Thought Leader’
“Levit’s career is a stark demonstration of the dissolving boundaries between art and commerce, journalism and public relations, particularly in Germany. … He is a friend to media personalities and politicians. Journalists ask his opinion on climate change, the rise of the far right, books, the ideal body weight. He works with artists and comedians, performs at the Bundestag in Berlin and for the Greens. In England, he’s enraged Brexiteers; in the U.S., he’s ‘The Pianist of the Resistance.'” His media presence has reached the critical mass at which coverage leads inexorably to more coverage.” – Van