How London’s “Pleasure District” Became The West End And A Model For Theatre

It was the mid-19th century that really established the modern West End. The taverns around the Strand in the 1830s and 1840s helped develop the song and supper evenings that became Victorian music hall. The bazaars and arcades of the West End evolved into a distinctive form of retail: the department store. Shows at the theatres on Leicester Square, such as the Alhambra, became known for their exuberant spectacle. The West End was therefore a laboratory of mass entertainment that has shaped notions of luxury and fun ever since. It also confirmed London’s status as a capital city. – History Today

What Alex Trebek Achieved Is More Amazing Than We Realize

“It’s easy to forget to appreciate the freak ubiquity of Jeopardy! One of the most popular, longest-running television shows of all time is a trivia gantlet that, by design, casts bookish obsessives. … It’s a miracle that the show is so exciting to watch. This is due almost entirely to Trebek. … He led one of our last wholesome routines — a celebration of facts, from the arcane to the accessible — with a kind of tangible enthusiasm. … [And] one got the sense that Trebek wanted the contestants to thrive.” – The New Yorker

What Can The Arts Expect From The Biden Presidency?

An improvement, for starters: Biden is not going to submit a budget (let alone four of them in a row) eliminating the NEA and NEH. Reporter Eileen Kinsella spoke to several experts about where things stand now and where they’re likely to go with respect to tax law and the arts, federal cultural funding, tariffs and trade, and (of course) the pandemic. – Artnet

Why Opera Will Endure

Opera is one of those words that contains so much historical and symbolic weight and prejudice that you have to clamber through dense, thorny tangles before you even get to what it might actually be, and if there is anything really left, other than it being a segregated leisure pursuit for the entitled. – LitHub

Can Performance Art Adapt To Social Distancing?

“As summer has given way to a fall and winter marked by increased social-distancing measures and further lockdowns, in-person performance art looks increasingly like it will be forced to transform again for the foreseeable [future]. As a medium built on intimacy and in-person connection, how, exactly, can it adapt? Those who know the genre best seem cautiously optimistic.” – Artnet

Candido Camero, Cuban Jazzman Who Transformed Conga Drumming, Dead At 99

“[He] began his career in Cuba at 14 and was still active past the age of 95. … His greatest innovation was to play more than one conga drum at a time, eventually settling on a setup of three congas, each tuned to a different pitch. He sometimes added bongos and other percussion instruments, creating a whirlwind of complex rhythms and sounds.” – The Washington Post

How Theatre Audiences Have Responded To Digital Performances During The Pandemic: New Study

“Key findings of the study include that 43% of audiences for digital programming were new to the organization; that digital audience members who previously attended in-person events are paying higher ticket prices; that digital performances with multiple dates have higher revenue potential; that audiences for digital performances book their tickets closer to the performance date than in-person audiences did; and that 10% of digital audiences add a donation on top of the ticket price.” – American Theatre