Christopher Knight: “The visitor experience is rarely satisfying. At a vanity show, exploring an artist’s specific talents or a group of artists’ larger cultural meaning is secondary. Focus is shifted to the collector’s aptitude. The leading question viewers debate is simply: How skillful has this shopper been?”
Tag: 10.10.10
The Problem With Shakespeare’s Globe Productions on Tour
“Remounting productions conceived for the Globe on other stages – especially the outsize auditoriums that it has often played in the United States – presents significant challenges for both artists and presenters.” Making the actors audible is one problem; another is that “the particularities of the Globe’s stage design don’t easily translate to other venues.”
Getting Almodovar’s Women on the Stage (With No Nervous Breakdowns)
Says Bartlett Sher, director of the new Broadway musical adaptation of Almodóvar’s madcap film, “Pedro thinks in a way that he called antipatico, a way of dealing with odious things, which I can only describe as ‘Puh!'”
The Neo-Burlesque Boom
“[It] seems clear that burlesque in its current incarnations can be checked off the endangered species list of performing arts. … While these productions generally involve some stage of undress, they ban total nudity and emphasize a tongue-in-cheek attitude” – with such acts as a magician who combines card tricks with striptease and the perfomer Alli Oops and her “French Fry Fan Dance.”
What Has the Phila. Museum’s Director Spent His First Year Thinking About?
“Chiefly, it appears, [Timothy Rub] has thought about space. … The challenge involves ‘being able to devote as much space as possible in the main building to art,’ he said. It’s not just about displaying as many objects as possible, it involves a thoughtful presentation of those objects.”
How Did Stephen Hawking Decide That God Is Unnecessary?
In 1998’s A Brief History of Time, Hawking declared, “If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we should know the mind of God.” But in his latest book, Hawking concludes that “the universe appeared spontaneously, starting off in every possible way.” No deity required. What changed? (String theory, for starters.)
Solomon Burke, the Real Father of Soul, Dies Suddenly at 70
While he was always admired by music insiders, Burke’s music was better known to the public via other singers’ versions of hits such as “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love,” “Goodbye Baby” and “Got to Get You Off My Mind.” Being a God-fearing man, he rejected the label of “rhythm and blues” (the Devil’s music) and had the term “soul” coined for his songs.