“[Theresa] Rebeck’s argument would gain credibility and traction if she questioned things like why the only show from last season’s crop to transfer from off to Broadway is Geoffrey Nauffts’ ‘Next Fall’ — about gay men. Consider, after all, that several plays written by women had very healthy runs last year but didn’t transfer….”
Tag: 03.17.10
Setting Novel In Paris Landmark Earns Author A Lawsuit
“Arguing that certain passages in her fictional depiction of a business rocked by threats, voodoo and staff abductions are defamatory, they are taking her to court and demanding €2m (£1.8m) in damages.”
Hanoi Tries Out ‘Happenings’
“At first, three discreetly covered slender models tottered self-consciously on very high heels. Seated at a table was Vu Nhat Tan, Vietnam’s leading avant-garde composer, there to provide an electronica background as Phuong Vu Manh began to systematically apply a wash of color to each model – one red, one blue, one green. … Tan gradually built a wall of elaborately inventive sound while Manh elaborately decorated his ladies into Avatar-like beings.”
One Of World’s Oldest Museums (More Than 400 Years Old) Reopens In Venice
“The Renaissance rediscovery of ancient art and architecture also led to the revival of another Greek and Roman concept – the museum.” And among the pioneers of the concept were the Grimani, the noble Venetian family. The Palazzo Grimani, once “an essential landmark on the Grand Tour between the 17th and 19th centuries” but closed since the 1860s, has now been restored.
Attention, Met Publicists: Here Are Your Pull Quotes For ‘The Nose’
“It’s musical junk sculpture … a sort of Marx Brothers version of Wozzeck.” “The storytelling breezily disregards logic.” “[The director’s] vision of everyday humanity is squat and gnarled.” “[It’s] the unlikely artistic success of the Met season and something rare in the big-budget opera world: an intellectual event. How can you not ponder the meaning of a renegade singing nose?”
Equus – It’s Not Only Elephants Who Never Forget
Horses “understand words better than expected, according to the research, and possess ‘excellent memories,’ allowing horses to not only recall their human friends after periods of separation, but also to remember complex, problem-solving strategies for ten years or more.”
Why Arts Vouchers Would Be Disastrous For The Theatre
The “suggestion that ‘the definition of good art would be that which people wanted to see, or that which private patrons wanted to fund’ turns art into a kind of popularity contest. Such an approach to funding would kill our thriving and innovative theatre culture stone dead – the same theatre culture that gives such a good return on the investment it attracts.”
Cultural Olympiad Won’t Repeat Millennium Dome Debacle
“There will be no political interference,” promised Tony Hall, chief executive of the Royal Opera House and chairman of the Cultural Olympiad board. Said the Olympiad’s artistic director, Ruth Mackenzie: “One might imagine that even the politicians have learned from the millennium dome that you need to have clear artistic leadership.”
Released In June, Longlisted For Orange, Not Yet Reviewed
Rosie Alison’s first novel, “The Very Thought of You,” “has not thus far been deemed worthy of review by a single British national newspaper.”
Halo, Banned On Banksy Tube Poster, Is Restored
“Transport for London (TfL) banned the halo dripping with paint on Banksy’s artwork promoting his film Forgive Us Our Trespassing. The poster was reworked and displayed without the offending drips. But within days of it going up at London Bridge Tube on 11 March, the golden circle over the kneeling boy’s head was repainted.”