London’s West End is stuffed full of Old Chestnut revivals. “All the big musical shows are designed to make audiences feel safe about going to the theatre. This is a valid, indeed admirable, function of the art form; most people don’t want to buy a £50 ticket for the shock of the new. We hanker after entertainment as a comfort zone. But there is a danger that by leaving new work almost entirely to the subsidised and fringe theatres, the West End will prosper only as a money-making mausoleum.”
Blog
The Battle For New Orleans
“Rebuilding ‘The City That Care Forgot’ represents the greatest urban renewal project in American history, but nearly everyone with a stake in the city’s future agrees that the outcome is far from certain: Will officials oversee a process that yields a stunning model for 21st-century living, or will fighting among special interests produce a more homogeneous, tourist-centric New Orleans?”
How Have Movies Influenced Visual Art?
“In the 19th century, painting was supreme, prints were a lesser form of painting, and photography was artistic only insofar as it aspired to the condition of painting. What happened, though, when technology and representation collided at the end of that century to create the motion picture, a whole new way of visualizing reality? Did still pictures change when there emerged a new kind of picture, one that moved? Might Thomas Eakins and Thomas Edison have shared more than just a first name and monogram?”
Embracing Doctor Atomic
John Adams’ “Doctor Atomic” debuts in San Francisco. “In a risky stroke Peter Sellars assembled a libretto from interviews with the project participants, history books, conversation transcripts, declassified documents and poetry. His cut-and-paste job has produced a libretto of heightened emotional resonance and surprising dramatic continuity. With Mr. Adams’s haunting score, what results is a complex, searching and painfully honest if somewhat problematic opera.”
Madness In The Floorboards Disturbs Paris ArtWorld
A long screed carved into a floor by a schizophrenic French farmer has become Paris’ most controversial artwork. “Since the Plancher de Jeannot (Jeannot’s Floorboards) went on display last week, it has created an unprecedented stir. ‘People are terribly disturbed by it. Some feel it should not be on public view.’ The carving – 80 lines of text, in capital letters with no punctuation – contains references to Hitler, to Popes and to an infernal machine that controls humans. The work raises painful questions about whether madness can be artistic.”
Pittsburgh Symphony Musicians Downsize Their Deal
Pittsburgh Symphony musicians have agreed to a new contract with some big concessions. “During the first year of the new contract, which runs through Aug. 31, 2008, musicians will take a 4.2 percent pay reduction, resulting in a savings of $500,000. The orchestra, which posted a $500,000 deficit last year, will reduce the number of musicians from 99 to 95 and institute a hiring freeze. In year two of the contract, an unpaid week of vacation and the hiring freeze will save $1 million. In year three, the PSO will save $900,000.”
August Wilson, 60
The playwright has died of liver cancer only a few months after announcing the diagnosis. “Radio Golf,” the last of the 10 plays that constitute Mr. Wilson’s majestic theatrical cycle, opened at the Yale Repertory Theater last spring and has subsequently been produced in Los Angeles. It was the concluding chapter in a spellbinding story that began more than two decades ago, when Mr. Wilson’s play “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” had its debut at the same theater, in 1984, and announced the arrival of a major talent, fully matured.”
Schizophrenic Book World Worries About Quills
“You gotta admit a nationally televised awards show for authors has its challenges. Let’s face it, most honorees are just a tad lower on the recognition-o-meter than your average Gwyneth Paltrows and George Clooneys. But for some, that’s just the start of the problems with the Quill Awards, which, in the book world, has managed to strike as many nerves as the plastic surgeon who paralyzed Joan Rivers’ face.”
Do Artist Training Programs Work?
Of course they do. Just look at Chicago Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. The training program was launched in 1974 to “give promising young opera singers professional-level training and stage experience.” Look at what its graduates have accoplished…
Illegal Downloads Still Dominate Canada
“Canadians illegally download 14 music CDs or other files from the Internet for every file they take from the web legally, a new recording-industry poll suggests.”