A disabled theatre critic is none too happy with Webber and his touring show. “Love Never Dies takes place in 1907, three years into the freakshow’s East Coast rise in popularity. For a musical owing its location to the disabled community, Love Never Dies is decidedly remiss in incorporating the community. We are offered mere tokens: a few musical numbers briefly mention oddities, and only ‘The Beauty Underneath’ uses freak attractions in its staging.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
The Science Of Restoring Jackson Pollock
What else is there to say? (Quite a lot, but – ) “‘Everyone thinks anyone can replicate a Jackson Pollock painting,’ said private conservator Chris Stavroudis, recalling a Three Stooges bit in which they spit paint on a canvas. ‘There’s a lot more to the process.'”
How Good Can The Job Of Ambassador For Hollywood Be Right Now, Considering?
Charles Rivkin, former Ambassador to France and assistant Secretary of State, is the new chair of the Motion Picture Association of America (and the representative for the six “old-line” studios). He has to deal with being the ratings guru and championing movie theaters in an era where Netflix and other streaming services are stomping the movies. But hey, he’s into it: “Reinvigorated at every level,” he says about his plans for the MPAA. (Um, can he fix the sex bad, violence fine ratings issue too?)
High School English Is The Perfect Place For ‘The Odyssey’
The “world’s first novel” is an epic quest, full of monsters and trials by combat – and kids who grew up on Marvel, Star Wars, and video games really get it.
The New Netflix Show About A Cult Really Gets At The Heart Of Religious Freedom In The U.S., And Maybe The Current President As Well
Sure, the First Amendment prohibits the government from making a law “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” but current case law on religious freedom is deeply mixed. Why? Well, ask Netflix’s Wild Wild Country, a new documentary about a cult community in Oregon that is “a staggeringly improbable mélange of religion, New Age psychology, land-use and constitutional law, group sex, credit-card scams, xenophobia and immigration terrors, fundamentalism, election fraud, germ warfare, terror bombing, assassination squads, and Putin-style poisoning, all enacted against the haunting background of the Oregon high desert.”
That Time, Long Before ‘Footloose’, When Irish Priests Tried To Get Dancing Outlawed
This is the history of how the Catholic Church in Ireland influenced the law in the 1930s – and made it possible for any parish priest to stop any dance he didn’t like, for any reason, with the full cooperation of the Irish government and police. One priest “was wary, in particular, of outsiders – ‘devils’, as he saw them. ‘Persons who came to these dances from outside towns in motor cars were scoundrels of the lowest type, and were devils incarnate,’ he said.”
Bulgaria Calls Julia Kristeva, French Philosopher And Intellectual, A Bulgarian Spy
She denies this firmly, but … wow. “Her more than 30 books have covered topics including linguistics, psychoanalysis, literary theory and feminism. Her many prestigious honors include the Vaclav Havel Prize, the Hannah Arendt Prize and France’s Commander of the Legion of Honor.”(Every single humanities grad student for the past 30 years is saying, “I KNEW IT.”)
Writing Asian America Without Tiger Moms
In Mary H.K. Choi’s Emergency Contact, she writes about a young woman’s love for her mother, and the young woman’s falling in love, through texts, with a guy. “It’s a difficult balancing act — steering through the assimilation experience without contributing to clichéd narratives. … Choi’s novel blows up Asian female stereotypes and prods readers to question their own cultural biases about women of color.”
Can Theatre In A Small City Recover From A Serious MeToo Accusation?
The Harlequin Theatre in Olympia, Washington, was hit hard a couple of weeks ago when a Seattle Times story revealed that one of its founders ignored harassment accusations because he was “starstruck” by playwright Israel Horovitz – and, after the story blew up, the founder resigned. One reaction, by someone who used to work for the Harlequin: “My biggest fear is that it’s going to tank a very important organization in this community. It would be a shame if they burned down the house.” But it’s not the first time in recent history that the Olympia theater world has been rocked by scandal.
Top AJBlogs From The Weekend Of 04.01.18
Sultanof Arrangements, Part 2
Today, Rifftides offers the second installment of scholar, teacher and historian Jeff Sultanof’s essay on pleasures and challenges in the craft of correcting arrangements. Exploring Buried Treasure in Plain Sight, Part 2 … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2018-03-31
Jeff Sultanof On The Archeology Of Arrangements
Rifftides is delighted that Jeff Sultanof has agreed to contribute another piece. A distinguished expert on arrangers and arranging, Mr. Sultanof is the author of the invaluable book Experiencing Big Band Jazz: A … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2018-03-30
Replay: Angels in America on Broadway in 1993
Excerpts from a live performance of the original 1993 Broadway production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, shot for use by the press. The cast included Ron Leibman as Roy Cohn, Joe Mantello as Louis, … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-03-30
Almanac: Steve Gadd on art and craftsmanship
“I don’t consider myself an artist. I go out there and I try to play what’s right for the music. It seems to be a much more open approach and it would seem to allow … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-03-30