“Laboulaye’s creative work has been eclipsed by his political career” — a judge during France’s Second Empire, he was committed to women’s rights and the end of slavery — “but in his day he was recognized as a writer of fiction, too, and especially known for his fairy tales … [in which] rulers are more often than not oppressors, and women and outcasts and peasants usually win out.” – The New York Review of Books
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The Aretha Franklin Doc ‘Amazing Grace’ Is To Documentaries What Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote Movie Is To Features
Which is to say that, like Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, it was eagerly anticipated, took decades to get done, got stopped immediately before a premiere screening by a lawsuit, and generally ill-starred if not cursed. Reporter Natalie Rinn tells the tale. – The New York Times
Not A Revolution, Exactly: James Baldwin Talks To Robert Penn Warren About The Nature Of The Civil Rights Movement
“It is a very peculiar revolution because, in order to succeed at all, it has to have as its aim the reestablishment of the Union. And a great, radical shift in American mores, in the American way of life. … The hope has to be to create a new nation under intolerable circumstances and in very little time and against the resistance of most of the country.” – Literary Hub
Who, Us? Of Course We’re All Black, Hungarian ‘Porgy And Bess’ Cast Members Tell Gershwin Estate
“The Hungarian State Opera has asked the nearly all-white cast … to sign a statement declaring that ‘African-American origin and identity is an inseparable part of my identity’ and made being in Porgy and Bess ‘a special joy.'” – Yahoo! (AP)
Designing An Arena Specially For Video-Game Tournaments
The Fusion Arena, a $50 million, 65,000-square-foot venue dedicated to esports, is set to open in 2021 in Philadelphia’s sports district. Primarily, “[it] will host home games for the Philadelphia Fusion, the professional nine-person team in the 20-team Overwatch League, … but the arena will also host occasional outside events.” – CityLab
Quiz Bowl — Like College Football, But For ‘Jeopardy!’
Ken Jennings, Jeopardy! all-star and an alum of Brigham Young University’s quiz bowl team (and a fine writer), gives a look inside what’s become quite a youth subculture: “Quiz bowl: molding the Jeopardy! gladiators of tomorrow, one little brainiac at a time.” – Slate
Wait, Did Russell Maliphant Just Choreograph A Dance About Rolfing?
Not exactly, no, but Silent Lines is about “the internal environment of the body” and very much draws on his training in Rolfing, the deep-tissue massage technique, and in other forms of bodywork. Writer Anna Winter talks with Maliphant about what he’s after in his new piece. – The Stage
They’ve Found The Cause Of The Fire That Destroyed Brazil’s National Museum
The culprit was one of three air conditioning units on the ground floor of the two-century-old building. The machines weren’t installed according to manufacturer’s recommendations for grounding and separate circuit breakers, and all three were receiving a more powerful electrical current than they were designed for. – Smithsonian Magazine
Germany’s Orchestral Scene Isn’t As Marvelous As It May Look To Outsiders
“Germany might have more orchestras [than other countries], but it also has more musicians (including those flooding in from abroad) looking to fill positions in them. The audition procedure is often archaic, unnecessarily nerve-racking and, with strict voting systems, sometimes deeply frustrating. Musicians go from one temporary contract to the next in the vain search for the security of a permanent position.” – The Strad
Opera-Ballet-Concert House Flooded By Sprinkler System, Closed Indefinitely
The municipal theater in Duisburg, a city in Germany’s industrial Ruhr Valley, saw 80,000 liters of water pour over the stage, the floors, and crucial building infrastructure following a mishap during sprinkler system testing. (No answer yet as to whether the cause was mechanical or human.) The venue is home to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Ballett am Rhein, the Schauspiel (spoken theater) and the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra. (in German; for Google Translate version, click here) – WDR (Cologne)