Category: AJBlogs

• Wanna Direct the National Gallery of Art? (Job Description Below) When Earl (Rusty) Powell IIIannounced his intention to retire in early 2019 from the directorship of the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, I wrote that our country’s “two preeminent [art] institutions could … read more
  AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-07-10

• Where Culture Meets Community “What do you mean by the word community?” is a question I’m often asked when talking about the Creative Community Fellows program. And rightfully so. The term community is so over-used that it has become … read more
  AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2018-07-10

• Weinstein’s Rehab Reading “Harvey Weinstein entered New York State Supreme Court yesterday clutching a copy of A Talent for Trouble. Was Weinstein looking for someone to teach him about being a mensch?” — Leon Freilich He walked … read more
  AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2018-07-10

• Axel, Lutz, Salchow — whodunnit at Garsington Opera? It’s not very often that you hear and seen an opera in which you worry about (or care) whodunnit. Even Nicol Muhly’s (I thought splendid) Marnie, which had its world première in London … read more
  AJBlog: Plain English Published 2018-07-10
  

• The Dark Magic of Ottessa Moshfegh
  

  IT’s not often that I pick up a book and get a new favorite writer. But that’s pretty close to what happened when a story collection called Homesick For Another World, by a young … read more
  AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2018-07-09

• Tab Hunter, 1931-2018
  

  Tony Perkins, Tab Hunter. Is that glass about to crash? Tab Hunter passed away Sunday, it was announced by his husband. The 2005 autobiography Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star was filled with … read more
  AJBlog: Out There Published 2018-07-09

• Min Xioa-Fen brings Jazz to the Chinese Pipa and Ruan
  

  I have always been impressed with Howard Mandel’s musical choices for the annual Jazz Journalists Association awards gala. This year was no different, with a major awards nod to women in jazz. The show … read more
  AJBlog: OtherWorldly Published 2018-07-09

• Watrous Plays Rifftides readers sent so many interesting comments about the passing of Bill Watrous, and about Alexandra Leh’s remembrance the following day, that the staff has voted to reward you all with video of … read more
  AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-07-06
• When the king is a queen In today’s Wall Street Journal I review two of the Hudson Valley Shakepeare Festival’s new productions, Richard IIand The Taming of the Shrew. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Seven years ago, it was … read more
  AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2018-07-06

• Guest Columnist: A Break in the Performance Regular CultureCrash guest columnist Lawrence Christon has a new piece about an incident in St. Louis that brings together a number of tendencies in the arts. Of course, the situation he writes about echoes … read more
  AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2018-07-05

• NNOI Festival = 90% Water Living organisms are gathering near the old water mill in Groswaltersdorf, 70 kilometers north of Berlin. NNOI Festival 2018 … read more
  AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2018-07-05

• So you want to see a show? Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more … read more
  AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2018-07-05

• Bill Watrous Has Died Trombonist Bill Watrous died yesterday in Los Angeles at the age of 79. Celebrated for his skill and speed, Watrous employed those attributes in a career that began with Billy Butterfield and … read more
  AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-07-03 
• Propwatch: the pencils in Fun Home The urge to rewrite the past is irresistible. To make yourself more cool, your family more content, to turn grim endings into happy ones. Fun Home (at London’s Young Vic), the engrossingly imaginative musical … read more
  AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2018-07-03 
• Trend Bender: Baltimore Museum’s “Canon Correction” Needs Correction In the interests of “canon correction” (as he calls it), Christopher Bedford, the Baltimore Museum of Art’s director, is doing the wrong things for the right reasons: He has acquired seven recent works (five of … read more
  AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-07-03

Monday Recommendation: Cyrille Aimée Cyrille Aimée Live (Mack Avenue) Cyrille Aimée is not a gypsy, but she has Roma fervor and intensity reminiscent of Django Reinhardt’s. It’s no wonder; when she was a little girl in northern France … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-07-02

Handguns, the Press, and Annapolis Almost a quarter century ago, I worked as intern, in my last year of journalism school, at the Baltimore Sun. This was a rough few months for me — I earned nothing for five-days-a-week … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2018-07-02