“Opera audiences are used to seeing performances awash in spectacle. But they rarely get to glimpse the magic that occurs between shows — namely, ‘the changeover,’ when one production is taken down and another takes its place. ‘It’s like working a huge jigsaw puzzle,’ says Rupert Hemmings, director of production at Los Angeles Opera. ‘It may seem haphazard, but everything’s done in order’.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
He’s A Cranky Old Man: Maurice Sendak At 83
“I’m slowing up with age, I have much more contempt than I used to. … Mother Nature is a pain in the ass. She never knows when to stop. … When was the world supposed to end last, two months ago or whatever? It was a lovely thought.”
When ‘Do Not Litter’ Signs Make People Litter More
“Researchers in the Netherlands present evidence that if certain rules are clearly spelled out, and you note that others have been disregarding them, you’re more likely to break them as well. What’s more, you are also more likely to ignore an entirely different directive.”
Australia Should Give Its Artists More Work – With Tours To China
“With the emergence of a Chinese middle class, and the increasing liberalisation of public expression in various parts of South East Asia, we find ourselves entering into an era of what could, and should, be increasing cultural exchange with our immediate neighbourhood.”
Doing Good And Looking Good: Designing A New Housing Project In The Bronx
“The rebirth of the South Bronx isn’t news. But Via Verde is. And it makes as good an argument as any new building in the city for the cultural and civic value of architecture.”
New New York Times Architecture Critic Talks About His Mission
Michael Kimmelman: “I’m interested in urbanism, city planning, housing and social affairs, the environment and health, politics and culture – in all the ways we live, in other words, and not just in how buildings look or who designs them, although those things are inseparable from the rest.”
The Issues Raised By The New Phone-Hacking Play
“Glib or not, the project” – Hacked, a series of ten-minute plays based on volunteers’ voice-mail messages – “probes how it feels to discover that you’ve been hacked, and where the boundaries between public and private lie. The writers have taken these one-sided conversations and embroidered them to their own ends: the volunteers, in contrast, have no voice, nor right of reply.”
Getting To Know The Met’s New Heir Apparent
In a recent rehearsal, new Metropolitan Opera Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi “politely prefaced corrections with ‘I suggest’ and ‘May I ask a favor, please?’ But he made sure to get the changes that he wanted, even if they required several repetitions. After 90 minutes of efficient but painstaking rehearsal, he let the musicians go – an hour early.”
Ailey Co., New York City Center Sign 10-Year Deal
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has performed at New York City Center since 1971, but the arrangement has not been formalized until now: Both parties will announce Tuesday that the troupe will become the venue’s Principal Dance Company.”
Do We Live In An Especially Violent Age? Not At All.
Steven Pinker: “Believe it or not, the world of the past was much worse. Violence has been in decline for thousands of years, and today we may be living in the most peaceable era in the existence of our species.”