The unprecedented convergence of up-close access to troops and new whiz-bang tools of the TV trade has turned many living rooms into domestic war theaters. And as the coverage marches on, opinions of it are firing back. “We’re watching this war as though it was a video game. It seems to be an entertainment instead of war coverage,”
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Prince Charles Named President Of Royal Ballet
Prince Charles has become president of the Royal Ballet in London. “The prince is taking on the role previously held by his late aunt, Princess Margaret, the ballet announced on Thursday. The prince is well-known for his broad love of the arts, enjoying contemporary movies, rock concerts and stage shows as much as classical entertainment.”
Learning To Love Literature – Are Today’s Students More Sophisticated?
Andrew Motion, the poet laureate, recently attacked the way English is taught in schools. He attacked the “educational rat wheel” that taught young people to read set texts and pass exams, but did not teach them to love literature, and gave a list of classics his students did not know. But maybe instead of leaning great literature by rote, today’s students are better, not less, equipped to read. Perhaps “it is unrealistic to expect A-level students to have read great swaths of English literature.” Maybe “schools can only give them their bearings and an ability to read the compass if they want to make the journey later. It’s making it accessible and saying ‘you have got the skills to go away and read anything – and you will cope with it, you will make sense of it, you will enjoy it’.”
Is It Okay To Be Entertained While There’s A War Going On?
“Anecdotal evidence and a slumping box office indicate many Americans are feeling conflicted about the luxury of leisure. After two weeks of war, many are torn between an obligation to be informed and the need to take a break from it. Observers say that, people’s short-term reactions will probably center on a desire to be entertained, rather than creating high art. They add that it will take years – even decades – before the fine arts respond either to the war or to cultural shifts brought on by it and, even more profoundly, by Sept. 11.”
Cast Travels To O’Neill’s Home For a Touch Of Reality
The Broadway cast of Eugene O’Neill’s “A Long Day’s Journey Into Night” – including Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Dennehy – take a field trip to Connecticut to visit the playwright’s childhood home. “It’s nice for me to have certain things here in my head. It just gives me a visceral sense of what things mean. Like when [the character of the younger son, Edmund, says], `I don’t want to go upstairs until she’s gone to bed,’ suddenly means something else when you’ve seen how oppressive the ceilings are. Suddenly you have a mental picture for what it means to these boys to go upstairs. Of course, I’d stay up until 4 in the morning drinking if it meant avoiding going up there.”
Art As Therapy
“In contemporary culture, the idea that the practice of art making is inherently beneficial to the human psyche is a surprisingly controversial one. It is only slightly less verboten in the mental-health professions, where it is grudgingly accorded a support role to more serious verbal or pharmaceutical therapies, with the caveat that if things get too touchy-feely, it’s back to kindergarten with the finger paints and the modeling clay. Nevertheless, due to its repeatedly demonstrated effectiveness, art therapy has managed to adapt itself to every corner of the mental-health profession.”
Fistful Of Bohemes
In the past ten years, American opera companies have staged 189 productions of Puccini’s “La Boheme”. This weekend, New Yorkers have their choice of three Bohemes – at the Met, at New York City Opera, and on Broadway… Anthony Tommasini checks off the goods and bads…
SaatchiWorld
Who is Charles Saatchi? The most important figure in British art in the 1990s. The Guardian has packaged a portrait of Saatchi – the artists he’s discovered and helped, the art he’s championed…
Capitol Site For Black History Museum?
A presidential commission recommends building the new Black History Museum on a Washington DC site near the Capitol. “As we did our town hall meetings around the country, we found that the overwhelming sentiment and expressions were that the museum should be on the Mall, should be associated and affiliated with the Smithsonian, and it should tell the whole story of African American history in this country from slavery to modern times. This advance in the development of the museum does not guarantee that it will be built. The backers of the project will have to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from public and private sources. There are also legislative hurdles. But the recommendation by the presidential commission is an important step and gives supporters a more specific idea to sell.”
The Broadway Producer Who Made It
Broadway producer Cy Feuer’s memoir of life in the theatre is the classic American story. It’s an old – and compelling – message: “This is America, where any kid can become president, or at least producer of “Guys and Dolls,” “Can-Can,” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and “Cabaret.” That’s what Cy Feuer did.”