Artistic director Edward Villella: “It’s the biggest success the company has had in 25 years. We are the talk of Paris. People are clamoring for tickets. They stop me in buses and restaurants. They have grabbed me in the aisles and told me they’ve never seen dancing like this.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Zahi Hawass Is Back – Again! – As Egypt’s Antiquities Chief (For Now)
The controversial minister of antiquities was fired this week – for the second time since the Tahrir Square revolution. But his designated successor withdrew after a rebellion by ministry employees, and now Hawass says he’s been asked to stay on the job.
Some Words Really Do Sound Bigger Than Others
New studies “suggest that we seem instinctively to link certain sounds with particular sensory perceptions. Some words really do evoke [Humpty Dumpty’s] ‘handsome’ rotundity. Others might bring to mind a spiky appearance, a bitter taste, or a sense of swift movement.”
Literally The Most Misused Word In The English Language
“It’s a word that has been misused by everyone from fashion stylist Rachel Zoe to President Obama, and linguists predict that it will continue to be led astray from its meaning. There is a good chance the incorrect use of the word eventually will eclipse its original definition.”
Demand-Based Ticket Pricing Catches On In Australia
“Melbourne Theatre Company, the Australian Ballet and Sydney Opera House last year started using dynamic pricing for selected shows. Sydney Theatre Company is likely to consider the idea after it upgrades its ticketing software next year, and Opera Australia is expected to reintroduce the system for its next season.”
Pittsburgh Symphony Runs $3M Debt Over Two Years
“Despite getting more sales tax money than any Allegheny County performing arts group for years, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra lost about $3 million in 2009 and 2010.”
The Man Who Tried To Revive The Ballets Russes
“As director of the Théâtre de Monte-Carlo,” René Blum “tried to rebuild the Ballets Russes of his friend Diaghilev after he died in 1929. Blum poured his energy and money into the company, renamed it the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, but was plagued at every step by power battles.”
See Leo Tolstoy Himself On YouTube!
“There he is, sawing wood.”
Lynn Nottage, Christopher Shinn, John Logan, Simon Schama To Co-Author London’s 9-11 Theater Piece
The three award-winning American playwrights, along with four British colleagues and well-known historian Simon Schama, are the writers ” collaborating with director Rupert Goold on Decade, a theatrical response into the legacy of 9/11 that will begin performances at London’s St. Katharine Docks Sept. 1.”
London’s Long, Long Tradition Of Pub Theatre
“Their lineage extends to the Restoration, when acting troupes took over empty dining rooms above pubs to perform plays of lewd material that went well with a pint. Later the Victorian-era music halls – a wildly popular amusement for the working classes – got their start in saloon bars.”