Well, at least in the UK: “Poetry book sales have gone up by more than 50% in four years, while there are now more than 30 annual events devoted to celebrating spoken and written verse.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
Why Is Hollywood Leadership In Such Flux Right Now?
Because the business model is changing. “You could bring in genius people to run these studios, … and I don’t think the overall problems are going to change.”
Top AJ Blog Posts For The Weekend Of 03.26.17
Squatting at The Bunker in London
‘Home Truths: An Incomplete History of Housing Told in Nine Plays.’ The play cycle runs from April 17 through May 13. … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2017-03-26
Mr. P.C. Found
You must have been wondering—haven’t we all?—what happened to Mr. P.C.’s Guide To Jazz Etiquette And Bandstand Decorum. The jazz world’s indispensible source of advice has become harder to find, but not … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-03-25
The love of community
This Arts Advocacy Day, the stakes are much higher. As we work to make the case for the arts, we wonder, is our data keeping pace? We’re using love (or breakup) letters as a creative and … read more
AJBlog: Field NotesPublished 2017-03-24
Apollo Meets the Higgs Boson
Emily Coates’ Incarnations premieres at St. Marks’ Church, March 16 through 18. Emily Coates’ Incarnations (dress rehearsal). Apollo leads the Muses. L to R: Iréne Hultman, Emily Coates, Sarah Demers, and Yvonne Rainer. Photo: Alexis … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2017-03-24
It’s Steve Kuhn’s Birthday
Pianist Steve Kuhn, born in 1938, is celebrating his birthday. Let’s celebrate with him as he, bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Billy Drummond play Charlie Parker’s “Confirmation.” Kuhn’s unaccompanied introduction explores a … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-03-24
They’re gonna need a bigger helicopter
In today’s Wall Street Journal I review the Broadway revival of Miss Saigon. Here’s an excerpt. * * * “Miss Saigon,” in which Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, the makers of “Les Misérables,” turned “Madame … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-03-24
Tracy Moffatt Is The First Indigenous Australian To Exhibit At The Venice Biennale
Photographer and filmmaker Moffatt never wants to repeat herself. The pavilion “will feature two new large-scale photographic suites and two films. Commissioned by Naomi Milgrom and curated by Natalie King, the exact nature of the works in this exhibition is still a tightly guarded secret, but Moffatt says she used a lot of natural light – often shooting directly into the sun.”
Theatre Isn’t Just Fun; It’s Work, And It’s Necessary
Harvey Fierstein: “I’ve heard that more tickets are sold on Broadway in a year than are sold to all the city’s major sports team events combined. Wouldn’t it be great if the last seven minutes of the news every night was dedicated to theater?”
A New Ballet That’s Most Definitely Not About ‘Relationships’
Unless one considers the relationships among the criminally insane and their terrible “care”-givers a traditional ballet subject, a new ballet inspired by Frederick Wiseman’s 1967 long-censored documentary “The Titicut Follies” will likely be a bit of a surprise. “Adapting the film’s troubling message has been a challenge for every artist involved in the new ballet.”
An Unslakable Thirst For David Hockney Paintings Means Tate Britain Will Stay Open Until Midnight
No, seriously. People love their Hockney, and he returns the favor: “The vast audience that his retrospective has attracted is sure to please Hockney, who has always been an advocate for his art being not for a small elite.”
This Actress Uses A Wheelchair And Is Playing Laura In ‘Glass Menagerie’ – Exploitation Or Progress?
Broadway audiences are used to perfectly abled bodies, as are reviewers, which might be why some reviewers are having a hard time with Madison Ferris’ Laura. But, despite a few Off-Broadway and other companies having better representation, on Broadway, actors with visible disabilities “remain a rare occurrence, and as a result Broadway remains unrepresentative of the full range of humanity.”
Vladimir Lenin Loved Literature, And That Shaped The Russian Revolution
“In April of [1917], he broke with Russian social-democratic orthodoxy and, in a set of radical theses, called for a socialist revolution in Russia. A number of his own close comrades denounced him. In a sharp riposte, Lenin quoted Mephistopheles from Goethe’s masterwork: ‘Theory, my friend, is grey, but green is the eternal tree of life.'”
As The Senate Votes To Make Our Online Information Less Secure, What Can We Do To Protect Ourselves?
Nothing is certain, but there are a few ways to help stop your ISP from collecting everything about you. “Here, we’re talking about a very specific problem: how to stop internet service providers from mass-collecting information about perfectly legal things you do online.”