Music theory for a new century
So now – continuing about changes in the conservatory curriculum – some thoughts about how to teach music history and theory. And remember that I’m offering free consulting sessions to anyone who’d like to … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2015-10-01
My kind of person
Apropos of this really embarrassing piece, my kind of person …
• … prefers hot dogs to hamburgers.
• … prefers trains to planes – in theory.
• … likes Johnny Mercer best:
• … likes Carolyn Leigh second best: … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-10-01
So you want to see a show?
Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-10-01
The Pope, the music and the evacuation
A pope without music is like a ship without a flag. It’s part of the papal aura – but, unlike incense, it doesn’t send your sinuses into spasms. At the Festival of Families Saturday night … read more
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2015-09-30
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Shock: Another NY Opera Company Shuts Down
The rapid demise of Gotham was stunning — the operatic equivalent of the sudden death of an outwardly healthy person. The troupe had seemed to offer a new model for opera in the 21st century: It gave critically acclaimed performances of small-scale works, often sharing the costs with other presenters, in locales as varied as the Hayden Planetarium, a louche downtown nightclub and the Arms and Armor Court at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Iconic Builder Of Children’s Theatre To Retire
“For years it was a struggle just to be taken seriously for doing professional work for young people. I wanted to prove you don’t have to do pratfalls and butt jokes to get children’s attention.” But her most visible achievement is the spacious Seattle Center playhouse, which opened in 1995. Linda Hartzell says it’s the first building in the U.S. built expressly to house a professional children’s theater.
Two New York Times Critics Debate Race In Casting
What “political correctness,” in its most positive sense, means for me is correcting, or rectifying, past abuses of stereotypes. It’s a balancing process that calls out for some extremes in making those corrections. It is the time we live in. We may — oh, may it happen — reach a moment where such abuses are so long behind us, that we’ll feel a bit more comfortable when something like “The Mikado” is staged.