The Nightingale, a new musical “adapted from the Hans Christian Andersen story, is set in ancient China but features a multi-ethnic cast of mostly non-Asians. The lead role of a Chinese ruler is played by a white actor.” While artistic director Christopher Ashley is “sympathetic with the need for more Asian Americans in theater, … [he says] Asian Americans have benefited from the company’s use of color-blind casting in the past.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
What’s The Attraction Of Existentialism? The Thrills!
“The popular appeal of existentialism lies more in its sense of drama than in careful analysis and argument. As [Adam] Gopnik exclaims: ‘Philosophers? They [Sartre and Camus] were performers with vision, who played on the stage of history.'”
Second City Tries Joint Venture With Lyric Opera Of Chicago
“Can the singers of grand opera forge a creative partnership with the improvisers of sketch comedy? The powers that be at both Lyric Opera of Chicago and The Second City are about to find out as they embark on a collaboration at the Civic Opera House.”
Mose Allison, Eddie Palmieri Among NEA’s 2013 Jazz Masters
“Saxophonist Lou Donaldson, pianist-songwriter Mose Allison and Latin jazz bandleader Eddie Palmieri join the owner of New York City’s Village Vanguard, Lorraine Gordon, as recipients of the honor, which includes a $25,000 prize.”
New Jersey Symphony CEO Heads Down Under
“The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has appointed another executive from an American orchestra as its managing director to succeed Matthew VanBesien, who has taken up the plum role as chief executive at the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. André Gremillet, a Canadian, has been CEO of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 2007 and, like VanBesien, has a great fund-raising record.”
Celebrities And Twitter: A Minefield (Though An Amusing One)
“Celebrities have traditionally used handlers and publicists to protect them from fans and from themselves. But Twitter’s ability to connect them directly to their audiences has made it the garbage dump of choice for their every opinion and non sequitur. … But quit as they might, many celebrities leave Twitter only to find they can’t stay away.”
What It’s Like To Interview Fiona Shaw
“Her words keep hurtling off through exclamations, exhortations, then collapsing in laughter. She revises herself regularly, shouting into my dictaphone: ‘Don’t write that!’ She worries about anything that might come across as pretentious on the page, but in the flesh she is fast and funny.”
Let’s Banish Required Repertoire From Piano Competitions
“Programming is a telling thing, and given free reign [sic], what a pianist chooses to play is often as revealing as the way he/she plays it. … But let us dispense with this traditional notion of the ‘well-rounded’ pianist. … Having a world filled with pianists who can all play the range of repertoire considered ‘standard’ in an inoffensive fashion does nothing to further the musical industry or the art form.”
Orchestre De La Suisse Romande Fires Its New Managing Director
With a terse two-line statement, the Geneva orchestra announced that Miguel Esteban, a co-founder and former manager of the Verbier Festival who began a five-year contract term in January, “no longer exercises [his] functions.”
University Of Missouri Press Will Keep Operating, But With Student Labor
Widespread anger and concern greeted the May announcement that, due to budgetary issues, the academic publisher would be closed. “A news release that the university circulated this week announcing plans for a new publishing operation seemed only to intensify the venom.”