Lorin Stein, 44, stepped down following an internal investigation by the magazine’s board into complaints from female staffers and freelance writers – an investigation that started when Stein told board members that he was on the notorious online list of “Shitty Media Men.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Marin Alsop To Leave São Paulo Symphony After 2019
The Fundação Osesp, the organization that operates the orchestra, has announced that Alsop will become Honorary Conductor as of 2020 and that a fellowship for young conductors will be established in her honor. While the announcement was full of praise for Alsop’s achievements with the orchestra (notably a much higher international profile), the assumption seems to be that her contract was not renewed. (in Portuguese; for Google Translate version, click here.)
Syria’s First-Ever Oscar Contender Is Actually Banned In Syria
When Aleppo-born director Sam Kadi was making the documentary Little Gandhi, it was too dangerous for him to return to Syria from abroad, so he directed his cameramen via Skype as they tried to avoid sniper fire. And he says that if the film were shown inside Syria now, he would be executed.
Putting Life In The Calais Refugee Camp Onstage
In 2015, two young English playwrights, Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, traveled to the notorious shantytown known as the Jungle and ended up establishing a theatre tent for the migrants there. Two years on, with the Jungle now bulldozed, the two Joes have created a play dramatizing a year in the life of the camp, and it’s about to open at London’s Young Vic.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 12.06.17
“Essential Personnel”: My Q&A with Getty’s Communications VP on the Approaching Wildfires
With the area’s surrounding streets and nearby freeway closed to traffic due to rapidly spreading wildfires that are approaching (but so far have not reached) the Getty Center, the Getty today is staffed by only “essential … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-12-06
The Murder of the LA Weekly
Southern Californians have been bludgeoned with bad news lately, as a number of media outlets – LAist, BuzzFeed, Los Angeles magazine, the LA Times, and the OC Weekly – have either shut down or … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-12-06
In Young-Adult Lit, Queer Love Stories Are Becoming Normal
“Since [Cassandra Clare’s] City of Bones, which published 10 years ago, authors … have made young adult novels a place where queer love stories feel mainstream rather than an exception to the rule. And they’re about far more than coming out. The new generation of LGBT young-adult literature has room for romance, inclusion and happily-ever-after.”
Russia’s Answer To Tocqueville Visited America Exactly A Century Later
Fans of Russian lit will know Vladimir Mayakovsky as the great poet of the early Soviet era, but in 1925 – 100 years after the journey that led to Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America – he traveled to the United States (with stops first in Cuba and Mexico) and published his dispatches in Russian newspapers. (Mayakovsky did see the U.S. through Soviet eyes, but he loved New York City.)
Orlando Ballet Is Bringing Back Live Music (Yay!)
After several seasons of performing to recorded music only due to financial difficulties, the company’s upcoming productions of Romeo and Juliet and Beauty and the Beast will use a live orchestra. “The live music is possible because revenue is beating the ballet’s projections, says board president Jonathan Ledden.”
Have The Heads Of Broadway’s Nonprofit Theaters Been In Place For Too Long?
Gordon Cox: “Both on Broadway and off it, most of the city’s major nonprofits are led by artistic directors whose defining tenures are measured in decades. … In New York, the question of when the city’s most powerful nonprofit [theaters] will change hands is something no one wants to discuss openly but everyone whispers about behind the scenes.”
Do We Need To Put Away Our James Levine Recordings?, Asks Anthony Tommasini
“I feel heartache for the men, who say they were taken advantage of by someone they looked up to, someone in a position of intimidating authority. But how do Mr. Levine’s countless fans, and I as a critic, reconcile his legacy with what he’s been accused of? Is his work tainted beyond our ability to appreciate the artistry involved?” (The answer: not entirely.)