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Will This Be The First Broadway Musical Whose Title Role Is A Dead Body?

"Dead Outlaw, a rambunctious musical that tells the hard-to-believe-it’s-true story of a bandit’s corpse that became a spectacle in early-20th-century America, will open on Broadway next spring. The show … will be the first developed by Audible to make it to Broadway." - The New York Times

Is The World’s Largest Fully-Functioning Musical Instrument In Jeopardy?

The organ in the old Wanamaker's department store, right across from City Hall, is a Philadelphia icon. Yet the store, currently a Macy's, is shrinking just like other department stores; the building is in receivership as upper-floor office space remains vacant post-COVID; and Macy's lease expires in 2027. - The Conversation

Use Our Copyrighted Material To Train AI? Oh Hell No, Huge Coalition Tells UK Government

"Writers, publishers, musicians, photographers, movie producers and newspapers have rejected the Labour government’s plan to create a copyright exemption to help artificial intelligence companies train their algorithms." - The Guardian

This Upstart Publisher Got 25 Books On The Bestseller List In A Single Year

Three years ago, the only author on Bloom Books' list was E.L. James (the Fifty Shades of Grey series). Now it publishes over 40 authors, many previously self-published, will have well over $150 million in gross sales this year, and has nearly one-quarter of the lucrative romance market. - The New York Times

SF-MOMA Fires One Of Its Top Curators

"Eungie Joo, who served as head curator of contemporary art at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for seven years, was fired after what the museum described as a violation of its workplace conduct policy. … No further details were given." - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Remember, “A Christmas Carol” Is Not Dickens’s Only Christmas Story

It's not even Dickens's only Christmas ghost story. And some of them are much weirder and more unsettling than the famous one. - Literary Hub

Canadian Movie And TV Production Sinks

Volume was down 18.5% to C$9.58B ($6.68B) in the 12 months between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024, according to the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA)’s ‘Profile 2024’ report. In 2019/2020, the figure was C$9.38B. - Deadline

This Completely Legal Musical Is Totally Not About Raygun The Olympic Breakdancer

Two weeks ago, comedian Steph Broadbridge cancelled Raygun: The Musical just before its Sydney premiere after notorious-Olympic-breaker-and-viral-sensation Dr. Rachael Gunn's lawyers sent a cease-and-desist notice. Then the producer got a demand for $10,000 for Gunn's legal fees, and Broadbridge had another idea. - The Sydney Morning Herald (MSN)

Jennifer Homans Remembers Arlene Croce

She had always insisted that what she was reviewing was not a dance itself but an “afterimage” imprinted in her mind, something personal and partial to throw “out there” into the cultural conversation, whatever that might be. Which is why, even when I disagree with Croce intensely, I often find myself in conversation with her. - The New Yorker

How America Redefined Old Age

Contemporary America segregates debility and death, and it’s costing us, body and soul, writes Duke University historian James Chappel. - The American Scholar

How The Politics Of Smell In Prose Broke The Internet

I wanted to share with my academic network, so I posted a photo of myself holding a physical copy of my PhD thesis on X. The post amassed 120 million views and sparked a lot of anger in response to its title: Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose. - The Conversation

Did Shakespeare Commit Suicide? A Scholar Makes The Case

Larry Lockridge, professor emeritus at NYU: "I’ll air my conviction that death by suicide is more probable than the notion that Edward de Vere, Francis Bacon, William Stanley, Christopher Marlowe or Queen Elizabeth wrote those plays — still only plausible, yet unsettling and maybe instructive to ponder." - The Hedgehog Review

Facing Funding Stress, Sydney’s Museum Of Contemporary Art Scraps Its Free Admission

Free general admission was introduced in 2000 under the directorship of Elizabeth Ann MacGregor with the aid of a Telstra sponsorship. But stagnant government funding has forced the museum’s hand, with the introduction of a $20 entry fee from 31 January. - The Guardian

On The Front Lines Of Art Therapy

“We work a lot with trauma and survivors who maybe are struggling to find the words to be able to describe what they’ve endured. Art is an incredibly effective way to channel some of the angst that they’ve experienced.” - Hyperallergic

Producers Of “The Jerry Springer Show” Look Back On What They Wrought

Says one, "Please tell me the difference between the fight I saw on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills last night and The Jerry Springer Show. Money. That’s the only difference." - The Guardian

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