Theatre scenes in scores of countries around the world are every bit as sophisticated as ours in the U.S. (and in many cases far better funded). So why are U.S. theatres generally so unconnected to what’s going on in the non-English-speaking theatre world? - American Theatre
The rise of “postcritique” signals a similar pivot in some English departments, while in the broader culture the aftermath of the Trump years has been marked by a steady retreat from feverish activist critique and a new hunger for style, humor and frivolity (TikTok, not Twitter; Red Scare, not Rachel Maddow). - The Point
"(In the beginning), there was no real reason for (public radio stations) to pick us up. So …we basically looked for what the stations wanted. And what they wanted and needed, but didn't have, were pledge-drive materials that would bring in money and be entertaining to listen to." - Vulture
So how do we avoid this catastrophe? Just as in other areas of recent American life where entire industries were imperiled — banks, the auto industry — this crisis requires federal intervention. - The New York Times
Under pressure to deliver to Wall Street, too many CEOs have lost the plot of their own movie. They are not running companies to profitably deliver a good product, such as a book or a cup of coffee or, in this case, a movie or TV show. They are running companies to deliver good profit. The quality of their product has ceased to matter. - The Atlantic
By design, TikTok encourages different behaviors from those prompted by other social networks. “They say they check Facebook, and they check Instagram and they check Twitter. But they don’t check TikTok. They tell us they watch TikTok.” Like television, TikTok is something you watch. Its primary purpose is entertainment. - Hedgehog Review
"(She's) never played a live gig and is unknown to the music industry. But every day since 2017, Harriet Goldberg's jazzy instrumental, 'My Time to Fly,' has been served up to countless callers put on hold by the customer service lines of businesses large and small." - The New York Times
With the Writers Guild strike now in its 73rd day, this will be the first time that actors and writers have been on strike at the same time since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild. - Deadline
"A word can be a perfect fit until something I try in the next clause introduces a clumsy repetition or infelicitous echo. Meaning, connotation and subtext all matter, but so does style. Below are two attempts to show the thought processes involved in the translation I do." - The New York Times
"(He) was the most widely read Czech writer of the 20th century after Kafka. … Although, unlike Kafka, he lived to see fame, he also survived long enough to witness the waning of his reputation, and never received the Nobel Prize that had once been talked of as a certainty." - MSN (The Telegraph)
Notably, the surveyed artists' professional practice represented just 33% of their overall income, with many having to rely on additional ways to bring in money. Just 12% of surveyed artists said that their practice represented their sole means of income. - The Art Newspaper
Just what we need: More joyless, foolish bureaucrats quashing theatrical productions. "The interactive show is set at an Italian-American wedding, with a three-course meal, live music and dancing." - BBC
The openly homophobic and transphobic law means that "even if granted parental permission, minors may not have materials available to them." Texas is likely to follow suit, even more harshly. - Book Riot
For immigrants, it's seeing their own history on a Broadway stage; for their children, it's a major lesson. ("Growing up, the only thing I really knew about Imelda was her shoe collection.") For the all-Filipino cast, it's revisiting "a past that's hardly in the rearview mirror." - The New York Times
"Here's what to know about Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos, the People Power Revolution of 1986 and the controversies the show" — Here Lies Love, now on Broadway after runs Off-Broadway and elsewhere — "has faced." - The New York Times
"Nothing bothered me more than being cast in Lifted, a 'groundbreaking' show designed to feature only ABT's Black dancers. … I trained to be an elite dancer, not a Black elite dancer. Emphasizing my race before my skill infantilizes me; there's no such thing as a Caucasian-American dancer." - The New York Times
For years he managed the tricky business of remaining a committed Catholic at Elizabeth's Protestant court before settling in a rural haven. He wrote an extraordinary body of sacred music — large-scale and small-, in English and Latin — along with keyboard and chamber works, madrigals and solo songs. - The New York Times
Comments from Caroline Shaw, James MacMillan ("Classical music audiences tend to forget about the pre-Baroque, and it's a pity because William Byrd is one of music history's great figures"), Roxana Panufnik, and Nico Muhly (There's always a Byrd for something"). - The New York Times
"In the firms that cater to mid-market developments, art-school graduates spend their days pumping out huge volumes of the kind of innocuous work a person might gaze at across a hotel bar while winding down after a real-estate-brokers conference in Kansas City." - MSN (Curbed)
In 2009, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution dropped its arts section altogether, and the region's cultural community was aghast. So a couple of the AJC's laid-off critics decided to launch ArtsATL to fill the gap. Despite one near-death experience, the site's now thriving — and even providing content to the AJC. - Musical America
