Author: Matthew Westphal

Colosseum In Rome To Get Retractable Floor, Just Like It Had Originally

Well, this new one will probably be higher-tech, but yes, the Italian government has requested bids to construct a retractable floor along the lines of the one the ancient venue had until about 1,000 years ago. Plans are for construction to start in 2021 and be completed in 2023, after which concerts and theater will be performed there. – Artnet

Composer ‘Blue’ Gene Tyranny Dead At 75

Born Joseph Gantic, raised as Robert Sheff, and having acquired the name he was known by during a brief period as a member of Iggy Pop’s band, he performed Charles Ives and John Cage while still in high school, worked with Robert Ashley and Laurie Anderson, and made a career composing and performing music that, as Steve Smith puts it, “deftly balanced conceptual rigor with breezy pop sounds.” – The New York Times

Leaked Texts Show How Sackler Family Counted On Museum Philanthropy To Save Their Skins In Opioid Crisis

“For years, as an opioid crisis ravaged America, the Sackler family, which founded Purdue Pharma, the company that made OxyContin, remained largely out of the public eye, free to accumulate billions of dollars of wealth in tranquility. But in recent years, the walls began to close in, as the press and regulators and lawyers and state attorneys general began to investigate Purdue’s role in the epidemic. And as pressure rose, to whom did the Sacklers turn to vouch for them? The museums that had taken their philanthropy.” – The.Ink

Upright Citizens Brigade Closes Yet Another Theater

“Almost exactly eight months after the closure of their [last remaining] New York venue and improv training center, the Upright Citizens Brigade has announced the end of their Sunset Theater in Los Angeles.” The company’s four founders (Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Besser, and Matt Walsh) said in their Twitter announcement, “We have been unable to make mortgage payments during this extended shutdown.” – Vulture

Broadway Star Rebecca Luker Dead Of ALS At 59

An operatically trained soprano whose clear and youthful voice was a natural for such roles as Maria in The Sound of Music and Christine in The Phantom of the Opera (which she understudied and which became her first lead role on Broadway), she was a three-time Tony nominee, for work in Show Boat, The Music Man, and Mary Poppins. Her last Broadway appearance was as Alison’s mother in Fun Home in 2016, and she worked until late last year before announcing her ALS diagnosis this past February. – Playbill

Tutus: A Brief History

“What is the history of this strange protruding skirt which allegedly gets its name from the French children’s word cucu, meaning ‘bottom’? Pointe took a look back at some important moments in innovation,” from Marie Taglioni’s bell-shaped skirt in the 1832 premiere of La Sylphide to the ten-foot-wide social-distancing tutu that the Dutch National Ballet developed this year. – Pointe Magazine

How The Vienna Philharmonic Has Pushed Through The Pandemic

They went on a tour of Japan last month; since they got home, they’ve started a Bruckner symphony cycle under Christian Thielemann and played Strauss and Webern program under Zubin Mehta. Chairman Daniel Froschauer and general manager Michael Bladerer talk with a reporter about the orchestra’s commitment to playing together live and why it’s important. – The New York Times