This year, there’s “a small cluster of pictures that will try to defy modern economic forces in the movie industry; they will bring realistic stories about recognizable characters in a familiar world to major studio schedules, at the height of the summer blockbuster season. It is a daring step.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Anthony Roth Costanzo, Janai Brugger Among Winners of Operalia 2012
“Soprano Janai Brugger, who recently graduated from L.A. Opera’s Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program, took home three awards – the first-place prize, a zarzuela prize and an audience award.” The other two winners of the $30,000 first prize were fast-rising New York countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and Mongolian baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat.
‘Exit, Pursued By A Bear’ And Its Spawn: In Praise Of Impossible Stage Directions
“The modern winner among challenging stage directions is generally held to be ‘They cross the Andes’, in Peter Shaffer’s 1964 play The Royal Hunt of the Sun.” Yet, observes Mark Lawson, “even the most notoriously difficult stage directions … are actually less daunting than they look.”
A Typical Sophie Calle Dilemma: Should She Be Buried At Montparnasse Or In California?
“Death figures large in the work of Ms. Calle, widely acclaimed as France’s leading conceptual artist, and occupies an important place in her life. She celebrates it in style – her own, her mother’s, that of strangers and pets – along with birthdays and moments of amorous rupture.”
Fans Worldwide Unite To Give Ai Weiwei The Finger
Riffing on one of Ai’s more notorious pieces, which included photos of himself flipping off Tiananmen Square and Beijing’s Olympic Stadium, the producers of the recent documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry are “inviting fans of the artist to submit photographs of themselves giving a middle-finger salute to symbols of injustice … The photos will be assembled into a mosaic and given to Ai upon his release” from house arrest this month.
Forget Swan Lake – How About A Ballet With Actual Swans?
French choreographer Luc Petton and his dance company, called Le Guetteur, were given some swan eggs a couple of years ago by a zoo. As the cygnets hatched and grew, they bonded with the dancers, who often tried imitating their movements. This led, of course, to an inter-species dance piece.
Notorious Siamese-Twins Musical To Be ‘Re-Imagined’
“Side Show was one of those artistic ventures that, adored by musical theater enthusiasts but shunned by the less ardent of Broadway’s fans, failed to catch on.” Now the show, about a pair of real-life conjoined twins who became circus stars during the Great Depression, is “getting another chance at broadening its base” with a reworking by its creators slated for San Diego and Washington DC beginning next year.
‘Singapore’s Banksy’ Gets Arrested (Unsurprisingly) – But Singaporeans Clamor To Defend Her
“In Hoxton or New York, it might be regarded as commonplace – witty stencils and stickers posted by an artist around public spaces. In Singapore, however, a city obsessed with order and where ‘vandals’ can be flogged, 27-year-old Samantha Lo – the so-called ‘Sticker Lady’ – has inspired a massive online campaign after being arrested for posting stickers.”
Rome’s Trevi Fountain Of Trevi Crumbling From Lack Of Maintenance
“Ornate stucco reliefs have crumbled from the Trevi fountain, Rome’s baroque masterpiece, making it the latest in a series of Italian monuments to suffer damage and reigniting a row over Italy’s commitment to protect its heritage.”
Rachel Browne, 77, Founder Of Canada’s Oldest Modern Dance Company
“The trailblazing performer, choreographer and teacher founded Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers (WCD) in 1964 and its affiliated school in 1972. She became an influential artist on a national scale.”