“These writers aren’t on a sociological mission. They’re not trafficking in grievance or appealing to a particular political base. They let their plays do the talking. And they’ve been trying to have a conversation that isn’t hijacked by the most doctrinaire voices in the room.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
One actor: “We're used to it at this point, you know, people just munching away on popcorn, ripping open candy in very tense moments. … If something is making you want to talk to us, we're not afraid of it. We've got it under control up here.” - CBC
A bookstore owner writes, "Queer literature has become one of the growth engines of the publishing industry. L.G.B.T.Q. fiction has never been more visible, more varied or better promoted.” Happy Pride! - The New York Times
“While it should be noted that any number of TikTok and YouTube content creators will still get to see the film ahead of its release along with the press, the decision to not directly court their buzz has proved widely popular—not least with the film critics themselves.” - Wired
The average audience at Heinz Hall for the flagship classical series is roughly 1,450, just over half of the venue’s capacity and up 14% (!) from the previous season. Attendance at pops concerts continues to fall, but it’s rising at educational events and live-film-score concerts. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Romance increasingly shifting from page to ear. This boom — fuelled by pandemic-era isolation and women with sexual agency wanting to multi-task while consuming books that feature guilt-free escapism — is pushing the publishing industry to pursue audio-first strategies.” - CBC
Seriously: Movies have "proved to be a tool of dictators, an instrument of propaganda and the weapon of ruthless, unaccountable corporate interests.” - The New York Times
“One of the cardinal rules of museum-going is that art should be enjoyed from a comfortable distance and never touched. However, in the 1960s, a cohort of artists began inviting audiences to interact with, and thus alter, their works.” - Aeon
What most respondents considered negative was the effort itself. One visitor called it “un-American.” Another criticized the idea of “having Americans call in and snitch on each other.” One person wrote, “Hey Donald Trump! Trying to erase history doesn’t mean it didn’t still happen!” - AP
“For decades, the relationship between artists and audiences was heavily mediated and nurtured by newspaper critics, classical radio hosts, record-store owners, etc. — They made the music findable and meaningful. I call that layer the civic middleware of culture, and over the past twenty years it has largely collapsed.” - Bachtrack
Bernadette Peters, Neil Patrick Harris, P!nk, Bowen Yang, André DeShields, and Leslie Odom Jr. added extra glam to a star-studded night - one that also featured strong performances from the casts of Schmigadoon! and Ragtime. - Boston Globe
Revisiting the 1980s, a decade whose “reality pulsed with cultural Balkanization, financial erosion, systemic disinvestment, and televised neurosis, the American theatre conjures a cultural imagination crowded with the outsiders, monsters, con artists, hungry things, and chosen kindred of the analog twilight.” - American Theatre
“There's a big reason it takes years for a fresh musical to land on Broadway. Cracking any story is a painstaking process. The same goes for crafting a songbook. Getting the two to coalesce? It's a delicate alchemy.” - Washington Post (Yahoo)
