The movie has been in development since 2008. "The project stalled for many years between different directors and studios, because executives wanted more well-known Latino actors to star, such as Shakira or Jennifer Lopez. They also wanted more stereotypical storylines for the characters, such as pregnancies and gang violence." But Hamilton changed all that. - NBC
From the 140-foot long sculpture of scripts and songbooks to replicas of armchairs from Hamilton, the Drama Book Shop in Manhattan will be reborn this week, from the ashes (and flood, pandemic, and rent hikes) of the old. - The New York Times
The newspaper crisis - and be assured, for small, local places, it is a crisis - means that areas where people need the most are getting covered the least. - LitHub
A new documentary "focuses on surveillance and the cop-worn body-cam in specific as key topics, exploring the headquarters of the Taser, drone and camera manufacturer Axon in search of insights on the police state’s expansion. But this inquest soon gives way to a more expansive interrogation of the treachery inherent to every photo and frame of video, warped and...
Rivera began by asking her neighbors to be her subjects. "The images she made were majestic four-by-four-foot prints of everyday New Yorkers of all ages. They were time-stamped by their hair styles and clothing as citizens of the 1970s and ’80s, but they were made eternal by their direct gazes, formal poses and the nimbus of light with which Ms. Rivera...
One artist says little free art galleries stir "feelings of 'cute aggression,' a term that describes the way our minds cope with the onslaught of positive feelings brought on by something adorable — you just want to squish/squeeze/eat it. Thankfully, no one has tried, but part of the popularity might come from the feeling that you could. Artists and...
Sounds ridiculous, right? What do literary novels have in common with Avengers or WandaVision? Benjamin Percy says his Comet Cycle came about because he wanted to "go wild, do something different, change shit up, and create an experience—from a creative and business perspective—that was lit from beginning to end." - LitHub
Mayröcker, an Austrian, earned acclaim as a formally inventive poet, but her writing "ranged far more widely, producing an immense body of work that encompassed nearly every literary genre: novels, memoirs, children’s books, drama and radio plays as well as poetry. (Only a handful of her works have been translated into English.)" Perhaps that should change. - The New...
Another creative moment borne from boredom during the pandemic: "Dan Tepfer plays the first of Bach's "Goldberg" Variations. The piano is a Disklavier, which can record and play back. When he finishes, Tepfer taps a button on his iPad, triggering the piano to play back what he's just recorded with the notes inverted, as if the score were turned upside...
The National Black Theater is trading up - and up. It will replace its current building with a 21-story high-rise, where the theatre can have three floors while retail and housing occupy the rest. "National Black Theater leaders see the $185 million project, and the partnership they are entering with developers, as a new chapter with the financial and...
Olivia Rodrigo has figured out something that few have before her. There's" a shift within the Disney sphere, which has apparently evolved enough to allow its stars to curse while still holding down jobs on PG-rated television." - Washington Post
And that's historic for more than her art; it's also unusual for Los Angeles to honor women artists in this way. Kent adapted silkscreen printing to the era of Pop. "In the wake of the Second Vatican Council in 1962, which called for a liberalization and modernization of the Catholic liturgy to the realities of 20th century life, she...
