“Paris Opera has lost more than 12 million euros ($13.3 million) in a month-long strike by ballet dancers fighting to cling onto pension rights that date back to [King] Louis XIV. … While the opera has seen plenty of strikes by stagehands, it is almost unheard of to have dancers downing tutus. Their decision to take to the streets for the first time in the opera’s 350-year existence made international headlines.” – Yahoo! (AFP)
How Visual Effects Teams Tried (And Failed) To Save ‘Cats’
“On Dec. 20, as Cats opened in theaters domestically, Universal made an unprecedented decision to send exhibitors a new version of the film with ‘some improved visual effects.’ By then, however, it was too late.” (includes video) – The Hollywood Reporter
Does Freezing Dance Works In Their Original Form Doom Them?
It’s true that dance history is particularly hard to preserve, and the desire to stay true to a choreographer’s original intention when restaging their work is a valid one. But treating these works like museum pieces can backfire. In the effort to stay painstakingly authentic to an original artist’s work, are we missing some of the spark that made it so exciting when it premiered, and losing the element that made it a classic in the first place? Are we preventing these works from resonating with new audiences? – Dance Magazine
Strip Down? De-Clutter? The False Promise Of Minimalism
The average American household possesses more than 300,000 items. In the UK, one study found that children have on average 238 toys, but only play with 12 of them on a daily basis. We are addicted to accumulation. The minimalist lifestyle seems like a conscientious way of approaching the world now that we have realised that materialism, accelerating since the industrial revolution, is literally destroying the planet. Yet my gut reaction to Kondo and the Minimalists was that it all seemed a little too convenient: just sort through your house or listen to a podcast, and happiness, satisfaction and peace of mind could all be yours. – The Guardian
Computer Scientists Weigh In On Authenticity Of “Salvador Mundi” Painting
The new finding changes the way people look at the painting, from all sides. While some have argued that the oddity of the glass ball is evidence that the work is actually by a lesser painter, Leonardo scholar Martin Kemp has said that it was the orb itself that convinced him of the work’s authenticity. – Artnet
What The State Of London’s National Theatre Says About The UK
The questions facing the National Theatre reflect the broader themes of British politics right now: elitism, identity, diversity. In the half century since it was founded, the National has always commissioned plays that represent the “state of the nation,” tackling everything from the privatization of the railways to the Iraq War. “The National Theatre repertoire is a time capsule for the socioeconomic condition of Britain at any moment.” – The Atlantic
How Does Baritone Peter Mattei Become Wozzeck?
Mattei’s voice and stage presence have made him a popular Figaro or Don Giovanni, but the 54-year-old “was cast against type as Wozzeck, a soldier who is ground down by poverty and oppressed by sadistic authority figures before he descends into hallucinatory madness, murder and suicide.” How does he transform? – The New York Times
The Revenge Of The Pretty Good Non-Action, Not Part Of A Franchise Movie
Why is Knives Out selling out movie theaters more than a month after it was released? Basically, the cause is that it’s “a pretty good movie that’s exceeding people’s expectations because their expectations for the movies are so damn low.” Ouch. – BuzzFeed
Canadian Poet Cancels Talk About Indigenous Poets Because Of His Advocacy For Murderer Of An Indigenous Woman
George Elliott Clarke’s talk at the University of Regina was supposed to be about the murdered and missing Indigenous women of Canada, and poets who wrote about them. But his original refusal to say he wouldn’t read a poem by Stephen Brown, a convicted murderer of an Indigenous woman, and Clarke’s friend, caused enough controversy that he eventually canceled entirely. – Globe and Mail (Canada)
An Architect Says The Building Industry Pollutes The World, And Must Change
Stephanie Carlisle: “While architects are not fully responsible for steel manufacturing or concrete production per se, there is a direct line from the material specifications that architects write to the steel mills of China, the coal mines of Appalachia, the brick kilns of India, or clear-cut forests in the Pacific Northwest or the Amazon.” She says the design industry has to change, and quickly. – Fast Company
The Opera World Has Fads Too
Right now, Meyerbeer is out, and Korngold is definitely in – and the historical reasons are complex, revealing much about 20th century history. – The New York Times
The Making Of ‘Maiden’
