Author: Matthew Westphal

Can A Rapper’s Take On Camus Become France’s ‘Hamilton’?

Spoken-word artist and author Abd el Malik is staging Camus’s The Just Assassins, now considered a classic play in France, at the Théâtre du Châtelet with R&B and hip-hop accompaniment and an almost entirely non-white cast that includes amateur actors from the housing projects in the Paris suburbs. Says one cast member, “Here, onstage, are people like us. Blacks, Arabs, who come from the suburbs, who didn’t think they would do drama one day, even less so at the Châtelet.” – The New York Times

Cookbooks Sell Very Well. Why Aren’t Their Authors Aren’t Making More Money From Them?

Major publishers will do right by their cookbook authors, who are usually already established, but there’s a larger set of small publishers who work with newer writers. “With these smaller publishing companies, there isn’t always an advance, and if there is, it’s often less than $10,000. Royalties aren’t always offered, and most expenses aren’t covered. … Authors are occasionally asked to sign nondisclosure agreements before even viewing a contract.” – The New York Times

New York’s Rubin Museum Announces ‘Restructuring’ For ‘Long-Term Sustainability’

At the city’s major museum for Tibetan and Himalayan art, “staff will be reduced by 25%, going down from 89 to 67 employees, across operational and curatorial departments. Starting in January 2020, the museum will be closed on Wednesdays as well as Tuesdays, and there will only be two special exhibitions per year, down from the five to six the museum currently hosts.” – The Art Newspaper

Tyler Perry, ‘The Most Successful Mogul Hollywood Has Ever Ignored’

“Now, with Madea behind him — he was fed up with playing her — Perry’s cultural legacy remains complex, ever evolving, and dependent on what he does next. In the short term, that means opening sprawling new studios [in Atlanta that] will serve as the home for an astonishing six new shows, all of which he has written and will direct — part of a major content deal with Viacom. Is he sacrificing quality for quantity? Perry said he was not aspiring to great artistry.” – The New York Times

Angel Corella Is Reworking All Of Pennsylvania Ballet’s Story Ballets

“A full-length ballet is ‘like a Broadway show,’ according to [the company’s artistic director]. It’s generally a big, splashy production with elaborate sets and costumes, familiar music, and a story that’s known or easy to follow. People are eager to buy tickets. That’s why Corella has been rechoreographing full-length ballets, which he performed as a dancer countless times with companies all over the world. He knows what works and what he likes.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

Museums’ Board Members Come Under More Scrutiny As Institutions Depend Ever More On Their Money

“If board members can be forced out because of what they do for a living, what does that mean for cultural institutions that depend on their generosity to survive? … Anyone who scans the financial records of major American museums, or talks to their leaders and donors, can gauge just how much is at stake.” A team of Times reporters looks at the boards of the ten most visited museums in the U.S. – The New York Times

Royal Shakespeare Company Gives Up BP Sponsorship

“The RSC announced that after months of deliberations and a vociferous campaign from artists, the public and environmentalists, it had decided to curtail its eight-year relationship. The move will increase pressure on other cultural institutions such as the Royal Opera House, British Museum and National Portrait Gallery, which have all come under pressure over their tie-ins with fossil fuel companies.” – The Guardian

Composer Giya Kancheli Dead At 84

“Kancheli’s work became known in the West as early as the 1970s — his Fourth Symphony, “In Memoria di Michelangelo,” was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1978 — but it was in the 1990s in particular that important international champions of his music emerged, including the ECM record label as well as conductors Dennis Russell Davies and Kurt Masur, violinist Gidon Kremer, violists Kim Kashkashian and Yuri Bashmet and Kronos Quartet, among others.” – NPR