Category: today’s top story

“Let’s begin by acknowledging that in the last few seasons Southern California’s nonprofit theaters haven’t been firing on all cylinders. If they were elderly patients, their boomer children might be forgiven for wondering every now and again about nursing homes.”

“[T]he British opera scene – or at least its London flagships – boasts a dirty little secret. Quietly and cautiously, it is actually doing rather well. Houses are often full, reviews are glowing – and money continues to flow in. Instead of collapsing, donations to opera houses by individuals went up by 10 per cent in 2009, with donations by businesses rising 7 per cent.”

“The Broadway revival of Terrence McNally’s play Lips Together, Teeth Apart has been postponed for the spring season … The decision was made after the actress Megan Mullally quit the show this week because of frustration with the inexperience of a co-star, the comedian Patton Oswalt, whom she tried to have replaced.”

“Baton interchangeability is a convenient myth. … For any orchestra, the leader comes to represent the collective image and aspirations of the institution as a whole. In this case, the orchestra also simply sounds different when Levine is there, independent of his particular interpretive ideas about a given work.”

“The Roundabout will be ‘voluntarily foregoing its subsidiary rights participation for its regular runs at the Laura Pels Theatre, that began with Theresa Rebeck’s The Understudy, and at the Black Box Theatre, regardless of the length of the run.'”

“Seattle author Sherman Alexie has added another award to his groaning shelf of literary trophies – the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction for his book of short stories, essays and poems, War Dances.”

“Why pack kids in for story time … when there’s undoubtedly an App for that?” Sage Stossel’s illustrated lament over proposed library cuts and closures.

“The honour, which was announced yesterday, is the result of a campaign led by Seamus Heaney and Hughes’s successor as Poet Laureate, Sir Andrew Motion. … There is no automatic qualification for a place in Poets’ Corner, nor does admission involve any moral judgment on an individual’s character.”

“He was a hard-working, strong-minded festival administrator. From 1966 until 1998, he was also an active stage director. Yet he will always be most remembered for who he was, not what he did. His ambivalent legacy as Richard Wagner’s grandson dominated his life, thoughts and work.”

“Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, which premiered at a 65-seat south London pub theatre, has pulled off a huge shock at this year’s Olivier Awards, beating both Jerusalem and Enron to the Best New Play Award.” Many of the other winners had U.S. origins: prizes went to Spring Awakening, Hello, Dolly!, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.