Actor Stacy Keach writes about preparing for and performing the role of Ernest Hemingway in Jim McGrath’s one-man play Pamplona at Chicago’s Goodman Theater, where he’s resuming the run that abruptly ended last summer after 11 previews because of one very unfortunate event.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Profit Flop at Sotheby’s: Auction Houses’ Self-Defeating Assumption of Consignors’ Risk
My critical analysis at the end of last spring’s round of major New York art auctions … has been supported by the figures in Sotheby’s earnings report issued Monday.
The Secrets Of Costuming For Outdoor Summer Shakespeare
“Across the country, as actors and audiences endure rain, heat, and bugs to present and partake of free professional performances of the Bard’s classics, one group of designers has a special challenge: costume designers, who must conceive innovative ways to protect actors, their clothes, and the integrity of the story. How does the process of working al fresco differ from being in more enclosed venues, and how do costumers think sustainably to preserve their designs night after night?”
Gala Dalí, Chief Marketing Officer Of Salvador Dalí, Inc.
“The idea is that while Dalí was the face of the enterprise, Gala propelled it. Dalí certainly recognised her contribution, signing some of his paintings ‘Gala Salvador Dalí’ … Can Gala, having produced no art that we know of, really be considered an artist? Perhaps not. But this exhibition does show how much Salvador Dalí – and his art – depended on her forceful personality, for better or worse.”
Matt Groening Goes Medieval On Us
“But while it takes place in a medieval realm of wizards and dragons, [the new series] is not exactly Mr. Groening’s answer to Game of Thrones. Disenchantment is more like [his] comic amalgam of fantasy franchises like Lord of the Rings and the animated epics of Hayao Miyazaki, to name just two of its dozens of influences. It is also Mr. Groening’s first show created for a streaming service … as well as, consequently, his first to have a serialized narrative.”
How Philanthropists Used Music To Push For Social Change In 19th-Century America
Amanda Moniz of the National Museum of American History writes about the Hutchinson Family Singers (who campaigned for the abolition of slavery), the Fisk Jubilee Singers (who raised funds for Fisk University, which was founded to educate former slaves), and the concerts by the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston to benefit Russian Jewish refugees.
QAnon And Sacha Baron Cohen Are Giving America What It Craves Right Now: Masha Gessen
“Is there a way to explain what’s happening to us? Is there a theory, a secret, or a person capable of forcing our undulating reality to come into focus? Is there a way to feel stable on this careening ship of a country? But of course there is: two compelling options have emerged into the mainstream in the last few weeks … One is brought to us by Sacha Baron Cohen, the other by a person, or persons, known as Q. One claims to show that the people in charge are actually idiots; the other claims to know that the idiot-in-chief is actually in charge.”
How Mark Morris Subverts Hoary Romantic Clichés: Alastair Macaulay Analyzes ‘Love Song Waltzes’
“Even when they waltz, [the dancers] don’t have the lifted posture and arching polish of the best ballroom performers; they’re more ornery than that. … The men arch back — rapturous, trusting — in their women’s arms. Whereupon the women promptly drop them — splat! — to the floor.” (Face down, no less.) (includes video clips)
These Arts Funders Tried To Incorporate Love Into Their Program. How Did They Go About It, And Did It Work?
F. Javier Torres and Leila Tamari, who ran ArtPlace America’s National Creative Placemaking Fund: “[We] wondered to ourselves, well, what does love look like in grantmaking? We think it begins by remembering that behind each proposal, set of guidelines and evaluation criteria is a human being — the people who do the work. And, to incorporate love, you need to find ways to share power, be transparent, and prioritize relationships. In some cases, we succeeded, and in others, we missed the target completely.”
Why Missy Mazzoli Writes ‘Accessible’ Music
“There was a postwar feeling that things should not be romantic, people moving away from a romantic aesthetic to something colder and more calculated, both in the music and in attitude to the audience as a whole. That attitude doesn’t relate to our contemporary culture. I see why it happened, but I don’t find it interesting as a way to move forward for myself. My mission is to connect with people. The purpose of creating music is to feel less alone, to create a community around the work to express something that can’t be expressed in words.”