Politically Incorrect – On Our Stages?

“How daringly political will we allow our stages to become? The question urges us to move beyond the self-congratulatory platitudes and catchphrases that we who love this art form all too readily dispense. It comes down to something more difficult: Can we envision (and, more to the point, finance) a theater that embraces what the great midcentury Italian critic Nicola Chiaromonte called its inherent and potentially liberating ‘unpopularity’?”

Rostropovich Channels Shostakovich

Mstislav Rostropovich’s days of playing the cello are receding, and he’s been expanding his conducting activities, indulging a passion for Shostakovich. “He was the most important man in my life, after my father. Sometimes when I’m conducting, I see his face coming to me. Sometimes it’s not really a happy face — I conduct maybe a bit too slow, so I conduct faster, and the face disappears.”

Tarzan Comes In From The Jungle

Disney’s new “Tarzan” musical is “one of the most expensive shows ever mounted on Broadway, with a budget rumored to be between $15 million and $20 million. It is also one of the riskiest, even for Disney, a company which has had an excellent Broadway track record, with three hits in three tries. Most shows open out of town, where problems can be identified and fixed far from prying eyes. But “Tarzan,” based on the hit 1999 animated film and the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs novel that inspired it, will land on Broadway cold.”

Rethinking The Martha Graham Company

It’s been struggling, even in its reinvented form. “In the 15 years since Martha’s death, funding changed, presenting changed, audiences changed, and what we rebuilt last year was based on the old model.” The reinvented group “got the Picassos out of the attic and dusted them off beautifully, but the connection to how the field had moved forward wasn’t addressed. We had a goddess up on top of a mountain and everybody came to her. But without the goddess, we’re just another mountain.”

Michigan Opera In Transition

David DiChiera is the “genial founding general director of Michigan Opera Theatre”, and the builder of Detroit’s $50-million opera house. “They are the products of his vision, his sweat, his moxie and his leadership. They are his destiny. But the 10th anniversary of the opera house, along with the 35th anniversary of MOT, captures the company in transition.”

Remembering Muriel Spark

The author of “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was 88 when she died this week. “In literary terms she was the last of a generation, just younger than Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene [all Catholic converts], who helped her and sent her money early in her career. She was one of the most original prose stylists ever.”

Leonardo Image Altered In “Da Vinci Code” Promos

One of Leonardo’s most famous images is being used to promote “The Da Vinci Code” movie. But in licensed images, the figure’s “private parts” have been deleted from the image. Why? “The art was G-rated for products so they’d be accessible worldwide. Those interested in the unrated version can find it in the Da Vinci gallery of our movie website.”