Justin Davidson: “I, too, joined the scoffer’s chorus when the latest designs emerged in March, but the longer I’ve spent studying these paltry materials and pacing the site, the more promise I feel the project has.” – New York Magazine
Blog
A Crossroads For The Oregon Shakespeare Festival
The nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit repertory theater company is at a pivotal moment, with change at the top and challenges everywhere. It’s bringing in its first new artistic director in 12 years and preparing to start a search for a new executive director. It’s coming off a smoke-plagued 2018 season that ended with 26 outdoor performances either canceled or moved indoors, $2.3 million in losses and 16 layoffs. – The Oregonian
Comedy’s A Tricky Act. It’s All About The Context (And The Audience)
Comedy poses a threat to sovereign power not only because of its anarchic bent, but because it makes light of such momentous matters as suffering and death, hence diminishing the force of some of the judicial sanctions that governing classes tend to keep up their sleeve. – Commonweal
How Art Became Prestige Currency For The Rich
Michael Shnayerson’s new book, Boom: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art argues that contemporary art, once a thing artists made and dealers tried (unsuccessfully) to sell, has become a form of fiat currency for the very rich. – Bloomberg
Annette Benning Simply Will Not Tell You How She Gets To The Depths Of Her Characters
“She wished she could talk about it, she said in her barrel-aged voice. She likes to read actors’ interviews, scouring them for details of life and craft. … She wanted to be cooperative. She wanted to support the show. … Yet discussing how she prepared the role, how she plays it would mean intellectualizing it, distancing herself from it, violating something veiled, even sacred, at the core of what she does.” – The New York Times
Perilous orchestra life
Another subject that ought to be in the book I’ve imagined, one about the history of US orchestras from the 1980s to the present: structural deficits. – Greg Sandow
Bradley Cooper Talks About Music, Directing, And GaGa
“When Cooper talks about A Star Is Born being deeply personal, you can see why. It’s about art that crosses cultural lines, it’s about a love of music, and it’s about the conflict between art and fame, the way celebrity can box you in and interfere with artistic goals — like his desire to direct.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
A Brief History Of The Laugh Track — The Shame Of Sitcoms? Or The Sine Qua Non?
“TV and film star David Niven griped in 1955 that ‘the laugh track is the greatest single affront to public intelligence I know of.’ … But consider for a moment the unheralded achievements of the laugh track. It allowed directors to leave their live studio audiences behind and shoot scenes on location. It gave at-home viewers someone to laugh along with. And, if you believe the sparse scientific research and the anecdotal evidence from Hollywood, it made jokes funnier.” – Quartz
Historically, Many Civilizations Have Collapsed. This Time Might Be Different
In the past, civilization often declined gradually. Also, sometimes the decline was good for some members of society as their rulers were overthrown. But we live in a much more interconnected world, and our fates are intertwined. – Aeon
There’s A Whole New Crop Of South Asian-American Stand-Up Comedians Coming
“They’re finding strength in numbers that have swelled in the wake of new role models, mounting recurring group shows with names like Kutti Gang and Brown Privilege in New York, and Desi Comedy Festival [in California]. … (It’s also no small thing to have people like [Mindy] Kaling and [Hasan] Minhaj to point to when arguing with immigrant parents who may disapprove of even their adult offspring pursuing stand-up.)” – The Daily Beast