“Robert O’Hara, who got his MFA in directing from Columbia University, was surprised when the program director, Anne Bogart, said she could teach the class all there was to know about directing in three weeks. What was the rest of the program about, then?”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Ireland’s New National Opera Company Announces Its First Season
The Irish National Opera won’t be parking itself in the capital: plans are for and 38 performances in eight regional cities as well as Dublin, plus a contemporary work at London’s Barbican Centre. Repertory ranges from Mozart and Gluck through Verdi, Offenbach and Bartók to living composers Thomas Adès and Donnacha Dennehy.
Trocks Dancer Resigns, Accuses Company of Discrimination and Harassment
Chase Johnsey “says that he no longer believes the company” – the travesti troupe Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo – “stands for openness and gender freedom. He claims that he and other dancers have been mistreated, sexually harassed and discriminated against for appearing too feminine in classes and rehearsals, adding, ‘We’re being bullied for expressing our femininity and we’re being given ultimatums just because we don’t live up to some masculine idea of what a gay man is.” (includes video)
Michelle Wiliiams Was Paid $1,000 For The Reshoots Of ‘All The Money In The World’ – And Mark Wahlberg Was Paid $1.5 Million
“Ridley Scott’s Getty kidnapping drama was hastily reshot the week of Thanksgiving after a cascade of sexual misconduct allegations were made public against Kevin Spacey, who previously starred in the drama as billionaire J. Paul Getty. … But new information reveals ugly math behind the Hollywood victory.”
New York Magazine’s Sara Holdren Wins George Jean Nathan Award For Dramatic Criticism
Holdren, who became the magazine’s lead theater critic last summer after Jesse Green moved to the New York Times, won the $10,000 prize for “The Revolution Will Not Be Hashtagged: A Misguided ‘Joan of Arc’ at the Public Theatre,” published at Culturebot last April.
Karin Von Aroldingen, Ballet Star For Balanchine, Dead At 76
“Trained in ballet in her native Germany, Ms. von Aroldingen admitted that she had to unlearn much of what she knew when adapting to [New York] City Ballet’s fleet, streamlined style. Yet after Balanchine’s death in 1983, she became an expert stager of his works for other companies in the United States and abroad, and performed a wide Balanchine repertoire herself before she retired from dancing in 1984. She served as a ballet mistress in the company from 2004 to 2016.”
SF Ballet Star James Sofranko Named Artistic Director Of Grand Rapids Ballet
The 38-year-old dancer, who has been with San Francisco Ballet for 18 years and founded and directs the contemporary company SFDanceworks, succeeds Patricia Barker, now at the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
Egyptian Pop Singers Arrested For ‘Inciting Debauchery’ In Their Music Videos
“Leila Amer will detained for four days, according to reports, while authorities investigate her video for the song ‘Boss Oumek’ (‘Look At Your Mother’), which includes ‘suggestive’ dancing and gestures.” (The complaining attorney called it a “moral disaster” and “an attack on society and the destruction of the state.”) “Ms Amer’s case occurs less than a month after a fellow singer [called Shyma] was sentenced to two years in prison over a raunchy video.”
Gavin Stamp, Architectural Preservationist Who Pioneered ‘Young Fogeyism,’ Dead At 69
In campaigns as a public figure and in print under the pen name Piloti, he led battles to save historic buildings from the wrecking ball and against postwar architecture and urban planning. He was perhaps best known for championing the preservation of the red telephone booth.
Three Win $100,000 Prize For The People Who Write Musical Theater’s Words
The Kleban Prize, established by the lyricist of A Chorus Line, goes to promising lyricists and librettists. The 2018 award winners are Alan Schmuckler (lyrics for Diary of Wimpy Kid: The Musical), Amanda Yesnowitz (lyrics for Somewhere in Time), and Christian Duhamel (book for My 80-Year-Old Boyfriend).