“It’s seeking a total of £25,000 ($40,480 Cdn), of which half has already been raised, to properly conserve the low-grade blue writing paper Dickens used to write A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield and the unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood.”
Tag: 11.07.10
Stephen Sondheim At 80
“There’s an up- and downside to being venerated. You start to believe your own notices, and that’s very dangerous. At the same time, it does feel like it’s gold-watch time. It’s ‘thanks so much for coming to the party.’ They’re nails in the coffin, is what they are.”
Jonathan Franzen In 2010 – All Honor, No Prize
“No American novelist has been honored as much as Jonathan Franzen this year, from a cover story in Time magazine to a chair on Oprah Winfrey’s TV show. Yet, the biggest prize has eluded him this time — the National Book Award.”
Is Cleveland Opera Finished?
This week “the financially beleaguered company will go into performance hiatus while a task force tries to figure out where Opera Cleveland should head. s it curtains, in other words, for the company that began life in 1976 as Cleveland Opera? Or will the organization be able to survive by adopting a mission that veers dramatically from its grand-opera sensibility?”
Where Philosophers Fit In
“For the most part, philosophers exist, and have always existed, outside the public spotlight. Yet when we reflect upon those eras of humankind that burn especially bright, it is largely the philosophers that we remember.”
Chicago Dance Increasingly Speaks With A Spanish Accent
“Up here, in Chicago, more and more each year, the excitement of our dance scene sparkles with an unspoken Spanish accent. The backgrounds constitute a virtual United Nations of the Hispanic diaspora: Argentina, Cuba, Venezuela, Chile, Guatemala and Mexico, along with Spain itself.”
About Those Negative Reviews…
“I instantly decided that I never wanted to be the kind of critic who reveled in the chopping-up of somebody else’s work. If it has to be done, fine; but you don’t have to cackle happily and smack your lips with gusto while doing it.”
Actors Unions Reach Contract Deal With Hollywood Producers
“The agreement would increase benefit contributions. Wages would increase by 6 percent over the three-year span of the contract.”
The Progressive Philanthropist
“Don’t get the idea that you can just call her up to see if she’s got some citrus to spare. Her foundation doesn’t accept applications and doesn’t donate to individuals. Green gives her support to institutions she knows are in line with what she calls her ‘certain interests’.”
A Business Writer Loses It for Sondheim
Joe Nocera: “When I fall for something, I fall hard. Yet I don’t think I’ve ever fallen as hard for anything as I did for Mr. Sondheim’s music. His songs and shows became central to my life … My former wife once asked me what it was about Mr. Sondheim’s music that I found so compelling. I shrugged helplessly. ‘He makes me cry,’ I finally replied.”