“More than five decades on from its first performance in Washington, West Side Story remains as relevant as ever; some may argue more so… The deaths of Bernardo, Riff and Tony do not have to be made visceral to reach a modern audience. The action and the language, while very much of its time, speak a universal truth.”
Author: sbergman
A Famously Combative UK Composer Gets Her Due
A dedicated suffragette who went to prison for her activism, Ethel Smyth’s “colourful life and reputation have tended to overshadow the thing she cared about most – her music.” Now her double concerto for violin and horn is getting a prominent performance at the BBC Proms.
Maybe Not, But Being Stoned Definitely Helps
What is it about stoner comedy that somehow still manages to carry countless movies to box office success, if not always critical acclaim? “Pothead humor is particularly suited for film because it provides endless possibilities for slapstick… Just as you can be antigun and enjoy Dirty Harry, you don’t have to be stoned to enjoy stoner comedy.”
Liverpool Rising
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is not generally counted among the UK’s most famous orchestras, but the arrival of a dynamic young Russian conductor has the Liverpudlians playing with renewed vigor, says Norman Lebrecht. “His concerts are electrifying, the audience age has dropped by two decades and some of the new string players look barely out of school. Attendances are up 40 percent since he arrived.”
Australia’s Indigenous Art Kingpin
Aboriginal art is big business in Australia these days, and there may not be a more imposing figure on the indigenous art market than John Ioannou. “Ioannou says he has a deep and ongoing concern for the welfare of his artists, buying them blankets and food as well as painting materials.” But others call him a vicious and manipulative bully.
Keeping Hollywood Shiny And Clean (As Far As You Know)
Who really runs Hollywood? No, it’s not the big-name stars or the ultrarich directors or even the big studios. It’s the PR mavens who spend their time making all the others look good. “That mysterious and dark breed of fixers, stuntsters and arch media manipulators have, for more than a century now, been as fundamental to the Tinseltown fantasy as the Hollywood sign itself.”
Venice Film Fest Lineup Unveiled
“The films competing for the Golden Lion award for best film include Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Wrestler’, Mexican writer-director Guillermo Arriaga’s ‘The Burning Plain’, starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger, Jonathan Demme’s ‘Rachel Getting Married’, and ‘Ponyo on the Cliff’, the latest feature-length animation from Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese director of ‘Spirited Away’.” The latest film from the Coen brothers will open the festival.
A Fair, Magic, Satirical, True Portrait Of W
Brace yourself. The first big time Hollywood biopic of America’s deeply unpopular current president will come from… Oliver Stone. “Stone has called the film ‘satire’, ‘magic realism biography’, but also ‘a fair, true portrait of the man’.” You’ll forgive the Republicans if they’re not exactly looking forward to this premiere.
When Disciplines Diverge
Sanjoy Roy attended a recent panel discussion comprised of both dancers and visual artists, and was struck by the two groups’ inability to understand each other’s language. “Perhaps today’s chasm of incomprehension is because contemporary dance and contemporary visual arts have headed off in different directions; or perhaps it’s down to something deeper, an altogether different zeitgeist.”
Is Eco-Consciousness Making Our Houses Ugly?
Germaine Greer says that the Green movement isn’t doing much for architecture, particularly when it comes to designing homes. “Houses grew uglier as the proportion of architects in the population and their share of the new-build budget grew. New houses are now universally horrible, and eco-houses are the most horrible of the lot.”