Stella Abrera has played a townswoman, a harlot, Rosaline, and Lady Capulet in American Ballet Theatre’s productions of Romeo and Juliet. Now, she is finally getting to play the titular role. Her Romeo says, “She has an ability to show that arc that I have rarely seen.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
As Churches In The UK Try To ‘Adapt,’ They Sell Off Their Pews
After a legal battle, Bath’s Victorian pews are going away to an airplane hangar before being sold. This “will create a vast open space under the abbey’s spectacular fan vaulting. Supporters of the project say this will allow the abbey to host community events, concerts, exhibitions and even formal dinners, and allow the restoration of ancient ledger stones in the floor, hidden for 150 years.” But critics aren’t happy.
How Do The New York Times Bestseller Lists Actually Work?
The NYT has 11 bestseller lists every week and five other ones that are monthly – and that’s rather a lot of work to maintain. The staff who put them together say they consult “tens of thousands” of retailers across the country. “The number of categories and rankings make the lists more useful to our readers, and also make competition between authors more fair. This way a picture book, for example, isn’t going against a cookbook or an adult fiction title.”
What’s A Danish-Icelandic Artist Doing, Designing The Headquarters For The Lego Owners?
Well, it’s Olafur Eliasson, of course – and, also of course, he describes the new Fjordenhus like this: “We were able to turn years of experiments in physical movement, light, nature, perception and the experience of space into a building that is a Gesamtkunstwerk [a total work of art] as well as a fully functioning architectural structure.”
After A Lot Of Complaints And A Long-Term Leave, Pixar Founder John Lasseter Will Leave Disney
“Mr. Lasseter said in November that he would take a ‘six-month sabbatical’ after unspecified ‘missteps’ that made some staff members feel ‘disrespected or uncomfortable.’ He made the announcement in a lengthy email to employees apologizing ‘to anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of an unwanted hug or any other gesture they felt crossed the line in any way, shape or form.'”
Can Fans Get George Eliot’s Home Revived, And Protected?
Wait, what? “Despite enjoying Grade II-listed status, the property is all but abandoned. The paintwork is cracked, its wooden window frames have been replaced with plastic, and graffiti is scrawled across the walls. An unsightly steel fence runs along one side of the litter-strewn lawn, and a large To Let sign hangs outside. Until recently, the only clue to its historical importance was a small bronze plaque above the entrance.”
The Frieze Fair Was So Hot It’s Offering Money Back To Galleries – But Still Getting Sued
One gallery wants all of its fee, not 10 percent of it, refunded. Frieze: “We made a commitment during the fair to give something back to every exhibitor, and since then we have consulted a number of galleries, including those on our committee. … We are now following through on this promise.”
How To Open Minds And Reshape – Or At Least Reinvite People To See And Hear – Opera
Opera (not among its fans, of course) has a reputation for being overwrought and definitely misogynistic. These contemporary composers are working to change that reputation and the world of opera in general. Composer Emily Howard: “I like history and tradition. I just don’t think that opera should be a historic genre. I like to look forward.”
Ira Berlin, Whose Work Upended Our Understanding Of Slavery In The U.S., Has Died At 77
Berlin persistently wrote about slavery’s varied effects across the years, but he never lost sight of the cruelty. “In books like Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South (1974) and Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America (1998), Dr. Berlin, a longtime professor at the University of Maryland, upended simplistic notions of how slavery was practiced and what happened after it ended.”
Apparently, We Like Poetry A Lot More During Times Of, Ahem, Historical Trauma
Here’s the breakdown: “According to new NEA findings, in the past five years, the number of poetry readers in the United States has almost doubled to a total of 28 million adults. This is the highest number the NEA has seen since 2002. The largest increase in poetry readership in the past five years has come from young people ages 18–24 and African American, Asian American, and other non-white readers.”