The Oscar-shortlisted documentary Maiden wasn’t easy to make – in some ways, it was almost as hard to make as the incredible, history-making voyage it depicts. For one thing, all of the filming the crew did on the ship was on VHS tapes that had been literally cut and spliced by various news crews on different continents. – Los Angeles Times
A Kentucky Opioid Recovery Program Uses Traditional Stringed Instruments To Keep People Engaged (And Employed)
While some in recovery opt for yoga or prayer groups, the group that chooses to connect with Kentucky’s musical heritage is doing well. “The art of crafting an instrument by hand requires keen focus, attention to detail and commitment to a goal — qualities that can help during recovery, in concert with therapy, peer-support groups and other rehabilitation work, experts say.” – The New York Times
Time’s Up Releases New Guidelines For Casting And For Nude Scenes
Time’s Up is trying to prepare actors and would-be actors for situations that have been rather iffy in the past (by “iffy,” we mean “containing lots of possibilities for assault and rape”): “Some of the ‘specific circumstances’ addressed in the guide range from preparing for chemistry reads (sometimes-intimate audition scenes between two actors) and casting directors who say, ‘Come back sexier,’ to ‘experiencing sexual assault mid-shoot’ and ‘being asked ‘to have actual sex’ instead of simulated sex’ during production.” Just … argh, Hollywood. – Los Angeles Times
Yes, We Do Need More New Recordings Of Classical Music
Anthony Tommasini says new recordings are vital, no matter how many we’ve got from the past: “New takes on standard repertory works — if not as essential as recordings of works by living composers or of overlooked scores from the past — can enrich and enliven the art form. It’s empowering for performers and audiences alike to have recordings of these scores by artists we can hear today.” – The New York Times
Ballet, Too, Must Move Past Its (White, Imperialist) Roots
Says one artistic director, “Addressing this issue can’t happen by simply replacing white bodies with those of color. ‘The storylines have to change,’ Vilaro says, noting that some narratives told onstage still uphold the stereotypical racial tropes.” That means new works, new narratives, and company-wide discussions about tough topics. – Dance Magazine
How To Vote For An Oscar Script
Actually, no one truly knows how to do it. “It’s also a real evaluative mystery. How do you know good writing that, as a moviegoer, you can’t see and, as Academy voters, you’re not obligated to read?” – The New York Times
Hi, It’s 2020, Why Are Women Having To Prove Women’s Stories Are Valuable … Again?
Seriously, WTF, 2020 awards season? Last year, 2019, was “a year in which a slate of female-driven and directed movies topped the box office – Hustlers, directed by Lorene Scafaria, raked in over $156m this fall – or received critical acclaim and attention (Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood). And yet the pillars of acclaim in the industry – awards, at once irrelevant and its own cottage industry of symbolic importance – still almost never reward female-directed films, or films about women at all.” – The Guardian (UK)
After 15 Years, The New York Musical Festival Has Shut Down For Good
Debts, staff resignations, and what the board described as a “national arts funding crisis” meant that the festival – which premiered more than 400 musicals in the summer, some of which made their way to Broadway – not only shut down immediately, but also declared bankruptcy. The artistic director and other staff had been working without pay since August and said they were not informed in advance of the board’s decision. – The New York Times
How Apple Plans To Make It Big In Streaming
Unlike some of its streaming competitors, Apple TV+ is being built almost exclusively for original content. Its smaller, more focused catalog is starting to look attractive to Hollywood A-listers, who worry about their work getting lost in the shuffle of mega-libraries at Netflix, Amazon, or HBO Max. – Axios
Governors Of St. Mark’s In Venice Want 6½-Foot Flood Wall In Square
A month after the disastrous flood of November 12, the president of the historic church’s governing body said that the building cannot withstand repeated exposure to salt water it has faced the past two years. He and his colleagues want “to surround the basilica on the side of the square with a two-metre-high Perspex wall and sheet piles sunk four metres deep into the ground.” – The Art Newspaper
MoMA’s Accessibility Crunch: Too Many Long Lines, Too Many Stairs, Not Enough Chairs
I gave the newly expanded Museum of Modern Art a test it was bound to fail by revisiting on the Sunday after Christmas—a tourist-heavy time of year. Below is my report card, along with some pro-tips for navigating the obstacles and minimizing the amount of time wasted in waiting. – Lee Rosenbaum