Dubai is famously attempting to transform itself into the preeminent Middle Eastern destination city with architecture and art, and Philip Kennicott sees a larger message in all the progress. “Architecturally, despite all the dissonance, the strange juxtapositions of the vulgar and the sleek, the blue-chip buildings next to the shabby high-rise clad in garishly colored glass and surmounted by a pagoda folly, the emirates are essentially an advertisement to an increasingly wowed world: Look at what enlightened, corporate, efficient and non-democratic government can do.”
Author: sbergman
Stratford Mainstay Exits Stage Left
“It was 25 years ago when a dancer named Cynthia Dale cracked her heel during the third day of rehearsals of the Stratford Festival production of The Gondoliers and was carried out of the Avon Theatre… This afternoon, Dale will once again be leaving the Avon Theatre against her will, following the final performance of My One and Only, because – after a decade as Stratford’s leading lady – she hasn’t been offered a part for next season. But, once again, she fully intends to return.”
Broadway Increasingly Enslaved To Tony Hype
“You might think nine months would be a bit early to start worrying about prizes, but that’s to underestimate the singular ecology of Broadway, a street that never met a trophy it didn’t like… In a climate whose strategic thinking increasingly mirrors that of Hollywood’s annual Oscar race, producers carefully position shows to open so as to maximise their Tony potential.”
Taking Children’s Theatre In A Very Serious Direction
A children’s theatre production in London is sparking controversy because it deals with mature subject matter such as murder and criminal rehabilitation, even though the characters are children. But shouldn’t older children be exposed to serious issues in theatrical productions? More to the point, why is it that “presenting these issues on stage at the Unicorn, a building dedicated to work for children and young people, causes such controversy when similar themes are explored in TV and in novels for young people without attracting similar outrage?”
The City Defined By The Screen
Ah, Paris. The mere mention of the city is enough to bring to mind any number of sights, sounds, and smells, even for the large percentage of Americans who have never actually been there. How is it that we have such vivid “memories” of an unfamiliar city? Hollywood, baby, Hollywood.
Calatrava’s Folly
“Spain’s premier architect is now embroiled in an ugly row with his home town over the cause of recent flooding to the city’s colossal €332m (£230m) opera house, the Palau de les Arts. Torrential rain last week damaged the palace’s electrical and cooling systems, and left rehearsal areas and a side theatre inundated with mud and water… Valencian officials have pinned their hopes of boosting the city’s cultural profile on the Palau but the ship-like structure has been plagued with problems since it opened in 2005.”
$2.2m For A Fake Rembrandt?
“When taxis began to arrive from the railway station bearing a small flock of art dealers from London, the small country auction rooms suspected something was up. A few hours later, a little painting on copper of a laughing young man, valued at up to £1,500 as in the style of Rembrandt, had been snapped up by an agent for an unidentified bidder for £2.2m.” The buyer believes it’s a genuine Rembrandt. The experts say no way.
Darkness Into Light: Sebold’s Back
Alice Sebold, who burst onto the literary scene with her dark and heart-wrenching debut novel, The Lovely Bones, is back with a second that may be even more grim. But a lot has changed since Sebold became a bona fide star – she learned how brutal the publishing world can be, and developed a thick skin that early reviews of her new book suggest she may need.
Appreciating Doctorow
E.L. Doctorow is most famous for his classic novel, Ragtime, but to define him by that one masterful work would be to miss one of the most fascinating figures in American literary life. “To appreciate Doctorow, maybe you need to do what he did: Seek the astringency of distance, move to the furthermost edge and let the entirety blossom beneath your gaze. That’s perhaps the only sure way to grasp his achievement, to stretch your mind across it–until, like the author himself, you attain the clarifying perspective of withdrawal.”
What If They Filmed A War And Nobody Came?
2007 may go down as the year of the hard-to-watch war movie, as Hollywood puts out film after film dealing with the same conflicts that fill today’s headlines. “Jihad; torture; suicide bombings; terrible things done by and to American soldiers; official secrets and government lies; the failures and responsibilities of journalists, politicians, law enforcement officials and ordinary citizens in the face of terror — such matters will be hard to avoid in movie theaters between now and Christmas.” But to what end?