Author: Matthew Westphal

Raja Feather Kelly: How A Downtown Pop-Queer Experimentalist Became Off-Broadway’s Go-To Choreographer

“One reason, an obvious one, had to do with a close friend. As soon as the playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins started to pass his name along to people in the theater world, … he found himself filling a niche Off-Broadway. ‘I was working on new plays that wanted to have a physical life, but didn’t know how,’ he said.” – The New York Times

Drag, Inc.: When A Subculture Becomes An Industry

“In part, what’s surprising is how long that process took: After all, the impulse to devour cool for profit is just capitalism. Like camp, which began as a private joy, an in-joke for outsiders, drag has become an open buffet for mass consumption. … RuPaul now regularly appears on talk shows, and the most successful queens from [Drag Race] have their own makeup lines, TV shows, and fashion campaigns while shilling everything from Starbucks to vodka to McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches.” – New York Magazine

MacArthur ‘Genius’ Rhiannon Giddens To Compose Opera Based On Slave Narrative

Giddens, a conservatory-trained operatic singer as well as a banjo player (she co-founded the string band Carolina Chocolate Drops) and composer, will prepare the libretto and compose the music for a new work about Omar Ibn Said, the only African-American slave known to have written an account of his captivity in Arabic. The as-yet-untitled opera was commissioned by the Spoleto Festival USA, where it will premiere in 2020, in honor of Charleston’s 350th anniversary that year. – The Post and Courier (Charleston)

Peter Max’s Wife, Embroiled In Battle Over His Care, Art, And Money, Dead In Apparent Suicide

“The death of [Mary] Max, 52, in the home she shared with Mr. Max, 81, comes in the midst of continued infighting in recent years regarding her husband’s legacy. In May, The New York Times wrote about how business associates and his son, Adam, had taken control of Mr. Max’s studio, with the intention of increasing production using assistant artists even though Mr. Max himself had not painted seriously in four years.” – The New York Times

Director Of MASS MoCA To Face Vehicular Homicide Charge

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Director Joe Thompson will be arraigned on June 19 for a July 2018 incident in which Thompson’s car collided with a motorcycle whose driver was killed. Thompson maintains his innocence, and his attroney says that “the police confirmed he had used no alcohol, was not on his cellphone.” – The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, MA)

Bernard Haitink Announces His Retirement

The 90-year-old conductor gives his farewell to his birthplace, Amsterdam, this weekend; following one August concert with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in Lucerne, he will close out his 65-year career late this summer with the Vienna Philharmonic at the BBC Proms and the Salzburg and Lucerne Festivals. And what will he do after? “Just live.” (in Dutch; Google Translate version here) – De Volkskrant (Netherlands)