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Hashing It Out: Is “West Side Story” Worth Doing In 2021, Or Is It An Outdated Basket Of Harmful Caricatures?

As the Steven Spielberg/Tony Kushner film arrives, New York Times critics Jesse Green and Isabelia Herrera, playwright Matthew López, theater historian Misha Berson (author of a history of the show), and writer Carina del Valle Schorske (emphatically not a fan) have at the question. - The New York Times

Alvin Lucier, Pathbreaking Avant-Garde Composer, Dead At 90

"During a career spanning six decades, Mr. Lucier moved from a respectable position as a traditional composer … to the near-personification of experimentalism in music, … writing pieces for brain waves, birdcalls, electronic devices, resonant bowls and, every so often, standard classical instruments." - MSN (The Washington Post)

Turner Prize 2021 Goes To A Mockup Of A Belfast Bar

Array Collective has become the first Northern Irish artist(s) ever to receive the award. The winning work, titled The Druithaib's Ball, is a full-size replica of a shebeen (that's Irish for speakeasy) festooned with protest flags and slogans. - Artnet

If Boris Won’t Make British Audience Members Mask Up, Then Venues Will

When performances started up again in the UK over the summer, masks weren't made mandatory (much to the alarm of some visitors from abroad). But with Delta and Omicron coronaviruses continuing to sicken people, venues are starting to insist that patrons wear face coverings. - The New York Times

After 30 Years, Director Of Australia’s Flagship Indigenous Dance Company Is Stepping Down

Stephen Page became artistic director of Bangarra Dance Theatre in 1991, two years after its founding, and has led it to awards and acclaim throughout Australia and overseas. The 56-year-old Page will depart at the end of 2022, succeeded by company member Frances Rings. - The Guardian

Author Alice Sebold Apologizes To Man Cleared Of Her 1981 Rape Featured In Her Book

“My goal in 1982 was justice – not to perpetuate injustice,” she said. “And certainly not to forever, and irreparably, alter a young man’s life by the very crime that had altered mine.”- The Guardian

Man Buys Lucian Freud Painting. Freud Gets Mad And Disowns It. That’s A Problem…

Or it was. Now the buyer has had the painting authenticated by three experts who confirm the authorship... - The Guardian

Ten Best Performances Of 2021 (Yeah, We Know, ’21 Isn’t Done, But…)

The list is utterly subjective and non-comprehensive—no matter how much you watch, there’s somehow much more you’ve missed—but it includes ten people (or groups of people) who burst through the excess of amusements, onscreen or onstage, and did something extraordinary. - The New Yorker

What Ails Us: Our Search For Cures

Adam Phillips tells us again and again, the quest for self-improvement is itself the problem. What we suffer from “are our self-cures”, otherwise known as “symptoms”; what we need to be cured of are our cures, and our hankering for them. “There is no cure.” - New Statesman

The Korean Who May Be The Most-Listened-To Living Composer In The World Right Now

Korea accounts for 20 percent of worldwide classical music sales, with a much younger audience base than in the West. The K-pop juggernaut needs no elucidation. Koreans have embraced Western music and elaborated on it. - 3 Quarks Daily

Tony Kushner, Architect Of A New Great Historical Mistake

Among my favorite Kushner quotes: “Dare to participate in the great historical mistake of your time.” The particular mistake he has in mind is “West Side Story,” a new movie, directed by Steven Spielberg. - The New York Times

The Saturday Evening Post Is Now 200 Years Old — And It’s Still Here

Most of us assumed the dear old mag had shut down forever. In fact, it was only closed from 1969-71, before being relaunched as a quarterly; it's now bimonthly and was overhauled in 2013. Here's an overview of the Post's two centuries. - Columbia Journalism Review

Can You Really Copyright A Recipe?

U.S. copyright law seeks to protect “original works of authorship” by barring unauthorized copying of all kinds of creative material: sheet music, poetry, architectural works, paintings and even computer software. But recipes are much harder to protect. - The New York Times

US Architect Of Hermitage’s Planned Moscow Branch Unceremoniously Dumped

Hani Rashid of Asymptote Architecture says his firm worked for years on a design, got necessary approvals — and stopped getting any communication from Moscow "just when we were ready to pour the concrete." After a year, he learned he'd been replaced with a local firm. - The Art Newspaper

The $150 Million Arts Initiative That Connected Arts And Communities

ArtPlace leaders announced their venture would prove the arts was an economic engine. Investing in arts and culture, “can be the economic equivalent of bringing a manufacturing plant to a neighborhood.” By decade’s end, ArtPlace’s success had little to do with economics. - Philanthropy

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