“It was quite a challenge, even for the crack team of theatrical experts summoned from around the world: less than six months to produce a hi-tech musical extravaganza about one of the most renowned figures in human history. Oh yes, and the title character can’t appear on stage.”
Can Comedy Bring About Real Political Change?
From Lysistrata to Jon Stewart’s Daily Show to the satirical banners in Tahrir Square, it can seem that comedy really is that powerful. On the other hand, all those Soviet jokes weren’t what brought down the USSR. (On the third hand, it wasn’t actually Sarah Palin who said, “I can see Russia from my house.”)
Understanding the Frustration Behind #CancelColbert
Jay Caspian Kang: “There’s a long tradition in American comedy of dumping tasteless jokes at the feet of Asians and Asian-Americans that follows the perception that we will silently weather the ridicule. .. Even when you want to be in on the joke – and you understand, intellectually, that you are not the one being ridiculed – it’s hard not to wonder why these jokes always come at the expense of those least likely to protest.”
If You Printed All Of Wikipedia It Would Look Like…
“Nowadays you just use Wikipedia every day without even thinking how large that might be … the English Wikipedia has 4.5 million articles. Nobody can imagine this number. It’s only when you see this in print or in a physical form that you realize how large it really is.”
Needed: Better Definitions For Slang
“Super-geeks (from geek, meaning fool) to a man, slang’s lexicographers tend to be self-appointed guardians who, while cheerfully plagiarising each other in their project to demonstrate the importance and scope of slang, have yet to agree on a definition of what, precisely, slang is, or was – or even its origin.”
Minnesota Theatres – Right Now A Moment Of Greater Diversity
“Some Twin Cities performing arts venues have come in for severe criticism in recent years over issues involving inclusion, diversity and casting — issues that confront the field nationally. Yet at this moment, this last week of March, 2014, the offerings of major stages in the Twin Cities have never been more diverse. (And all the shows are commendable.)”
Why Should You Have To Believe God Exists In Order To Be Religious?
“Richard Feynman, the great physicist, is rumored to have said that he lived among the numbers, that he was intimate with them. However, he had no views about their metaphysical status … Just as a practicing mathematician need not have views about the metaphysical status of numbers, so too religious life does not require a theoretical stance on God’s existence.”
Do the English Stage ‘Hamlet’ Too Often?
Michael Dobson, director of the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon, and Observer theatre critic Clare Brennan argue it out.
What Brooklyn Stands For In American Culture (My, How It’s Changed)
A.O. Scott remembers how, in his youth, the popular idea of the borough was what you saw in The Honeymooners, Saturday Night Fever, Welcome Back Kotter, and Spike Lee’s early films. Today it’s Portlandia-East, the scene of Girls – a change that Lee decries but arguably helped bring about.
Why Michelle Williams Is Willing to Try Singing and Dancing in Public
“I’m not good at thinking things through. I get excited about something, and that outweighs everything else. I don’t really carry the vision down the line to see the possibilities of how it might turn out. I think that for my work that’s actually been an O.K. trait. For life, not so good.”
The Paper Versus EBooks Debate Is A Waste Of Time (Isn’t It?)
“Until a digital book is a magical object which physically transforms from 50 Shades into the new James Smythe novel according to your whim; until you can walk through a digital library and open books at random; until the technology becomes as satisfying to the physical senses as the text is to the cognitive self, there’s still a need for shiny, gorgeous, satisfying books.”
New Interactive Site Lets You Create Your Own Symphonies
“Each letter of the alphabet gets mapped to a unique sound and a playful animation. Holding down a key plays both the sound and the accompanying visual on repeat; smashing several at once layers everything into more complex soundscapes.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.30.14
More Troubles For DIA-Detroit
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-03-30
The Talking Cure, Part II (discussion and debate)
AJBlog: We The Audience | Published 2014-03-30
English director provokes German storm by supporting opera cuts
AJBlog: Slipped Disc | Published 2014-03-30
Woman’s Point of View from a Tough-Guy Novelist
AJBlog: Straight|Up | Published 2014-03-30
What’s the Matter With San Diego, and a Deadly Impostor
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-03-27
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Are (American) Orchestras Closing The Gender Gap?
“People are apt to hire people who are more like themselves. Ten to 15 years ago, (orchestra) boards were mostly all male. Now they’re mixed. I think that has created a positive evolutionary change.”
Bach Fans Want To Save His Weimar House From A Parking Lot
Bach fans “are campaigning to buy the site, under which the foundations of Bach’s house remain under heritage protection, and to rebuild the house the composer moved to with his pregnant wife when he was 23.”
Why The Effing Eff Do We Censor The News?
“Even when certain words are necessary to the understanding of a story, the media frequently resort to euphemisms or coy acrobatics that make stories read as if they were time capsules written decades ago, forcing us all into wink-wink-nudge-nudge territory.”
Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra’s Board May Be Questioning Its Future
“We want to ask our audience, do people really care? We’d like to think that what we do is better than a lot of the competition out there. We deliver high-quality music, and we have great musicians. We think we have a reason to be here.”
The BBC Doesn’t Serve Black Comedians? Fine, They’ll Make It On YouTube
“The internet is a great opportunity for black comedy, Asian comedy and frankly anybody who wants to get their work on TV but cannot get through the gatekeepers.”
New March Madness Idea: Set Shakespeare Against Himself
“Here’s some comedy: Twelfth Night over The Tempest. Are you crazy? Who’s gonna stop Prospero when he’s in the zone? Viola? The Duke? Malvolio? Malvolio??
British Theatre And Studios Destroyed By Fire
“We looked round and saw smoke pouring out of the corner of the theatre. We went running over with a fire extinguisher, thought ‘well maybe it’s just a small fire’, went in and the whole building was just well alight.”
What’s Really Going On At Kevin O’Hare’s Royal Ballet?
“Can O’Hare’s dazzling company be related to the Royal Ballet which had Equity banging on his door complaining that the dancers were overworked, let alone the company from which glittering principals Tamara Rojo and Alina Cojocaru defected to the rival English National Ballet?”
Treasure Trove Of American Silent Films Discovered In Amsterdam
“After World War I, many of the film companies in Europe had taken a big hit, and the U.S. government supported the film industry by helping to send over films overseas.”
How Is Child Star Martha Plimpton Dealing With Her Forties?
“There are just more interesting parts for women in the theater. There’s just more to do. I could play Hedda Gabler on stage, but no one will ever hire me to play Hedda Gabler in a movie. … I don’t have the face of a movie star. I have a face of a character actress.”