Glenn Close: “I’m proud my character elicited such a visceral response. Now she’s considered one of the greatest villains ever, and that to me is a mistake. I’ve never thought of her as a villain, just in distress.”
Adrian Lyne, director: “I never realized, 30 years later, people would still be talking about bunny boilers.”
Blog
A Fyre-Festival-Level Fiasco For Contemporary Classical Music
“For a first-time festival, the Newport Contemporary Music Series boasted a program that might make even Tanglewood blush: a star-studded lineup featuring appearances by Philip Glass, four-time Academy Award winner André Previn, and Lord of the Rings composer Howard Shore.” It ended up, alas, as what an official with the Boston musicians’ union described as “probably the greatest amateur act the union has ever seen.” A bass player contracted for that festival orchestra says it was a disaster “epic proportions that will go down in the Boston freelancing lore of nonpaying gigs.” Malcolm Gay explains how it all came crashing down.
Why Big Musicals Have Become Big Business
“On the heels of its most lucrative season yet, with a record-setting $1.37b in ticket sales, Broadway has experienced something of a rebirth. From the success of La La Land on the big screen to Hamilton onstage, there’s a collective renewed interest in theater that’s been reflected in a wave of movie-musicals and televised live-concert experiences. All of this seems, to entertainment industry insiders, like the chorus following a crescendo.” How has this happened? Disney and Glee.
Black Artist Takes Down His Nat Turner Paintings After Complaint, And More Controversy Ensues
“[Stephen Towns’s] Joy Cometh in the Morning series presents six painted figures, each representing a martyr from the rebellion … In Towns’s vision, each wears a noose around their necks, held in place by one raised fist, a gesture of black power.” An employee at one venue where the paintings were shown objected, “stating that she shouldn’t have to look at black faces with nooses around their necks at work.” Towns immediately withdrew the series from the show, leaving blue tape on the walls where each canvas had been. Cara Ober writes about the debate than ensued.
We Need Great Administrators As Much As We Need Great Artists
Susan Medak, longtime managing director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre, speaking at the TCG National Conference: “At the risk of being run out of this room on a rail, I would argue that great art alone is not going to make the American theatre healthy again. We need great artistic leaders and, more than ever, we need administrative leaders who will help us navigate these uncertain times. … After all, where would Zelda have been without Tom Fichandler, or Joe Papp without Bernie Gersten?”
Oregon Bach Festival Settles With Fired Director For $90,000 (And Non-Disparagement Clause)
“The University of Oregon agreed to pay a $90,000 settlement to fired Oregon Bach Festival Artistic Director Matthew Halls this week, in the midst of a public relations disaster over his abrupt termination in August. Under the terms of the settlement, which the UO released in response to a media request, Halls agreed not to sue the UO, and both parties agreed to make no ‘negative or disparaging’ written or oral statements about each other, publicly or privately, in ‘any medium.'”
Isabelle Faust Upsets Joyce DiDonato For Gramophone’s Record Of The Year Award
DiDonato’s disc “In War and Peace” won the Gramophone Awards’ Recital category and was a favorite for the overall prize, but the winner was a period-instrument recording of Mozart’s violin concertos by Isabelle Faust and the orchestra Il Giardino Armonico. (Giardino also won the Orchestral category with a recording of Haydn symphonies; both discs competed in mainstream categories rather than those limited to period instruments.) Artist of the Year went to conductor Vasily Petrenko.
Brazil’s First-Ever Major Queer Art Exhibition Shut Down In Face Of Right-Wing Outrage
The show at the Santander Bank Cultural Center in Pôrto Alegre, titled “Queermuseu,” had been running for more than three weeks without incident when a self-styled “libertarian” group called the Free Brazil Movement (which was heavily involved in the movement to impeach former president Dilma Rouseff) began vehement protests of the exhibition on social media, argiung that the show promoted pedophilia, bestiality, and blasphemy. (There are no images in the show depicting sex with children or animals.) Santander Bank abruptly shut the show down, not even notifying the curator. Now protesters have been gathering to demand that “Queermuseu” reopen.
Bramwell Tovey Headed From Vancouver Symphony To Boston
Tovey, the longest-serving music director in the VSO’s history, steps down at the end of this season and will become director of orchestral activities for Boston University’s School of Music.
How A Post-Industrial Yorkshire City Became A Hotbed Of Ballet Talent
The secret of Hull’s success is the Skelton Hooper Ballet School, which trained a slew of principals at leading ballet companies in Europe, most notably Xander Parish (now at the Mariinsky) and Royal Ballet director Kevin O’Hare.