Author: Matthew Westphal

A Professional Fact-Checker Checks Broadway’s ‘Lifespan Of A Fact’

Christopher Swetala, the fact-checker for This American Life:”I just never have dealt with a writer so outlandish as the one played by Bobby Cannavale. … I don’t know any serious long-form literary editor who would tolerate a writer like this, even with the fancy professor of creative writing pedigree. … It drove me nuts that the audience was going to leave the theater believing [that character’s] existential grandstanding about numbers was worth sincere thought.”

Why Have Men In Ballet Gotten Away With Abuse? Hero Worship Plus Supply-And-Demand

“It’s like a cult,” says Alexandra Waterbury, the accuser at the center of the New York City Ballet nude photo-sharing scandal, of the deference that was given to the bad behavior of the likes of George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Peter Martins. As for why women don’t speak up and male dancers get a pass — as one former NYCB dancer puts it, “Women are a dime a dozen.”

Body-Shaming In Opera Business Is Very Real, Says Soprano Lisette Oropesa

“Back in 2005, the Cuban-American singer — sought by some of the world’s most prestigious opera houses — weighed 95 kilograms (210 pounds). Now, she weighs just 56 (123 pounds). … ‘I was told, ‘You need to fix the weight problem if you want to have any chance at all’,’ she said of an early experience at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House.” And she did fix it: she started running marathons.

Baltimore Symphony Musicians Go Public With Fight Over New Contract

They’ve begun playing in street medians and leafleting concertgoers to bring attention to the fact that they’ve been working without a contract since early September. “The players are seeking a multi-year agreement that, in addition to a boost in compensation …, will implement previously negotiated terms regarding the number of full-time musicians in the BSO. The twice-extended contract called for a total of 83. (In 2000, the total was 96, plus two librarians.)”

Houston’s Alley Theatre Hires New Artistic Director

Rob Melrose, who begins his tenure early next year, “is the founder of the Cutting Ball Theater, an experimental, avant-garde theater based in San Francisco. His hire comes at the end of a six-month search for a leader for Houston’s largest theater company. [Gregory] Boyd, who had led the Alley for 28 years, retired abruptly in January as the Houston Chronicle began investigating allegations that he had fostered an abusive working environment and had singled out female actors for harassment.”

Forger Couple Who Sold Hundreds Of Fake Monets, Matisses, Etc., Get 4-5 Years, €13 Million Fine

“A district court in Helsinki determined that the married couple at the center of the allegations, gallery owners Kati Marjatta Karkkiainen and Reijo Pollari, duped private collectors and auction houses into paying millions of dollars for paintings purportedly by blue-chip modernists and Impressionists such as Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, and Wassily Kandinsky; lesser-known Russian romanticists; and works by the popular 19th-century Finnish painter Albert Edelfelt.”

Trumpet Practice Does Not Constitute Noise Pollution, Rules German Federal Court

“The neighbors of a professional trumpet player had taken the musician to court, complaining about the noise pollution caused by his practicing. Germany’s highest court ruled in favor of Siegfried Ratz – within reason. The decision from the BGH in Karlsruhe reads that the interests of the accused were not in direct conflict with those of the plaintiffs and that a balance between the two parties could only be found by ‘limiting the amount of time spent making music’.” The musician and his neighbors must now agree to a schedule.