“Imagine Macbeth, but with a five-person cast that includes an inebriated actor in the title role. Add a prop dildo, an interpretive dance break and the president’s rousing speech from Independence Day. For the witches’ brew, stir together samples from the plentiful cocktails poured for audience members.” – The New York Times
Tag: 05.10.19
Andrei Kramarevsky, One Of America’s Most Influential Ballet Teachers, Dead At 90
He had had a long and successful career as a character dancer at the Bolshoi (he danced for Stalin) when he up and left in 1975; the next year, he turned up at Balanchine’s School of American Ballet in New York. Balanchine watched him teach a class and told him, “My dear, I’ve been waiting for you for 40 years.” – The New York Times
How Merce Cunningham Made The Judson Dance Theater Revolution Possible
Yvonne Rainer, David Gordon, Steve Paxton, Lucinda Childs, and Deborah Hay tell Alastair Macaulay what they learned from Cunningham that enabled them to transform modern dance. – The New York Times
Indianapolis Symphony Music Director Krzysztof Urbański To Step Down In 2021
“It was a mutual decision between Krzysztof and the ISO,” sais ISO CEO James Johnson. When he departs, Urbański, now 36, will have been on the ISO’s podium for 10 years, and he’s credited with improving the orchestra’s ticket sales and wider reputation. – The Indianapolis Star
‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ Is Now Top-Grossing American Play In Broadway History
Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel has passed the $40 million mark at the box office, with advance sales lifting the total to $55 million. There are still three British imports ahead of it: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ($68.3 million) and War Horse ($75 million), which Mockingbird will probably surpass, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ($118.7 million). – The Hollywood Reporter
Saudi Arabia Tries To Restart Its Effort To Build A Movie Industry (After That Little Khashoggi Unpleasantness)
“Seven months after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi derailed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to open up the country — and its $1 billion in potential box office — the kingdom is quietly mounting a comeback.” Reporter Alex Ritman visits the Saudi Film Festival in Dhahran. – The Hollywood Reporter
Venice Opens Its First Permanent Art District
Situated on the island of Giudecca, a traditionally industrial area away from the most heavily touristed spots, the Giudecca Art District was founded by curators Pier Paolo Scelsi and Valentina Gioia Levy and will present year-round shows of contemporary art as well as lectures and performances. – Artnet
Academia Is Addictive, Dysfunctional, And A Total Mess. Are We In End Days?
“Academe, as anyone knows who’s tried to leave it, is like a partner who is wrenchingly hard to quit. When it was good, it was amazing. God, the highs! The horizon of your happiness seemed unbounded. But the partner turned out to be a nut job who demanded nothing less than all of you. Move to a different city every year, they stipulated. Subsist on bread crumbs. Completely debase yourself. They constantly evaluated your “performance.” On a whim, they dressed you up in a sailor suit and beat you.” – Chronicle of Higher Education
Why People Were So Charmed By The Kid Who Exclaimed “Wow” After Mozart
“One of the oddities of this whole business is the unmistakable note of relief in so many discussions about it. In the odd cult of people who spend many nights sitting in front of symphony orchestras, there’s a lot of talk, sometimes amused and sometimes exasperated, about the more infrequent visitors who don’t know the rules.” – Maclean’s
Rising Threat: Museums Versus Authoritarian Governments
“So far the assaults have mostly been rhetorical rather than real. Universities and the press have fared somewhat worse. But straws in the wind include the rewriting of the narrative at the new Holocaust Museum in Budapest by Viktor Orban’s Fidesz government; and a similar intervention by Poland’s Law and Justice Party government at the new Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk, whose director, Pawel Machcewicz, was dismissed when he sought to resist government intervention.” – The Art Newspaper