Author: Matthew Westphal

Peak TV’s Fastest-Growing Genre? Cooking Shows

“‘When you’re looking at categories of programming that people respond to globally, food and cooking shows are on the top of that list,’ explains Brandon Riegg, Netflix VP of nonfiction series and comedy specials.” In this genre, audiences don’t seem to mind subtitles, so “food shows can play in all markets and [even] spawn localized spinoffs.” – The Hollywood Reporter

Julia Farron, Longtime Star Of Britain’s Royal Ballet, Dead At 96

“In a 40-year stage career, mostly with the Royal Ballet, she created roles for a host of eminent choreographers, among them Frederick Ashton, John Cranko, Robert Helpmann, Andrée Howard, Kenneth MacMillan, Léonide Massine and Ninette de Valois. … Ms. Farron also became known as an inspiring teacher at both the Royal Academy [of Dance, where she was director in the 1980s,] and the Royal Ballet School, helping to shape the careers of many future ballerinas.” – The New York Times

Violinist Lara St. John Says Teacher At Curtis Institute Sexually Abused And Raped Her, And Dean Waved It Off

“St. John says she was repeatedly sexually abused by the man trusted to hone her talent, renowned violinist and teacher Jascha Brodsky. Then, she says, she was disregarded when she reported what had happened to an administrator at Philadelphia’s elite Curtis Institute of Music.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

Marius Petipa Virtually Established Classical Ballet As We Know It Today. But Most Of His Own Ballets Were Pretty Bad

The standards set by the French-born ballet master in his decades at the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg have had a defining influence on the art form ever since. But only three of his story ballets — Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadère, and Don Quixote — are in the repertory today, and of those only Sleeping Beauty has a genuinely good score. The rest, argues Alastair Macaulay, have “preposterous” plots, forgettable music, and values that were retrograde and out-of-step with even his own time and place, let alone ours. – The New York Times

Faye Dunaway Fired From Broadway-Bound One-Woman Show After Assaulting Crew Members

Producers of Tea at Five, a solo show by Matthew Lombardo about Katherine Hepburn that had been in a pre-Broadway tryout in Boston, said that they had “terminated their relationship” with Dunaway and would take the show to London with a new star next year. If we can believe Michael Riedel’s report (seemingly confirmed by the playwright), Dunaway’s screaming at and slapping of backstage staff was part of a pattern of behavior reminiscent of soprano Kathleen Battle’s reign of terror in the 1990s. – New York Post