“As the principal percussionist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ted Atkatz had reached a pinnacle in his profession. … But in May, Mr. Atkatz pulled a modern-day Don Quixote. He quit his job to devote himself full time to his alternative rock band.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Met Gives Two Operas Cinematic Encores
“Buoyed by the early response to its decision to make live opera performances available in movie theaters, New York’s Metropolitan Opera will encore two of the high-definition transmissions, this time to a wider selection of outlets.”
Wal-Mart Opens Online Movie Store
“Wal-Mart Stores Inc. today begins selling films online as the leading seller of DVDs stakes a claim in the emerging market of movie downloading. The store … makes Wal-Mart the first major retailer to offer downloadable digital movies from all the major Hollywood studios.”
Disney Embraces Motion-Capture Animation
“Walt Disney Co. started a new company with the producers of ‘Polar Express’ to make animated films based in part on the movements of actors.”
God Ate My Homework
Teaching in the U.S. recently, playwright Mark Ravenhill encountered a Christian student who was allowed to opt out of course material he found objectionable on the basis of his Christian beliefs. It’s not just an American phenomenon, Ravenhill says; it’s happening in the U.K., too. “Surely the university should declare itself a liberal organisation, and insist that those joining it must abide by its liberal values? … There should be no opt-outs when it comes to culture.”
When Readers Get Vocal, What Happens To Writing?
“The Internet has turned what was once primarily a one-way communication into a dialogue — or maybe a melee. From a cultural perspective, the new democracy of voices online is a wonderful thing. But writers have an odd and ambiguous relationship with their readers, and the reader revolution is having massive consequences we can’t even foresee.”
The Wright Vision: Beautiful Middle-Class Homes
“One of the three Frank Lloyd Wright houses in the Puget Sound area is on the market, a perfect time to wander through it and wonder why its ideas are being neglected in this century’s thirst for reasonably priced, modestly scaled homes. … Wright remains conspicuously alone among A-list architects who actually have tried to improve the state of middle-class single-family homes.”
Homework For Playgoers: Too Much To Ask?
As Tom Stoppard’s trilogy, “The Coast of Utopia,” sends Broadway audiences skittering for the bookshelves, Lyn Gardner asks, “But how far should you have to read up in advance in order to enjoy a show? After all, you don’t have to have a degree in nuclear physics to enjoy either Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen or Greg McLaren’s How to Build a Time Machine….”
2006 A Year Of Record Attendance In West End
“A packed bill of hit musicals such as The Sound of Music and Spamalot made 2006 a record year for London’s West End as theatre takings bounced back after terrorist threats. … By the end of 2006, central London’s 53 theatres had clocked up an unprecedented 12.36m attendances, according to trade association the Society of London Theatre.”
For Jazz At Lincoln Center, Philanthropy’s A Hurdle
“Jazz at Lincoln Center faces a major challenge as it turns 20 this year: how to lure deep-pocketed donors who don’t embrace an art rooted in the blues and folk music of African-American slaves. … Jazz, born in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century, hasn’t had a philanthropic base, jazz historians say.”