Author: Matthew Westphal

‘The Sound Of Music’ – The First Critic-Proof Movie Musical?

As beloved as the film was and is, The Sound of Music was not rapturously received by the critics back in 1965: Joan Didion despised “its suggestion that history need not happen to people … Just whistle a happy tune, and leave the Anschluss behind,” and Pauline Kael called it a “sugar-coated lie that … makes a critic feel that maybe it’s all hopeless.” Pamela Hutchinson explores how the critics lost that particular argument, paving the way for everything from Mamma Mia! to The Last Showman.

Uh-Oh – There’s More Grey Gardens Footage On The Way

In 1972, three years before Albert and David Maysles made their now-famous documentary about “Big Edie” and “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s aunt and cousin) and their rapidly decaying Long Island mansion, Lee Radziwill (Jackie’s sister) hired the Maysles brothers to visit the Beale homestead, where “they shot an hour of Big Edie and Little Edie squabbling with each other and the health officials threatening eviction.” That footage is now coming out in a documentary titled That Summer.

Sony Pays $2.3 Billion To Buy EMI Music Publishing

“The deal values EMI Music Publishing at $4.75 billion including debt, more than double the $2.2 billion value given in 2011 when a consortium led by Sony won bidding rights for the company. Sony, which has run the business since then, will buy a 60 percent stake owned by [UAE sovereign wealth fund] Mubadala Investment Company, lifting its ownership to around 90 percent from 30 percent currently.”

A Children’s Librarian Tells How To Survive Storytime

Kristen Arnett: “Working children’s services sometimes means dealing with a bunch of sugared-up kids who got into a box of Lucky Charms cereal (I recognize that look — I also eat Lucky Charms to get amped). But it also means thinking on your feet and getting way outside your comfort zone. By that I mean you’ll probably have to kneel on the floor, and if you’re wearing a skirt, everyone is gonna see your underwear and four different kids will point it out loud enough for everyone in the library to hear.”

‘Stop Relying On Old Media’: Lyn Gardner On Leaving The Guardian And The Future Of Theatre Criticism

“My loss of a platform at The Guardian doesn’t mean that theatre criticism is dead, merely that the conversations are taking different forms and moving elsewhere. … There is a lesson in this for theatre itself and how much it remains in thrall to mainstream theatre writing, even as that coverage crumbles away. Theatre is in trouble if it places too much faith in the words of a single individual – whether that happens to be me or someone else – and just a few mainstream platforms; the media boulders that only really care about their own survival in the final reckoning.”

Can Theatre Critics Be Friends With The Artists They Review?

Mark Shenton: “The theatre world is quite a small one and I spend a lot of time immersed in it, both as a critic and an audience member. Over the years, I’ve become friends with some of those that make the art I love so much. Even though critics are sometimes seen as being on the ‘other’ side of the artistic fence, I don’t see it as an oppositional relationship. We both want the same thing: to be able to participate in the making and watching of great shows. … Being both a critic and a friend, however, is fraught with danger … For me, it depends on a lot of factors. And rules of engagement may need to be drawn up.”

Why It’s So Difficult For The Dance Field To Root Out Sexual Harassment

The cases of Peter Martins and Marcelo Gomes are the only ones from the dance world to have hit the national media in the #MeToo era, and the movement’s momentum seems to have faded in the field seems to have dissipated. “[Yet] we’ve barely scratched the surface of the dance world’s harassment problem. One reason why: The same culture that makes harassment possible in dance makes it uniquely difficult for artists to speak up,” writes Lauren Wingenroth in an essay exploring the issue.

What’s The Biggest Obstacle To Boys Studying Ballet? Often, It’s Dads

Scott Gormley, filmmaker and dance dad: “I’ve spent the last two years creating a documentary about the struggles that young men face when they choose to dance ballet ― when they choose to thumb their nose at what boys ‘should do.’ … What I found the most upsetting were the attacks that came directly from family members: fathers, stepfathers, uncles, brothers, many of whom feared that ballet would ‘turn’ boys gay.”

Cultural Value – Is The Decades-Long Discussion About What The Arts Are Worth Actually Getting Anywhere?

“There is a sense that history’s alleged tendency to repeat itself is particularly pronounced in the cultural value debate, and with respect to efforts to ‘demonstrate’ the value of arts and culture. Have we made progress in the past 30 years, or is it true that we have been going in circles? … Patrycja Kaszynska, the lead on the Cultural Value Scoping Project, spoke to Ian David Moss, founder of Createquity, about ideas and emerging trends in cultural value research.”