“The idea goes against the grain in arts marketing, as venues increasingly provide preview trailers, rehearsal clips and artist interviews for audiences to watch in advance.” But London’s Dance Umbrella festival is giving it a try. “A lack of knowledge about the art form can stop audiences from coming to dance, so [festival director Emma] Gladstone wanted to free them from worrying about what they didn’t know.”
Is Michael Grandage About To Become The Next Julie Taymor?
“From 2002 to 2012, director Michael Grandage was the head of London’s Donmar Warehouse. The position he inherited from Sam Mendes was long on prestige, artistic achievement, and honors. But money? Not so much. But now the director, who long labored in the not-for-profit world, stands to enter the big money as the newly-tapped director of the forthcoming Broadway stage adaptation of the Disney film Frozen.”
How You Choreograph Dance For “Hamilton”
“For every one step in Hamilton, I probably cut eight steps. Only one makes the final cut. For the transition out of the opening number, I choreographed a 30-second transition for the entire ensemble. That 30-second transition is now one second long, a drum beat and a pose.”
Audience Member At Kansas City Library Lecture Arrested For Asking Follow-Up Question; Library Manager Arrested For Trying To Step In And Defuse
“On May 9, after a question-and-answer session following a public lecture by US diplomat Dennis Ross at the Plaza branch of the Kansas City (Mo.) Public Library, city police arrested and detained an attendee and the library’s director of programming and marketing. … In late September, the library decided to make the incident known to the media, because the city had pressed forward with the case.”
Defunct London Orchestra Musicians Play On Under A New Brand
“When the old Orchestra London’s finances collapsed, its musicians continued to play on in large and small groups. After several variations, the musicians settled on #WePlayOn as a temporary name. Now, a permanent ID is being sought.”
UK Tries To Measure Arts Policy Impact (And The Arts Don’t Do So Well)
“If anything, we are skeptical of attempts to measure impact. But arts interventions by the government use the same real-world dollars and cents as interventions in other areas. Shouldn’t we hold government spending to a high standard of effectiveness regardless of what those policies are trying to achieve?”
Fire Takes Out One Of Bay Area’s Favorite Classical Venues
“The four-alarm fire that rampaged through the roof of the historic First Congregational Church in Berkeley … is a disaster on several levels, not least for small arts organizations that have depended on the church as a performance venue. Groups such as Volti, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra all use the space, as well as Cal Performances.”
After 20 Years, Arundhati Roy Is Finally Writing A Second Novel
“Twenty years after Arundhati Roy won the 1997 Booker prize for her debut novel The God of Small Things, the Indian novelist’s second, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, is set to be published in 2017, her publisher has announced.”
How Technology Is Blurring The Space Between Mind And Machine
“Some people worry that one day soon we might physically attach computer chips to our minds, but we don’t actually need to plug ourselves in: proximity is a red herring. The real issue is the seamless way in which we are already hybridising our cognitive space with our devices. In ways both quotidian and profound, they are becoming extensions of our minds.”
Bronx Museum Moves Past Resignations Of Prominent Board Members
“The departures kicked up a cloud of controversy just three months after the museum had announced a $25 million capital campaign to renovate and expand its building along the Grand Concourse and to establish an endowment for the first time.”
Barcelona’s Grand Experiment To Take Back Its Streets From Cars
“Barcelona’s system of superblocks — called “superilles” in Catalan — would go well beyond the pedestrian plazas that have sprouted up on the streets of New York City. While those spaces have carved out more room for pedestrians in busy corridors, the superblocks represent a more radical approach that fundamentally challenges the notion that streets even belong to cars.”
Frank Oteri: Now Is The Most Exciting Time For Music. Ever.
“For listeners, there’s more music to hear than ever before–and it’s happening all over the world. Of course, it always has, but nowadays, it’s not limited to “national” “styles.” Also, global travel has become much more convenient, relatively speaking, and so with enough time, money, and overzealousness, a fanatical fan could actually trek the globe to hear extremely exciting music every day of the year. Much easier, we now can also experience a great deal of music happening in all these places without leaving our homes.”
Many Dismayed By The Outing Of Identity Of Mysterious Elena Ferrante
The immediate reaction of many readers to these revelations was, perhaps surprisingly, anger and disgust. On social media, many Ferrante devotees have condemned the journalist who outed the well-regarded yet mysterious writer.
