A badly miscast actor sinks an otherwise excellent production. Should a critic criticize the performer or the misguided director who cast him?
Author: Matthew Westphal
Why Do Authors Kill Off Their Characters?
“JK Rowling has confessed that halfway through the Potteriad, at a low point (it can’t, surely, have been money worries) she was tempted to rub out Ron Weasley. Her motive? ‘Sheer spite’, she says.” (She’s hardly the only one, either.)
Iranian Actress Released From Prison, Spared 90 Lashes
“Marzieh Vafamehr, who appeared with her head uncovered in the film My Tehran for Sale, was released from prison after her sentence of one year in prison and 90 lashes was overturned on appeal.”
Tokyo String Quartet To Lose Last Tokyo Members
“Two members of the Tokyo String Quartet , including its founding violist, will retire from the group at the end of next season, in June 2013 … The violist, Kazuhide Isomura, 65, helped start the quartet in 1969. Also leaving is the second violinist, Kikuei Ikeda, 64, who joined in 1974.” The remaining members are violinist Martin Beaver and cellist Clive Goldsmith.
Police Start To Crack Down On Bolshoi Ticket Scalpers
“[At] the Bolshoi Theater, which just reopened after a six-year shutdown for renovations, passions in the line at the box office got so hot that police had to intervene Monday” to stop scuffles between ballet fans who were waiting in line for hours and young toughs who appeared to be buying up tickets for scalpers.
Why, Exactly, Should Calling A Joint ‘Obama Fried Chicken’ Be Considered Racist?
A Bangladeshi immigrant in Brooklyn who opened a fast-food place he named after the President was mystified by the ensuing protests; he thought he was paying a compliment. Chicken restaurants in Hong Kong and China have had similar experiences. Yet, as Jesse Bering observes, “the issue of why, exactly, the juxtaposition is so verboten isn’t entirely clear, even to most [Americans].”
Fresh Breezes Are Whispering In The Funeral Industry
Funeral homes may be among the most staid and risk-averse of businesses, but a visit to this year’s industry expo indicated that some new ideas – environment-friendly fiberboard coffins, some printed with the departed’s name and photographs; custom-decorated coffins; “virtual tombs” online – are (just) beginning to catch on.
Trying To Shake Up The Staid Old Motion Picture Academy
“Dawn Hudson, the first person to hold a newly created post as the organization’s chief executive, has hung in more than twice as long” as the two months Bette Davis lasted as president. “But that does not mean Hollywood’s film academy is at ease with the latest strong-willed woman to promise what has always come hard for it: change.”
Ravenna Is Once Again A Hotbed Of Mosaic-Making (Just Like The Old Days)
The ancient Italian city “is home to a unique concentration of Christian mosaics from the fifth and sixth centuries … But Ravenna has also become the international center for contemporary mosaic, where artists from all over the world now come to study, exchange ideas and techniques, and showcase their works.”
MoMA Commissions ‘Installation’ For Radio City Music Hall
The Museum of Modern Art in New York has commissioned from Antony Hegarty, lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons, a new work called Swanlights, described as a “meditation on light, nature, and femininity.” The piece will include lightworks by artist Chris Levine and arrangements of Hegarty’s songs for a 60-piece orchestra.