“It’s been only three weeks since I announced that Moyers & Company would end, as originally planned, on January 3. … What I could not anticipate was the response of our viewers … We received thousands of well-written and heartfelt messages. … Our funders also weighed in with an equally simple but passionate message: keep going.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
This Magic Flute Is A High-Tech-Vaudeville-Expressionist-Cartoon Extravaganza
The Berlin-L.A.-Minnesota co-production by Barrie Kosky and experimental British troupe 1927 “is an interactive, nontraditional reinvention that combines live performance and hand-drawn animation; it weaves throughout visual references to silent films of the 1920s and 1930s, specifically the comedy of Buster Keaton and the kitschy horror of the 1922 German Expressionist film Nosferatu.”
William Weaver, 90, Revered Italian-To-English Translator
“Before him, the professional translator was considered little better than a superior sort of typist. Weaver helped to bring the art of translation out of obscurity and give it a literary credence and recognition. His versions of Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco are models of exactitude and seamless craft.” (Eco said Weaver’s translation of The Name of the Rose was better than the original.)
China’s Longest, Raciest Piece Of Classical Pornography Appears In Unexpurgated English
Scholar David Tod Roy hs spent four decades translating The Plum in the Golden Vase, a 3,000-page 16th-century novel with a centuries-old reputation for both social realism and breathtaking raunch. “And Mr. Roy’s scholarly colleagues are no less awe-struck at his erudition, which seemingly leaves no literary allusion or cultural detail unannotated.”
Reviving “One Of The Most Curious Productions To Open On Broadway”
“[Bill] Condon, who wrote the movie version of Chicago and wrote and directed the Dreamgirls musical, is attempting to resuscitate” Side Show – “the bizarre true story of conjoined twins Violet and Daisy Hilton, set to the music of Henry Krieger and writer-lyricist Bill Russell.”
Revamp The Way You Hang Art, Rejuvenate Your Museum
When Matthias Waschek became director of the Worcester Art Museum two years ago, it was a conventional small-city museum conventionally fading away. In two years, he’s fundamentally changed the way the museum displays its art (less Met Museum, more Barnes Foundation) – and enlarged the donor base and increased attendance by 70%.
U.S. Ballerina Spells Out Allegations Of Bribery At Bolshoi
Joy Womack, the first American to graduate from the Bolshoi’s ballet academy and join the company, “described a deeply troubled organization in which casting decisions were based not only on talent but also on payoffs and personal relationships.”
A Cultural Boom – Privately Funded, Of Course – In Texas
“The arts in Texas are better than you might expect. Assuming, of course, you weren’t expecting much. The state’s cultural scene has developed later than in other major American centres but … no other part of the country has experienced an equivalent cultural boom, especially one largely funded and led by private individuals.”
A Battle Over Art’s Side Effects In A Tiny Texas Town
“A legal row over two art installations in Marfa, Texas, has reopened an old argument about the economics of the art in the town. While some say the community benefits from the tourism revenue that the works of art attract, others argue that local ranching families are being priced out of Marfa.”
Judge Throws Out Authors Guild Lawsuit Against Google Books
“U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan accepted Google’s argument that its scanning of more than 20 million books, and making ‘snippets’ of text available online, constituted ‘fair use’ under U.S. copyright law.”