“In the three months since its reopening” following a long and troubled $700 million renovation, “performers have criticised the renovation, audiences booed its operatic premiere and complained about ticket prices, two Bolshoi ballet stars decamped to a rival theatre and other dancers suffered injuries.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Bolshoi Ballet Academy To See First U.S. Graduate
This spring, Joy Womack, a 17-year-old from California and Texas, becomes the first American to complete the famously rigorous training program that produces the Bolshoi’s Russian dancers. She says, “The technique and the artistry and the passion is something that is worth moving thousands of miles away.”
Patricia Neway, 92, Soprano Star Of Opera And Broadway Stages
For 15 years a principal at New York City Opera, Neway was particularly known for her work in contemporary operas. Her two most famous triumphs, both on Broadway, were as Magda Sorel in Menotti’s opera The Consul and as the Mother Superior in the original run of The Sound of Music.
Philadelphia Orchestra Expects Early Exit From Bankruptcy
Despite a 90-day extension of bankruptcy protection, orchestra management “expects a plan of reorganization to be filed with the court in February, with an exit from bankruptcy in late April or early May.”
Dancing About Israel’s Perpetual Wagner Wars On The Dance Stage
In The Misinterpretation of the Ring, or Hacking Wagner, choreographer Saar Magal (the grandchild of Holocaust survivors) “put[s] on stage the argument about hearing Wagner – and the whole issue of artistic-political censorship – as well as the issue of tendentious art, since the Nazis misused his music.”
Monogamy Leads To More Prosperous Societies, Say Researchers
“It would be easier for men in the top 1% to support 3 wives, at least financially, than for a man in the lowest quartile of earners to support one. … Yet in much of the world, particularly the wealthier parts, monogamy – albeit with cheating around the edges – has flourished. Why?”
The Artist Who Throws Herself At Men (Literally)
“There is [Lily] McElroy, all five feet and three inches of her, leaping through the air, her skirt in a state of disarray, turning an idiom into reality. Other bar dwellers look stunned, annoyed, or amused as one of McElroy’s friends takes a picture.”
Asia Society Expands From New York To Houston And Hong Kong
“Even as cultural organizations around the country contract because of the economic downturn, Asia Society is pushing against the tide with two new multimillion-dollar buildings, one of which opens in Hong Kong next week, the other in Houston this spring.”
Musicians Drop Unfair Claim Against Louisville Orchestra
“The Louisville musicians union has withdrawn its charge of unfair labor practices against the Louisville Orchestra board and management, saying it wants to work on resolving the problems.”
The Puritan Work Ethic And American Attitudes Toward Fiction
Laura Miller writes that there’s a deep-seated prejudice in the collective American mind – especially with respect to educating children – against enjoying fiction purely for pleasure: one should always be able to find in a story some lesson or moral; the goal should always be some sort of self-improvement.