Tesori, who wrote the music for 2015’s Tony Award-winning Best Musical (and Best Score, not incidentally) Fun Home (oh, and 2004’s Caroline, or Change, and Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Shrek: The Musical, and, and, and), is having quite a moment. Here’s how she got to Broadway from pre-med.
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The Subversive Immigrant-Focused Sphere Of Hasan Minhaj’s New Netflix Talk Show, Patriot Act
With 32 episodes ordered for the talk show, and a reach meant to extend to 200 countries, Patriot Act is momentous for U.S. talk shows – and for Netflix. “Minhaj often uses phrases such as ‘our own community,’ or refers to the audience as ‘we,’ in his segments, as if everyone in the crowd shared a brown, Muslim psyche, like himself. A glance at the studio audience on any given Wednesday — the show airs every Sunday — indicates he’s not totally off.”
British Government Blocks Export Of JMW Turner Painting
The painting, which sold at auction for £3.4 million, was the first one created in open air by the British artist. The arts minister: “It has so much significance for artistic and historical reasons that it is right that we do all we can to save this masterpiece for the benefit of the nation.”
From T-Shirt To Book Club To Literary Festival, And Now To Book (And Book Tour)
Glory Edim’s anthology Well-Read Black Girl got its start when she got a T-shirt with those words on it as a gift. Now she’s got a massive book club following, a book, a book tour – and the goal of bringing as many Black women writers with her as she can. “We can cherish and uplift black work and artistry across all genres in the literary space,” she says. “Also, we should be using social media and all its glory to uplift the new work that is being created.”
The British Independent Film Awards Really, Really Liked ‘The Favourite’
Whoa. The film about Queen Anne and two of her courtiers – and their rivalry – won “a record haul of 10 prizes, including best film, best actress for Olivia Colman, best supporting actress for Rachel Weisz and best director for Yorgos Lanthimos.”
Prepping For A Big Change At Berkeley Rep
As longtime artistic director Tony Taccone leaves and new AD Johanna Pfaelzer comes in, Berkeley Rep’s managing director, Susan Medak, explains how that transition is working. “Part of the culture is undeniably a result of Tony having been here for twenty-two years. … I’ve also been saying, ‘As long as Tony’s here, this is the way it will be. But let’s all remember that when Tony leaves, this may be very, very different.’ That’s been a hard thing for some people to absorb but very easy for others to absorb.”
A Novelist Hailed As ‘The Voice Of The Snapchat Generation’ Deals With The Pressure
Sally Rooney’s follow-up book to her smash first novel was just named Waterstone’s Book of the Year, but she doesn’t want people to think she believes the hype. “I certainly never intended to speak for anyone other than myself. Even myself I find it difficult to speak for. My books may well fail as artistic endeavours but I don’t want them to fail for failing to speak for a generation for which I never intended to speak in the first place.”
The King And I Is Whistling A Happy Tune As It Rakes In The Money For A Theatrical ‘Event’ At The Cinema
Nothing’s more amazing than a musical, we guess: More than 135,000 people watched the cinematic broadcast of the West End musical (which transferred from Broadway), and it took in nearly 2 million pounds – and it’s getting yet more screenings.
Ask Six Directors To Chat For A Few Hours, And You Get A Wide-Ranging Discussion About Everything From Netflix To IPhones
Spike Lee says, “This is a good time to be a filmmaker … the more places that stream, they need product. They need people, they need young people. And it gives filmmakers an opportunity because there’s just more outlets.”
The Long Shadow Of Machismo In Latin American Publishing
When Nona Fernández delved into Chilean history in her novels, the reaction was “Why aren’t you writing about bulemia?” she says. Columbia writer Laura Restrepo, whose novel Leopard in the Sun was about violence between feuding drug lords, says a publisher told her she wrote like a man. “Misogyny is slow to leave the world of letters,” say seven authors – but this year, after decades, things seem to be changing.