Ballet is ballet, right? Just as in music, a global sensibility has eradicated national styles, right? Not exactly. “Variations in ballet style make life for balletgoers more interesting, by reminding audiences that companies from different countries and schools have very different, culturally inflected ways of performing a codified technique that is generally thought to be the same everywhere.”
Tag: 02.23.03
ACTing Out: Lessons From A Seattle Theatre
Theatre people across America were shocked last week when Seattle’s ACT Theatre announced it was on the verge of closing, nearly sunk by debt. Could the theatre’s predicament happen elsewhere, wonders Frank Rizzo? “The problems in Seattle only remind us that simply supporting building projects and not what happens when these buildings open is a short-sighted vision, one that could ultimately reflect a legacy of losers.”
Re-Understanding Prokofiev
Fifty years after Prokofiev’s death, his operas are taking on different meanings from when they were first created. “Perhaps the art of Soviet Russia will come to resemble the art of revolutionary France. For a while, for decades after the Terror, there were paintings of David’s that caused such horror that they could scarcely be shown – for David was notorious as a supporter of terror. But then that part of their meaning drained away. For 50 years Prokofiev wrote operas. In the 50 years since his death, these works have begun to make their way. It’s the slowness of the process that’s impressive -the slowness and, to be sure, the sureness too.”
Popularity – A Matter Of Volume?
When a singer like Norah Jones has a big success – more than 4 million albums served – theories about why abound. “Overlooked in all this conjecture is the essential trait of Jones’ music, the thing that makes it appeal to all those constituencies: It’s quiet. Intimate. Drawn to human scale. Come Away is the first multi-platinum success in years to suggest that a singer doesn’t have to shout, physically or metaphorically, to be heard. Now that is radical.”
Head Of The Class – Covent Garden’s Pappano
Covent Garden waited four years waiting Antonio Pappano, its new music director. “The man is a live wire, and after a few months he has electrified the entire building. The Royal Opera needed just an invigorating shock. ‘Years ago, some one gave me Solti’s memoirs, and when I got to the part where he described coming to Covent Garden as music director I had the weirdest feeling: I knew in my bones that I would get this job’.”
The Danger Of ‘The Next Big…’
Everyone wants to know when the next Nureyev is coming. Or the next Baryshnikov. Or the next Balanchine. Or the next Graham. But why, asks Jack Anderson, are we so bound and determined to replace these legends? They were irreplacable, and the fact that they are gone shouldn’t mean that today’s dance stars should be expected to live up to what they accomplished. By constantly focusing on what the dance world has lost, we risk not recognizing the true innovators of today.
So How Is Anyone Supposed To Know You Exist?
“For today’s artists there’s no shame in being market-savvy. In the post-Warhol era, licensing agreements, movie deals and publicity campaigns are increasingly regarded as legitimate extensions of the art-making process. But one corner of the art world still embraces the ideal of art uncorrupted by commerce. In the field of outsider art, creators who show too much interest in marketing are likely to find their work devalued, if not shunned altogether.”
The Ever-Expanding, Never-Improving Grammys
There are too many categories at the Grammys. Way too many. “This year, the 45th annual awards are up to 104 categories, including completely indistinguishable ones like best R & B album and best contemporary R & B album; more are doubtless on the way.” So with all those statues waiting to be given out, why are the Grammys so singularly incapable of rewarding musicians who deserve it?
Classical Grammy: Who Would Win If The Heathens Didn’t Get a Vote?
“A perennial anticlimax for classical fans is the fact that, although a blue-ribbon committee of classical specialists determines the Grammy nominees… the opportunity to cast votes for the winners is thrown open to all Recording Academy members, including many from nonclassical genres. In previous years, they appear to have picked classical winners on the basis of artist name recognition and weight, in tons, of marketing materials behind each album.” Of course, since almost no one watches the Grammys to see who wins the classical awards, we might as well just decide now who ought to win. Gwendolyn Freed is up to the task.
In Pursuit Of Ennui
A new academic history of boredom brings up some interesting notions about the way we spend our lives. The idea of being bored is actually a somewhat recent one, but the minute it got a name, absolutely everyone had to have a piece of it. As the world becomes more saturated with entertainment options, boredom has actually increased, as have attempts to cure it with, well, more entertainment options. “One of the more unexpected findings is that the best cure for boredom might be… more boredom. Or wearing a polar bear costume. In the war against monotony, people have tried all sorts of unusual remedies.”