I had a range of thoughts about Ellen Reid and Roxie Perkins’s opera p r i s m, which won the Pulitzer Prize. And it made me long for the days, decades ago, when artistic music-theater pieces had a much bigger audience. – Greg Sandow
Author: Matthew Westphal
Me, John Kander, and the opera/music theater coup d’état
Here’s some history of a 1980s funding coup pulled off by opera companies, theater companies, and Broadway producers — one that made a huge difference for some great artists who had been caught between the funding silos. – Greg Sandow
The 2019 JJA Awards
The Jazz Journalists Association has announced its 2019 award winners. Among them are Ahmad Jamal, Wayne Shorter, Linda May Han Oh, and Bobby Sanabria’s Multiverse Big Band. – Doug Ramsey
The Comma Queen And The Internet’s Copy Chief Talk Grammar And Style
“We asked Mary Norris, The New Yorker‘s ‘comma queen,’ and … Benjamin Dreyer, copy chief of Random House, … about their love of editing, the mistakes people make, and whether or not this intro has too many commas. (It probably does, doesn’t it?)” – Literary Hub
Phil Solomon, Experimental Maker Of ‘Visionary Cinema’, Dead At 65
“His films, usually relatively short, did not have stars or plots in any conventional sense; he was after something more cerebral.” Said one colleague, “Phil considered the film frame as a painting — a rectangle full of tensions, textures and pulls — rather than as a window through which to daydream.” – The New York Times
A Choir For Dementia Patients Shows Real Therapeutic Benefits
Actress Vicky McClure got the idea to form the choir after seeing how much her ailing grandmother was helped by singing together. A BBC crew watches the choir rehearse, perform, and take part in a research study, with a focus on Daniel, a 30-year-old former engineer diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. (text and video) – BBC
Pam Tanowitz, Perhaps ‘The Busiest Woman In Dance’
Just this year so far, she’s made high-profile work for the Martha Graham and Paul Taylor companies, New York City Ballet, and Ballet Across America at the Kennedy Center — and her own company is about to make a major appearance in London. “I’m nervous, and I’m worried, and I stay up at night,” she tells Gia Kourlas, I have so many steps in my head. … Sometimes I think, am I making the same dance over and over again?” – The New York Times
The Widow Of China’s Most Famous Dissident, Now In Exile, Rebuilds Her Art And Career
Liu Xiaobo was in prison when he won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, and ever since then, his wife, Liu Xia, had been under house arrest. After he died, still in custody, in 2017, she was suicidal. A friend in Berlin publicized her plight, and last year, she was released (not to say expelled) and sent to the German capital, where she’s now back at work in both literature and visual art. Nick Frisch went to meet her. – The New Yorker
Meet The Choreographer Of One Of The Tony Nominees For Best New Play (Yes, Play)
Ink, a London transfer, starring Bertie Carvel and Jonny Lee Miller and directed by Rupert Goold, about Rupert Murdoch’s transformation of Britain’s The Sun into the notorious tabloid it is today, features several dance numbers choreographed by Lynne Page. Sylviane Gold talks to Page about the movement she devised for the show and how it’s different from what she’d do with a musical. – Dance Magazine
The Afterlife Of ‘Jeopardy!’ Champions
“For some contestants, winning might usher in 15 minutes of fame and a small, unexpected windfall.” And then there’s Ken Jennings, who launched a couple of new careers as a result. Reporter Niraj Chokshi talked to Jennings and three other former winners about how the show (and not just the prize money) changed their lives. – The New York Times