Should a judge allow the Barnes Collection to move from its current suburban home to Philadelphia? There’s been little evidence to convince critic Edward Sozanski that the move would work out for the best. The judge “can’t let the Barnes perish, and he must also contend with two situations, over which he hasn’t any control, that militate against staying put.”
Blog
Trying To Love The WTC Memorial (It’s Difficult)
James Russell is trying very hard not to hate the design for the WTC memorial – even after the revisions. “What it takes to make a commemorative work of design meaningful can be quite subtle—and quite hard to evaluate before it’s built, even in slick computer-produced images. But aspects of the revised Ground Zero memorial raise questions, lots of them.”
Ancient City Found Under Naples
A port city dating back to the 2nd Century has been found under Naples. “Extending into the heart of present-day Naples, the second-century port was found 13 meters (43 feet) beneath one of the city’s main squares, not far from the 13th-century Maschio Angioino fortress. Evidence for the ancient Mediterranean port included a 10-meter (33-foot) ship, wooden pieces belonging to piers, and various items.”
Ode To Emily Dickinson
“Dickinson’s fame has always been fed by myth. She was the virgin poetess dressed in white, the tremulous daughter who never left her father’s house, the maiden who turned to art because she was thwarted in love. Hard-working biographers notwithstanding, myth often wins out.”
The Trouble With Taboo
What went wrong with “Taboo,” the Broadway musical that is closing after losing $10 million? “There are no ‘villains’ in this story, really – just a volatile, distracted and ultimately ineffectual producer; a weak director; a timid bookwriter who watched his key scenes get cut because they couldn’t be acted or directed properly; and a star, Boy George, who wrote a fine score (let’s give him his due) but wasn’t much of an actor. One person involved in “Taboo” calls the show a “missed opportunity. There are a lot of really good things in it, there just wasn’t anyone around who could pull it all together.”
Uta Hagen, 84
Hagen played Broadway stages for 50 years, and “wrote what many consider the actor’s bible on performing.” She was “particularly known for playing the brutal, braying Martha in the original production of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, was as at ease with such modern playwrights as Albee, Clifford Odets and Tennessee Williams as with the works of Shakespeare, Shaw or Chekhov.”
How Music Affects Our Brains
“Music plays tunes in the brain that scientists are just beginning to hear. Recent discoveries include how people’s emotional reaction to music can alleviate pain, why certain musical intervals sound more pleasing than others, and how musical training alters the growing brains of children.”
TV Ratings Down…What To Do?
If American TV execs are panicking about their ratings being down, they’re not showing it to critics. “This TV season, viewership for NBC is down 9 per cent, for CBS it’s down 3 per cent, ABC is down 5 per cent and Fox isn’t down at all, but it isn’t growing either. In fact Fox can thank a handful of avidly watched baseball games for its holding-steady starts. You’d think this might cause a touch of panic at NBC, for instance, but devil the bit of it.”
Country Music Sales Down 10 Percent In 2003
Sales of Country Music declined in the US last year by a whopping 10 percent. That compares to an overall decline in music sales of one percent. “Country album sales fell from 76.9 million to 69.3 million units – a 9.8 percent drop, according to figures released Monday by Nielsen SoundScan, a group that monitors music sales.” Music executives blame the lack of new blockbuster releases in 2003.
Boston: What, No Tchaikovsky?
James Levine is taking over the Boston Symphony next season. And he’s taking the orchestra in a direction it hasn’t been. “What is new in Levine’s programming for the orchestra is an emphasis on the whole of the 20th century, not just the first third. Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Bartok appear, as they have for decades — but so do midcentury figures as diverse as Gershwin and Messiaen, and such late-century masters as Ligeti, Lutoslawski, and Elliott Carter. The 21st century is represented on Levine’s programs by new works from Milton Babbitt, Charles Wuorinen, and Boston’s John Harbison.”