Alex Ross: “As in previous years, the [2014] selection demonstrates the degree to which the awards have diverged from their original mission – to pay tribute to luminaries of theatre, dance, classical music, and show business – and instead become one more temple of celebrity culture, magnifying the fame of already familiar faces. … The logic that has taken hold of the Honors is one of pop triumphalism: it’s not enough for pop culture to dominate the mainstream; it must colonize the spaces occupied by older genres and effectively drive them from the field.”