“There was a moment, somewhere in the nexus between Game of Thrones and The Crown, where it felt as if [Nina] Gold’s name was gliding through the credits of every high-end show on TV. Her 167 credits include many grand British success stories – The King’s Speech, The Theory of Everything, the Paddington movies and every Mike Leigh film since Topsy-Turvy. But in the past few years, she has ascended into Hollywood’s mega-franchise league (the Star Wars saga, sequels to Jurassic World and Mamma Mia!). Gold is partly responsible for the impression that British actors have colonised Hollywood.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Read Excerpts From Zora Neale Hurston’s Interviews With The Last Slave To Survive The Middle Passage
Hurston trained as a cultural anthropologist, and Barracoon, which languished in her archives for decades and is only now being published, is the result of months of interviews with Cudjo Lewis, who was kidnapped in what is now Benin and brought to Alabama in 1860.
Call To Boycott Chicago’s Writers Theatre For Protecting A Harasser
“Last fall, … former Writers intern Tom Robson accused longtime Artistic Director Michael Halberstam of sexually harassing him both verbally and physically in 2003. … A few weeks later, [the Writers Theatre board] found that Halberstam had committed ‘inappropriate and insensitive comments in the workplace’ but had exhibited no other ‘inappropriate sexual behavior.'” Clyde Fitch Report managing editor Sean Douglass writes, “I don’t think Halberstam is a bad person, and I believe his apology is honest. I also don’t think he should be exiled from the Chicago theater community … But how does he still have his job there?”
In London’s West End, Understudy Steps In Halfway Through First Preview – On No Rehearsal
Rock star Tim Howar, playing Freddy in a new revival of the ABBA/Tim Rice musical Chess, had to leave the theatre at the intermission of the first preview performance because his wife had gone into labor. “Understudy Cellen Chugg Jones stepped into the role despite never having completed a full cast rehearsal – winning a standing ovation and praise from co-stars Michael Ball and Alexandra Burke, who both said he ‘smashed it’. “
The First Pussy Riot Oratorio
Prisoner of Conscience, composed by Jennifer Jolley for female vocal quartet the Quince Ensemble, draws its texts from the Russian punk rockers’ lyrics and from the transcribed proceedings of their 2012 trial on charges of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” for an impromptu (and very brief) protest performance they gave before the altar of Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral.
Crystal Pite Was Totally Intimidated By The Paris Opera Ballet – At First
“On my way up to the Paris Opéra studios I was so nervous! Literally shaking. But within about eight minutes, I was reminded, ‘Oh, yeah: This is the same old thing. It’s just dancers in a studio, dancing.'”
This Singer Spent The Entire Rehearsal Period In The Hospital And Still Triumphed On Opening Night
Mezzo-soprano Mireille Lebel was set to sing the female lead, Penelope, in Monteverdi’s Return of Ulysses for Toronto’s baroque opera company, Opera Atelier, when she suffered third-degree burns in an accident. But she was determined not to miss out up on the project – and she didn’t. Here’s how she and the company pulled it off.
Michael Anderson, 98, Director Of ‘Logan’s Run’ And ‘The Dam Busters’
“His breakthrough was [the 1955 film] The Dam Busters, about the 1943 British raid against the Ruhr dams in Germany’s industrial heartland. … He was [subsequently] recruited to showman Mike Todd’s big-budget adaptation of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days (1986), starring David Niven.” Best known among his later films were Conduct Unbecoming and Logan’s Run, both starring Michael York.
Are They Trying To Privatize The Taj Mahal? Uproar In India Over Scheme For Companies To ‘Adopt’ Historic Sites
“Opposition politicians accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of leasing out’ monuments under the ‘Adopt a Heritage’ plan that will see 95 historic sites taken over by private entities. India’s tourism ministry on Saturday announced a five-year contract worth 250 million rupees ($3.7 million) with the Dalmia Bharat conglomerate for the iconic 17th-century Red Fort in Delhi and another fort in the southern Andhra Pradesh state. Other monuments on the list include the Taj Mahal – which two conglomerates are competing for – and the 12th-century UNESCO-listed Qutb Minar complex in Delhi.”
25,000 People Pitch In To Buy A Picasso Together
“The 1968 painting titled Buste de mousquetaire (Musketeer Bust) was offered up [by the Swiss discount retail website Qoqa] at the bargain price of two million Swiss francs ($2.0 million, 1.7 million euros). Over the course of three days, 25,000 people purchased 40,000 shares, at a price of 50 Swiss francs each, to become the proud owners of the artwork.”