Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
End Of An Era: World’s Longest-Running Annual Musical Theatre Production To End
The musical was staged every year from 1965 to 2019, earning it recognition from Guinness World Records. The COVID-19 pandemic forced a two-year pause,...
Today Marks The 75th Anniversary Of Hollywood’s Blacklist
On that day, the heads of the major studios, with a few notable exceptions, agreed after a contentious two-day conference at the Waldorf-Astoria in...
What “Tar” Demonstrates About The Mythology Of Great Artists
By creating a character who can’t be written off as another predictably problematic man, “Tár” draws our attention to how Lydia learned to become...
The Audiophile’s Agony: Just What Is “Perfect” Sound?
I do know that the word “accuracy” in the context of audio means reproducing the master recording faithfully, but this always seemed like an...
What, Exactly, Were Music Critics?
The rapport between artist and critic has historically ranged from affable to antagonistic to utterly bizarre. - The New Republic
Just What Are Literary Studies Trying To Accomplish?
One of the main determinants of the vulnerability of literary studies, and hence of the compensating over-ambitiousness of the justification offered for it, is...
Museums’ Big New Security Concern: Which Visitors Might Attack Art?
With the attacks showing no sign of abating, museum directors across Europe are settling into a nervous new equilibrium, fearful for the works in...
Iger’s Return Is A Chance For Disney To Pivot Strategies
The change in leadership gives Iger the opportunity to swerve away from Chapek’s fixation on Disney+. A similar redirection occurred this year at Warner...
Parent Gets School Library To Remove All Its Graphic Novels
All graphic novels in the school library’s collection were recalled after parent Tim Reiland took issue with the school letting his teenage daughter borrow Blankets,...
“Gangnam Style” Blew Up The Internet. Its Creator Had A Tough Time After That
The video, which now has some 4.6 billion views, was so culturally pervasive in 2012 that Barack Obama was asked about it on Election Day. NASA...
Mark Williams On Being The First Black Man To Lead A Major North American...
"I’m not saying we shouldn’t address it; we are where we are, and we have to talk about it. But it’s difficult being the...
John von Rhein Remembers Ned Rorem
Rorem came across as an artist of disarming candor, fierce intelligence, urbane wit and, above all, enormous personal charm. We hit it off immediately and,...
Forecast: Theatre Fortunes Will Be Rough This Coming Year
By 2022, according to the same survey, 30 percent of responding theaters were projecting deficit operating budgets, and there’s a huge increase in that...
Buffalo’s Albright-Knox Completes Expansion, Will Reopen With A New Name
A $20 million commitment from New York State, announced Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul, completes the Buffalo museum’s $230 million capital campaign, believed to...
Orchestras Are Beginning To Tour Again
With the mass introduction of vaccines, the decline in infections, and the lifting of travel restrictions, orchestras have already taken to the road, with...
New Women Directors At Three Big Ballet Companies
As three celebrated, longtime directors depart these companies, the entrance of women is proving that female directors are staking a firm claim in a...
The Number Of College Students In America Is About To Fall In A Precipitous...
In four years, the number of students graduating from high schools across the country will begin a sudden and precipitous decline, due to a...
In Praise Of Monotony
As one gets older and realizes that most of life’s good stuff is contained between two ledger entries, one sees that if it weren’t...
The Theatre World Never Really Understood The Subversive Side Of Lorraine Hansberry
The subversive intent of Hansberry’s art and activism has long been underestimated. Early reviews of Raisin, which debuted in 1959 and made Hansberry the first Black...
Controversy: Did Bob Dylan Actually Sign The Copies Of His Book Fans Paid For?
Justin Steffman, a professional authenticator who runs a Facebook group for collectors, said the autograph was most likely created by an autopen. The machine, which recreates...
The Remarkable Sphinx Organization Turns 25
Perhaps Sphinx’s most fundamental and meaningful achievement has been its simplest one, the part that crying mother caught onto: creating a community of people...
Orchestra Impresario Bruce Coppock, 71
"It is no exaggeration to say that no single person had a greater role in the SPCO's artistic trajectory over the last 20 years...
New Entertaining Bios Of Mary Rodgers And Stephen Sondheim Demonstrate The Power Of Voice
Two new brazenly entertaining works of theatrical biography are a reminder that “voice” is as essential to the stage as it is to a...
Why Streaming Can’t Be The Movies’ Only Revenue Stream
The problem with this—on top of the hope that each of these studios could replicate Netflix’s first-mover advantage—is that streaming never ever made sense...
A New Era Of Copyright Fights Is Beginning Over AI
Some people who make a living from their visual creativity are upset that AI art tools trained on their work can then produce new images in...