Sales Surge After Report On Identity Of Elana Ferrante
“The sales bounce comes after a report that appeared in The New York Review of Books and other publications citing extensive documentation to show that Ferrante is likely a German-born translator living in Rome. Ferrante’s publisher has declined to confirm or deny the findings and asked that Ferrante’s privacy be respected.”
‘Birth Of A Nation’ Has Tricky Needle To Thread: ‘To Inspire But Not To Incite’
“The coming film, which recounts a violent 1831 slave rebellion and includes scenes that evoke present-day outrage over fatal police shootings of black men, has been marketed as an urgent call to action. … But when The Birth of a Nation arrives in roughly 2,000 theaters on Friday, Fox Searchlight is hoping that a parallel and largely invisible marketing effort – one intended to contain and frame Mr. Parker’s message – will ease the film into communities already on edge.”
Under A Curse? Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote Movie Stopped In Its Tracks *Again*
“The director and legendary Monty Python member has revealed that his famously beleaguered passion project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a film that finally looked like it was moving forward after seven failed attempts over almost two decades (one of which became the subject of a documentary), has been delayed just days before production was set to begin.”
Gordon Davidson, The Theatre Maven Who Changed Los Angeles
Davidson’s influence on Los Angeles is twinned in my mind with the architectural landmark just down the street from his old Music Center headquarters — Walt Disney Concert Hall. The reason is that I believe Davidson, who died Sunday at age 83, has done as much to transform the city’s conception of itself as a cultural capital as Frank Gehry’s magnificent building.
L.A.’S ‘Moses Of Theater’, Mark Taper Forum Founder Gordon Davidson, Dead At 83
“Starting in 1967, Davidson’s artistic vision, professional connections and business savvy were indispensable in transforming L.A. from a passive backwater where theatergoers largely consumed the Broadway touring shows to a wellspring for new works that won Tony Awards and Pulitzer Prizes.”
Pittsburgh And Philly Have Their Issues, But Here’s One Pennsylvania Orchestra Where Things Are Different
“For starters, the musicians have a no-strike clause in their contract. Also, the Allentown Symphony Orchestra is seeing its audience grow and revenues increase. The musicians will vote next week on a three-year contract that gives them a raise. … Allentown Symphony Conductor Diane Wittry described it this way Monday: ‘We’re an orchestra that’s in a growth phase.'”
It’s World Ballet Day, With 20 Straight Hours Of Real-Time Video On Facebook Live
On Tuesday, October 4, “the Australian Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet of Russia, The Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada and The San Francisco Ballet will broadcast for four hours each.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.03.16
Maastricht, AKA Tefaf, Comes to New York
Tefaf – most often discussed by its location as in “are you going to Maastricht this year?” – is to my mind the most interesting and best art fair in the world. The participating dealers, usually numbering about 270, presents art from antiquity to the present. It’s huge. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-10-03
Happy 80th to Steve Reich
A few years back I spent an hour or so with Steve Reich before a concert of his work. Here is the story I wrote about the pioneering minimalist, who marks his 80th birthday today. … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2016-10-03
Reviewing as First Draft of History
Last week Michiko Kakutani reviewed the first of two volumes of the latest Hitler biography for the New York Times. I’ve got Ian Kershaw’s double-decker biography, which is huge and ought suffice, but … read more
AJBlog: Quick Study Published 2016-10-03
August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey” at the Taper
Last night I caught Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom — one of the historically earliest of August Wilson’s cycle of plays about black life in the 20th century — at the Mark Taper Forum. This production … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2016-10-03
Monday Recommendation: Bria Skonberg
Bria Skonberg, Bria (Okeh) In her first album for a major label, Bria Skonberg achieves consistency that in the past she sometimes obscured in forced vocal mannerisms. Her trumpet work, based in traditional jazz and … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-10-03
[ssba_hide]
Study: Brain Games Don’t Work
“It would be really nice if you could play some games and have it radically change your cognitive abilities. But the studies don’t show that on objectively measured real-world outcomes.” The evaluation, done by a team of seven scientists, is a response to a very public disagreement about the effectiveness of brain games.
China Covers Up A Museum For The Victims Of The Cultural Revolution
“Workers arrived bearing concrete, propaganda banners and metal scaffolding. They smoothed concrete over the names of victims, wrapped ‘Socialist Core Values’ banners around the main exhibition hall, placed red-and-yellow propaganda posters over stone memorials to the terror, and raised scaffolding around statues of critics of Mao.”