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Passages ‘I Cannot Unread, Unhear, Unknow’ — What’s Really Horrifying About Woody Allen’s Memoir

Mark Harris: “So forget the movies — he certainly has. What remains is the man, and on that score, Apropos of Nothing is one of the most unsettling accounts of a life I ever hope never to encounter again. … From its first pages, what is meant to amuse is as discomforting as steel-wool underwear.” – Vulture

After Half A Century, Glenn Gould’s Radio Documentaries Still Seem Avant-Garde

Shortly after the pianist abandoned live performance for good, he started making nonfiction radio programs for the CBC, the best-known of which are called the “Solitude Trilogy”: The Idea of North (about life in sub-Arctic Manitoba), The Latecomers (Newfoundland outports), and The Quiet Land (an isolated Mennonite community). The voices of those he interviewed are “intertwined as though contrapuntal voices in a Bach fugue or suite. Several could be sometimes be heard at once, each artfully edited, syllable by syllable, so that their rhythms made a certain sense as one emerged and another faded.” – Los Angeles Times

The Pandemic Has Left Cirque Du Soleil Staring Down Bankruptcy

“Its vast army of 1,800 artists relies on international travel to get from show to show, regularly crossing borders, performing on cruise ships, and interacting with fans. Daily training regimens require constant physical contact. The entire operation depends on an intricate logistical network of cargo ships, trucks, hotels, and food-service businesses, all of which have ground to a halt. In effect, government bans on large gatherings are a ban on Cirque itself, leaving a company that generated an estimated $950 million last year with essentially ‘zero revenues'” and debt that S&P and Moody’s have now assigned junk-bond status. – Fast Company

Tips For Streaming Live Theater From The Guys Who Did It Really Well

Earlier this week, Helen Shaw wrote that the Broadway.com stream of Jonathan Tolin’s Buyer & Cellar was “the proof-of-concept for low-budget live-capture.” So she talked to the people who made it happen — director Nic Cory, star Michael Urie, director of photography (and Urie’s partner) Ryan Spahn, digital director (and Broadway.com editor-in-chief) Paul Wontorek — about the details that really made it work (including the ones they learned the hard way). – Vulture

Want To Really Appreciate Your Delivery People And Supermarket Cashiers? Re-Read Studs Terkel’s ‘Working’

“Today, as the pandemic reshapes the ways we understand our work life and its meaning, Terkel’s supermarket workers would be classified ‘essential’ to the smooth continuity of society. Yet they would also receive modest wages (at best) and come to work knowing that they will be exposed daily to COVID-19. It’s doubtful being ‘essential’ would leave them feeling any more valued. Or as Working described it nearly a half century ago, many of the workers who keep this country humming are the same people we regard as social wallpaper and take for granted.” – Chicago Tribune

The Composer For Quarantine Consolation — Bach? Beethoven? Brahms? How About Leroy Anderson?

What, the guy who wrote all those pops-concert pieces like The Typewriter, The Syncopated Clock, and Sleigh Ride? Yes, says Anthony Tommasini: “Bach provides solace, Beethoven stirs us with resolve and Brahms probes aching emotional ambiguities. But trust me: Leroy Anderson will make you feel better about things.” – The New York Times

As Epidemic Seems To Fade, Germany And Austria Move Toward Reopening Museums

In Germany, it’s a state-by-state process: small museums in Brandenburg are reopening this week, with Thuringia next week, Saxony and Berlin in early May and the rest of the country following. Austria’s museums will open their doors in mid-May, though larger ones such as the Belvedere may wait as late as July. Distancing procedures and other safety measures are being developed with Teutonic thoroughness. – ARTnews