“The venue wasn’t programming its nearly 3,000-seat main stage during the better part of the week. So simply adding more shows to the lineup was one of the first items on the to-do list of president and CEO John Schreiber, who took over in July 2011. ‘There was a canard out there that people didn’t want to come to Newark during the week. That’s not true,’ he said.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Redemption Of Ben Affleck
As the once-again-hot actor-director says now about his low-water-mark, “People bring up 2003, and I get it. Jennifer Lopez, and Gigli, and all this shit just kind of blew up. But, you know, in 2003, Barack Obama was a state senator in Illinois! OK?”
Fabio Luisi: Don’t Count On Me To Step In For Levine Again
The Italian maestro saved the Met’s bacon – sometimes breaking contracts to do so – repeatedly over the past couple of seasons when ailing Met music director James Levine withdrew from performances on short notice. Now that Levine seems to be back, Luisi indicates that he will have to honor his existing commitments, even if Levine should fall ill again.
Hand Over The Kafka Papers, Israeli Court Orders Sisters
“A collection of manuscripts written by Franz Kafka and Max Brod will finally be transferred from private hands to the Israeli National Library in Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv District Family Court ruled on Friday, bringing an end to a long and complicated legal proceeding.”
Getting Canadians Comfortable With Homegrown Musicals
With only two exceptions (Martin Guerre and The Drowsy Chaperone), the few attempts at creating big musicals in the Great White North over the decades have generally flopped or fizzled. Says Martin Guerre‘s author, “Musical theatre is not a Canadian art form. It’s a Broadway art form or it’s … a British tradition.” (Canadians may lack the brashness the form requires.) But there are a few theatres trying to change that.
Why Internet Trolls Troll (And Precisely What Is Trolling, Anyway?)
“Given … the push for legislation to combat such behaviors (despite the fact that no one can seem to agree on exactly which behaviors the category of ‘trolling’ subsumes), it is critical to interrogate where the term comes from and the ways in which discussions of trolling butt up against questions of anonymity, safety, and aggression online.”
The Most Unexpectedly Influential TV Shows Of The Past 25 Years
A quarter-century ago, who would have suspected that, for instance, a cartoon could have the impact that The Simpsons has had on American culture?
Israel Sinfonietta, Back From The Brink
Conductor Doron Salomon came to the Beersheva orchestra “in 2005 when it was almost bankrupt, in financial collapse … without a musical director, without a home concert hall worthy of the name.” In seven years, he’s turned the band “into a likable chamber orchestra with a lovely sound, a lively and enthusiastic presence on the stage and the ability to attract an audience.”
Want To Read New Nobel Laureate Mo Yan? Here’s Where To Start
Sabina Knight, a scholar specializing in contemporary Chinese literature, offers an intro.
Using Glengarry Glen Ross To Teach Ethics
“A political science course took a Marxist view, discussing the work as an emblem of the dark side of capitalism. A philosophy course on existentialism examined the way the characters lost sight of their true selves. Business professors focused on both the ethical and practical problems of the office depicted in the play.”