Tag: 09.30.18

Rosa Bouglione, 107, Paris’s Queen Of The Circus

“Ms. Bouglione, known as Madame Rosa, was one of the last links to an era in which clowns, acrobats, lion tamers, trapeze artists, jugglers and other circus performers were a source of international renown and national pride … Their audiences regularly numbered into the thousands and included entertainers such as Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman and Josephine Baker, who gave Ms. Bouglione costume suggestions, as well as French politicians including Vincent Auriol and Georges Pompidou.”

Fall For Dance Toronto Expands Again

When the original populist model for Fall For Dance was launched by New York City Center in 2004, there were indeed whispered concerns about whether the rock-bottom ticket price might undermine less well-funded presenters by engendering false expectations. The whispers soon evaporated. Fall For Dance, in both its New York and Toronto iteration, has always been clearly promoted as an event designed to whet an appetite among new, often younger audiences for the full spectrum of dance.

Washington National Opera Renews Zambello Contract

Francesca Zambello will remain artistic director of the Washington National Opera. On Friday, the company made a long-expected announcement that the director’s contract has been renewed, for three more years, through the 2020-2021 season. The company will have a new musical leader, as well: Evan Rogister will take over as principal conductor for a four-year term, through 2021-2022.

Tech Was Supposed To Democratize The Playing Field. So What Happened?

Ironically, the digital revolution was supposed to be an equalizer. The early boosters of the Internet sprang from the counterculture of the 1960s and the New Communalist movement. Some of them, like Stewart Brand, hoped to spread the sensibilities of hippie communes throughout the wilderness of the web. Others saw the internet more broadly as an opportunity to build a society that amended the failures of the physical world. But in the last few years, the most successful tech companies have built a new economy that often accentuates the worst parts of the old world they were bent on replacing.

Old Vic Theatre Works To Rebuild Post-Kevin Spacey

After an investigation, the Old Vic said it had received 20 complaints of inappropriate behavior by Spacey, who led the theater between 2004 and 2015. It said most of the alleged victims had been staff members, and acknowledged that a “cult of personality” around the Hollywood star had made it difficult for them to come forward. In response, the Old Vic trained staff members to act as “confidential sounding boards” to staff members experiencing abuse and unsure about what to do.

The Showrunner Who Makes Hits By Ignoring All Of Television’s Trends

Jennie Snyder Urman is not interested in the kind of prestige TV beats that made massive cultural hits out of everything from Breaking Bad to Game of Thrones. Nope. Her show “Jane the Virgin is anti-prestige in every way, a show about admirable women full of brilliant color, bone-rattling twists, and goofy, sly in-jokes that regularly dives into unabashed emotional sincerity.”