The American acting – well, she’s too vigorous to be an éminence grise – veteran will play the “eccentric psychic” Helga ten Dorp in the upcoming London revival of Deathtrap starring Simon Russell Beale and Jonathan Groff, with Matthew Warchus directing.
Tag: 06.11.10
ABT Appoints Susan Jaffe Ballet Mistress
“Susan Jaffe, a former Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre, has been named Ballet Mistress with the Company.” Jaffe became an international star while at ABT, from which she retired in 2002 after 22 years.
In Turbulent Congo, An Orchestra Hangs On
A BBC correspondent “meets the musicians of the Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra rehearsing in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The orchestra has been making music year-in-year-out through a quarter of a century of national turmoil, … using Western musical instruments to create Congolese classical music.”
Yes, The UK’s English Lit Exams Have Been Dumbed Down
Says a teacher and researcher who has studied 30 years’ worth of GSCE/O-level and A-level coursework and tests, “while it is undeniably true that the exams have become easier and the marking more lax, there are other factors in play, such as the values we seek to impart through the curriculum and the consequences of opening up the study of English.”
Sam Raimi Tapped To Direct Oz Prequel
“Vulture [blog] has learned that Sam Raimi has been offered the director’s chair for Disney’s Oz, the Great and Powerful, a prequel to the 1939 MGM classic The Wizard of Oz.” The man behind the Evil Dead and Spider-Man films reportedly received the offer from Disney Studios on Friday, though it’s unclear whether he has accepted.
The Undead Jazzfest (How Better To Prove Jazz Isn’t Dying?)
“The one thing we’re trying to fight against is this notion that jazz is this mysterious code people are trying to break,” says founder Brice Rosenbloom. With a $35 ticket price (about $1 per act), “the main thing is to get people in the door.”
When Injury And Immigration Collide: State Ballet Of Georgia At Spoleto USA
Just a few days before the festival began, the male lead in the company’s Giselle injured his foot and withdrew. “Whoever took the part would have to dance the role with minimal rehearsal time and have a schedule flexible enough to join the company at the last minute. More critically, he would also need to already have clearance to travel to the United States.”
How To Write A Successful World Cup Anthem
We Are Scientists, the band behind “Goal! England,” explains it all: “The lyrics to a great football anthem must beg listeners to sing along, which means they need to be catchy and easy to memorize. But that’s not enough: They also have to be informative and accurate. We took our starting point from the most basic act of football: kicking the ball. We decided to say most of it a few times: ‘Kicking the, kicking the, kicking the ball’.”
Hey! Us Classical Folks Can Write Soccer Music, Too!
Tom Service gives his “pick of the football-indebted pieces you won’t be hearing on the terraces this summer.” Elgar wrote a chant for Wolverhampton Wanderer fans; Martinu did an entire symphonic piece, Half-Time, a Rondo for Large Orchestra; Mark-Anthony Turnage’s opera The Silver Tassie is about a soccer player. And there’s Michael Nyman’s Beckham Crosses, Nyman Scores.
Why Volunteers Shouldn’t Run British Libraries
Andrew Motion, the former poet laureate, has dismissed suggestions from consultancy KPMG that libraries are “not very much used” and should be run by volunteers as foolhardy, outlandish and potentially catastrophic.