Seattle is seeing the birth of a new movement of new opera outside traditional channels. “These productions bracket an extraordinary and sudden flowering—a dozen or so examples in as many months— of what might be called ‘homemade opera.’ Singers and composers are taking the impresario reins, presenting small-scale productions both of new operas and of neglected works by established names, making their own opportunities to perform and be heard outside a mainstream operatic culture in which young singers face stiff competition and composers are all but ignored.”
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Does Science Need A Private I. Corps?
Recently, several scientific papers have been exposed for fraud. “In the wake of these and other science scandals in the past several years-ranging from fabricated findings to misleadingly incomplete data-some editors of science publications are rethinking their roles and asking themselves whether they should act more like muckraking investigators than purveyors of scientific discovery…”
Rock On – The Dance Puzzle
“Modern dance would seem suited to rock: ordinary people, everyday clothes, ordinary families, movements that embrace myriad social dances that the music spawned. Yet curiously, it was ballet that provided the first major forum for rock…”
The Finest American Ballerina?
“Now 38 years old, in her 20th year at the New York City Ballet, Wendy Whelan has attained that rare high plane of soul-and-body synchrony where command of technique serves the spirit of a performer with something to say. Often in ballet the soul begins to wax only as the body starts to wane, and many dancers ready to converse with God find they are physically unable to keep from mumbling. But Whelan has mastered the archetypal ballet themes of Beauty, Time and Death while still in her prime.”
Birth Of The Flamenco
“Flamenco is born more in the singing, and in the playing of guitar. The dancing comes later. There are the basic palos – alegrías, tangos, siguerillas and so on – and from there you can have a very wide map, like a river.”
West Wing Gets The Ax
After seven seasons, NBC is canceling “The West Wing.” “There’s a point when you look at the ratings and say, it feels like it’s time.”
What If Laughter Really Is The Best Medicine?
A Japanese scientist suspects that laughter may affect the health of genes. “If we prove people can switch genes on and off by an emotion like laughter, it may be the finding of the century which should be worth the Nobel Prize or even go beyond that.”
Fine Actors For Obscenity? For Doing Their Jobs?
Screen Actors Guild National President Alan Rosenberg is protesting a plan for FCC legislation that would fine actors for obscenity on TV. “SAG members work primarily on scripted projects – we are hired to perform a role. To be threatened with half a million dollars in fines for doing our jobs is incomprehensible,” he said during the committee’s Jan. 19 hearing on decency in Washington D.C.
Does It Pay To Be First?
Premieres draw attention to theatre companies. But what do they do for the company? “Anybody who’s running a theatre in America today has to serve two masters: You have to serve the aesthetics of the community and give them shows they want to see, and we have to serve the art form or else we’re just doing museum pieces. Theatre is live and future-oriented, and I’d hate to think we’re just doing the familiar. Institutional theatre has got to take risks.”
Spamalot Heads Home
The Monty Python-inspired musical, Spamalot, is headed back to its spiritual and linguistic home. The wacky show, which has broken ticket sales records on Broadway, will begin a run in London’s West End this fall.