Bass-baritone Hao Jiang Tian gathered “20 emerging American and European singers … [to spend] a month learning to sing in contemporary Chinese operas as part of [his] I Sing Beijing program.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
When A Bare Stage Fills The Theater
“Theatergoers, especially the kind who regard Broadway as Mecca, expect their seats to come with a breathtaking view. I mean of scenic scenery that gives its own spectacular performance … But for me, the most visually magical productions are often those in which the stage is a blank canvas, waiting to be written upon by the performers who inhabit it.” Ben Brantley offers some examples and asks readers for more.
Designing A Mobile Performance Hall For Quake-Struck Japan
Sculptor Anish Kapoor and architect Arata Isozaki are “designing a mobile concert hall to bring music and arts to the region of Japan hit by March’s earthquake and tsunami. The hall, seating up to 700 spectators, will be a ‘pneumatic structure’ so that it can be inflated quickly with air.”
A New Wave Of Kurosawa Remakes Is In The Works
“The remake rights to the lion’s share of his movies and unproduced screenplays have been granted by the Akira Kurosawa 100 Project to the Los Angeles-based company Splendent … [The] last time Hollywood directors paid sustained attention to his films, they helped revolutionise Hollywood film-making.”
A New Building And A New Era At Curtis Institute
“The 105,000-square-foot building, in the 1600 block of Locust Street, bridges a facilities gap between Curtis and other schools, giving it dormitories for half its 160 or so students, a cafeteria, additional chamber music rehearsal rooms, teaching studios, and a climate-controlled vault for rare instruments.”
How The National Theatre Keeps Producing Hits
The key is “an extraordinary safety net provided by the British government: an annual subsidy that today provides 28 percent of the National’s income: £19.6 million.” NT director Nicholas Hytner says that support is crucial “because we knew we could create work that we believed in without worrying 24 hours a day about ticket sales like so many American theaters have to.”
Neil LaBute And Theresa Rebeck Want To Write A Play For You, Live!
“And on Tuesday, they’ll be doing just that – writing a play, together, in real time in front of you on Culture Monster. … LaBute and Rebeck won’t know what they’re writing about before they start. We’ve put together some characters and scenarios, and we’d like you to vote for your favorite.”
Head Of America’s Newest Center For Dance Is Very, Very Excited
Frank L. Sonntag of the new Cowles Center in Minneapolis: [We’ll be] “raising dance to a level that’s been enjoyed by music and theater here for a very long time, providing a venue that is discipline-specific, and just wait until you see it. This is going to be one of the finest venues in the whole world for dance, with amenities that [dance] artists usually have to make do without.”
In Tough Times, Milwaukee Symphony Balances Budget
“A substantial increase in contributed revenue made it possible for the MSO to balance the budget. Fueled by two challenge grants, the MSO received $12.1 million in contributed income for fiscal year 2011, a 13.8% increase over 2010.” That figure included “the highest amount of contributed revenue raised for operations in its history: $8,074,972.”
George Kuchar, 69, Godfather Of Campy Underground Film
“With titles such as I Was a Teenage Rumpot (1960), Hold Me While I’m Naked (1966), The Devil’s Cleavage (1975) and Insanitorium (1987), Mr. Kuchar’s films have been labeled campy, avant-garde, underground and simply indescribable. He used friends, relatives and students as actors, hastily constructed props and shot in whatever shabby locations he could find.”