A former child star, Reynolds directed many episodes of classic 1960s American sitcoms and went on to create and produce three of the best-known and well-regarded series of the ’70s: Room 222, M*A*S*H, and Lou Grant. – The New York Times
Author: Matthew Westphal
Coronavirus Outbreak Leads Washington’s National Symphony To Cancel Three Concerts In China
Said the NSO’s executive director, “The combination of warnings from the State Department and the CDC, and our flights were canceled; there was no way to get there and no way to get home.” The orchestra’s March tour will still include five concerts in Japan. – The Washington Post
After Two Decades, Director Who Transformed Alberta Ballet Will Step Down
“Alberta Ballet’s longest-serving artistic director, Jean Grand-Maître, will step down after a three-year transition period that will see him passing the torch to [company ballet master] Christopher Anderson by 2022.” – Calgary Herald
America’s First Drag Queen, And First Gay Resistance Leader, Was A Freed Slave
“His name was William Dorsey Swann, but to his friends he was known as ‘the Queen.’ … Beginning in the 1880s, he not only became the first American activist to lead a queer resistance group; he also became, in the same decade, the first known person to dub himself a ‘queen of drag’ — or, more familiarly, a drag queen.” – The Nation
The Obama Portraits: The Book, The Traveling Exhibition, T-Shirts, Coasters, Umbrella…
With 23 items exploiting the portraits currently arrayed for sale on the NPG’s website, the Smithsonian’s merchandising masterminds have found a way to turn an uplifting event into something bordering on tacky. (The book is very good, though.) – Lee Rosenbaum
Recent Listening: Lyn Stanley Revisits Julie London
Los Angeles singer Lyn Stanley frequently appears in L.A. with a big band of Swing Era veterans. But in this recording, her accompanists are six of Southern California’s busiest veteran players of modern jazz. – Doug Ramsey
Immersive Theatre Began As Innovative, Serious Art. Has It Sold Out?
“What was still considered a left-field artistic proposition a decade ago, popularised by the likes of Punchdrunk and dreamthinkspeak, has become one of theatre’s biggest commercial money-makers. Now, dozens of events across the UK are riding on the immersive gravy train.” – The Observer (UK)
Thanks To The Claw, Philadelphia Has Become A Literary Hotbed
The Claw, founded by authors Carmen Maria Machado and Liz Moore, “is comprised of 19 published and professional fiction and nonfiction writers. Not unlike a book club, it meets roughly once a month, usually at one of the members’ homes. Over glasses of wine, the women ask for advice, offer feedback, and discuss what they’re writing at the moment — or just whatever’s occupying their minds.” Says one member, “What you see in Philly’s literary community is that women have decided to take the lead here.” – Philadelphia Magazine
A First Look At The New, Non-Robbins Choreography For Broadway’s ‘West Side Story’
“Though her work has evolved beyond the minimalist choreography that first garnered her critical notice in the 1980s, [Anne Teresa] De Keersmaeker remains a formalist. Throughout this production, she makes ingenious use of traveling wedge formations, each gang shaped loosely into a triangle with their leader at the point, as they circle, stalk, intimidate, and prepare to pounce. [Director Ivo] van Hove says that De Keersmaeker’s facility in moving groups of bodies around a stage is partly why he chose her to choreograph this musical, as it is one in which ‘groups are really important.'” – American Theatre
Scholar And Author George Steiner Dead At 90
“An essayist, fiction writer, teacher, scholar and literary critic … Mr. Steiner both dazzled and dismayed his readers with the range and occasional obscurity of his literary references.” As one New York Times critic wrote, “His bracing virtue has been his ability to move from Pythagoras, through Aristotle and Dante, to Nietzsche and Tolstoy in a single paragraph. His irritating vice has been that he can move from Pythagoras, through Aristotle and Dante, to Nietzsche and Tolstoy in a single paragraph.” – The New York Times