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‘Moulin Rouge!’ — An Oral History Of A Broadway Smash Snuffed Out By Disease

"Set in fin de siècle Paris but supercharged by 75 pop songs, it opened to a rave from The New York Times ('This one's for the hedonists,' exulted Ben Brantley), and it was regularly selling out all 1,302 seats, even during a holiday season when it cost $799 to watch from a cafe table encircled by cancan dancers." Then...

Why Germany Is The Greatest Arts Nation

This is the greatest modern artistic nation in Europe. Art history tends to get it all wrong, exaggerating the glamour of French art, just as it does with American art. And in Britain, laughably, we even try to kid ourselves that Henry Moore and John Piper are modernist greats. The reality is that nowhere else has produced as much...

Read (And Watch Again) Amanda Gorman’s Inauguration Poem

Here's the video and the transcript. - The Hill

Roger Mandle, Who Ran RISD And Co-Founded Qatar’s Museums, Dead At 79

As director of the Toldeo Museum of Art, he organized a pathbreaking (and record-breaking) El Greco exhibition. As president of the Rhode Island School of Design, he built a new museum and quadrupled the endowment. And when a member of the Qatari royal family was determined to turn Doha into an international art destination, she hired him to direct...

The Tiniest Art Gallery (And Please Take The Art)

“The idea is pretty simple — anyone is welcome to leave a piece, take a piece or just have a look around and enjoy what’s inside,” said Stacy Milrany, a painter who runs a small, appointment-only gallery featuring her works. - Washington Post

When They Make A Movie About Your Wife’s Illness And Death, And Critics Hate It

Journalist Matthew Teague made his career covering war and disaster zones, but it was a longform essay for Esquire about his wife's terminal cancer that got him a National Magazine Award, legions of new fans, and a movie deal. "What he didn' account for was just how cruel Hollywood can be when a movie does come together, an experience...

How Amanda Gorman Became Amanda Gorman And Poet Laureate For The Inauguration

Her precocious path was paved with both opportunities and challenges, an early passion for language and the diverse influences of her native city. Gorman grew up near Westchester but spent the bulk of her time around the New Roads School, a socioeconomically diverse private school in Santa Monica. Her mother, Joan Wicks, teaches middle school in Watts. Shuttling among...

Google And France Make Deal To Pay News Outlets For Content

"Google and a French publishers' lobby said on Thursday they had agreed a copyright framework under which the U.S. tech giant will pay news publishers for content online, in a first for Europe. The move paves the way for individual licensing agreements for French publications, some of which have seen revenues drop with the rise of the Internet and...

Remembering Director Mike Nichols

A vocal opponent of the auteur theory, which gives directors primary credit for the films they make, Nichols treated cinema as a fundamentally collaborative art and never sought to impose a uniform directorial approach on his work, which was unshowy, even self-effacing. “It’s not a filmmaker’s job to explain his technique, but to tell his story the best way...

Glastonbury, UK’s Largest Rock Festival, Cancelled For Second Year In A Row (Thanks, COVID)

"In spite of our efforts to move heaven and earth," the organizers said in a statement, "it has become clear that we simply will not be able to make the festival happen this year. We are so sorry to let you all down." - Rolling Stone

Black Dancer Sidelined At Berlin State Ballet Won’t Give Up Struggle

"Berlin first black dancer, Chloé Lopes Gomes, said she has been made to feel different because of her skin colour since she first donned ballet shoes as a child. But after she was again subjected to what she described as 'racism' at Germany's largest dance company, she has launched a fightback that has forced the State Ballet to...

The Prado Will Re-Hang Its Collection To Feature More Work By Women And Non-Spaniards

" has announced plans to make a 'far more inclusive' place by reordering its permanent collection to ensure greater representation of works by female and foreign artists. Miguel Falomir, the Prado's director, said 'one of the few positives consequences' of the COVID pandemic had been the time the museum's enforced closure had given staff to re-evaluate its treasures...

Art Collector/Felon Tries To Redeem His Reputation With Museums (Built With Spaniards’ Tax Money)

" Polo, a financier whose roller-coaster career included a major art fraud scandal that landed him in prison, has recently resurfaced in central Spain, where last month he defied the coronavirus pandemic to inaugurate a museum in the medieval hilltop city of Cuenca that is devoted to his collection. His first art space opened in 2019, in Toledo, a...

Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto Reveals Second Cancer Diagnosis

The Oscar-winning electronic music legend was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, though he was back to making records by 2017 and the disease had gone into remission. This week, however, Sakamoto announced that he is being treated for rectal cancer. - Pitchfork

Boris Johnson’s Gov’t Passes On Pursuing Visa Waiver For British Musicians Touring EU

"The Musicians' Union (MU) has been lobbying for the creation of a 'musicians' passport' that would last at least two years, cost nothing or very little, encompass all EU member states, prevent any requirement for carnets or other permits, and cover road crew, technicians and other necessary staff to facilitate touring." Britain's culture minister rejected that plan this week...

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