Stealing pages from antique books – and even carrying off entire volumes – is all too easy and all too difficult to catch. And until recently, when thieves were apprehended, libraries tried to keep the incidents quiet. Now the British Library is leading a trend to deal with such crimes and criminals more publicly. (Article includes The Six Stages Of Stealing.)
Author: Matthew Westphal
Making The Sharks And Jets Rumble
For the new Broadway revival of West Side Story, Joey McKneely has the daunting job of recreating Jerome Robbins’s choreography. “Mr. McKneely’s task is as hard as it sounds. Like balletomanes devoted to Balanchine many Robbins disciples and fans see every step in West Side Story as sacred. But, as Mr. McKneely pointedly asked, ‘What is the original choreography?'”
The 20 Most Powerful Women In British Theatre
The latest installment in the controversial list sweepstakes comes from Harper’s Bazaar. Dames Judi Dench and Helem Mirren top the list, which also includes such well-known figures as Caryl Churchill, Sonia Friedman, Fiona Shaw and “honorary Brit” Gillian Anderson. Names you probably don’t (yet) know include Lisa Makin, Paule Constable and Bola Agbaje.
LACMA Finds De-Accessioning Isn’t So Easy These Days
“For sale (still): one Old Master painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder, dated 1518, which found no takers five weeks ago when it went on the block in New York. Details available from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which, according to a spokeswoman, has since put it on consignment for a private sale.”
In San Fran, Even The Walls Are Politicized
“More than 1,000 murals are on view across San Francisco, addressing subjects like the plight of immigrants and farm workers, the impact of the political wars in Central America in the 1980s, AIDS in Africa, gentrification… and the joys of bicycling and buying locally grown produce.” But what happens when political street art moves indoors, into a museum?
Brooklyn Phil Bites The Bullet
“The Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, beset by the same economic woes hitting most performing arts institutions, has dismissed four employees – a third of its administrative staff – and opened the door to canceling its May 9 performance, the last of its three subscription concerts.”
Las Vegas Phil Backs Away From The Brink
Board VP and acting CEO Jeri Crawford: “Because [the orchestra’s brush with insolvency has] been all brought out in the open, it seems like there is this renewal in the community. There has been this new synergy between the board and the guild and between the musicians. […] The reality that there might not be a philharmonic really shook people up.”
California Center For The Arts Gets Municipal Rescue
“The city of Escondido [just north of San Diego] is bailing out the insolvent California Center for the Arts, Escondido even as the City Council struggles to close a widening budget gap to provide city services. The downtown center has lost money almost every year since it opened in 1994.”
Choreography Meets Cognitive Science
“With a dozen high-def cameras and a couple of camcorders, plus pens, notebooks, sketch pads and laptops, more than 40 people spent three recent weeks in a black-box theater on the campus of UC San Diego documenting what was occurring there. The object of their study was notoriously elusive: dance and the process of choreographic creation.”
A Nest Egg for MoLAA
“The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach has received a big boost to its long-term financial outlook with a $25-million endowment from the estate of its founder.”