“When the curtain went up at the Palace Theater on Jan. 4, 1981, the expectations — and the stakes — were high. Frankenstein, an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel, had cost a reported $2 million, at the time a record for a Broadway play. The screen legend John Carradine and a young Dianne Wiest were in the cast, and the unprecedented stage effects came courtesy of Bran Ferren, the wunderkind behind the mind-bending hallucinations in the film Altered States, released two weeks earlier.’ But the reviews were so awful that the producers closed the show the next morning, putting Frankenstein in an exclusive club: Broadway one-night wonders. – The New York Times
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Important LA Jazz Club Closes For Good
Statistics can’t begin to describe the importance of The Blue Whale to the jazz ecology, in Los Angeles and beyond. On social media, testimonials have flowed freely from musicians and fans, along with expressions of sorrow. – WBGO
Alaska’s Capital Aims To Become A Hotbed Of Indigenous Art
Juneau already has a surprising number of galleries for an isolated town of 32,000 that can’t really be reached by road. In particular, the work of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian artists is thriving. Now a nonprofit called Sealaska Heritage Institute aims “[to make] Juneau the Northwest Coast arts capital of the world.” – Smithsonian Magazine
Tomorrow Is Public Domain Day – Here Is Some Of The Art Of 1925 That’s Now Available
These works include books such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time, and Franz Kafka’s The Trial (in the original German), silent films featuring Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, and music ranging from the jazz standard Sweet Georgia Brown to songs by Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, W.C. Handy, and Fats Waller. – Center for the Study of the Public Domain
Where Writing Historical Novels Can Get You Thrown Into Prison For Life
Yes, there are a number of countries where this is the case. But one that has an ongoing history of jailing its most famous writers, even as it claims to be an elective democracy is Turkey, where Ahmet Altan is now living in a 13-foot-long cell in Europe’s largest prison complex. Fellow novelist Kaya Genç (himself free, at least for now) looks at Altan’s case and at his magnum opus, the Ottoman Quartet, whose last volume, if it’s written at all, will come from behind bars. – The New Republic
BalletX’s New Streaming Platform Starts To Fulfill Its Promise
The Philadelphia company’s response to the pandemic was to try to develop online dance compelling enough that people would pay for it. The result is BalletX Beyond, which streams three new concert dance videos every second month on a subscription basis. One of the latest to create work for BalletX Beyond is former NYCB principal and Broadway star Robbie Fairchild, whose The Cycle was inspired by, and filmed at, Longwood Gardens. – Harper’s Bazaar
David Medalla, Sculptor Who Created ‘Cloud Canyons’, Dead At 78
“[He] was something of a cult figure until recently, with his pioneering sculptures of the 1960s mainly known to European curators and historians, who have featured them in major biennials and surveys over the past decade. But a growing fan base has also come to recognize the artist, who … is [now] best known for his Cloud Canyons sculptures, which feature looping organic-looking forms that emit soap bubbles. Medalla labeled these works ‘auto-creative art’.” – ARTnews
After A Very Rough 2020, Can The Philadelphia Museum Of Art Make The Changes It Needs?
On top of the COVID shutdown and the consequent loss of income and layoff and furloughs, the museum faced the public revelation of abusive behavior by two former managers — and senior administration’s far too slow dismissal of the offenders. As the long-underway interior expansion of the PMA’s main building opens to the public, will the policies and employment culture there be improved as well? The president and board chair say they’re working on it. – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Clever Baritone Works Out Way For Choirs To Sing Together Even Though Everyone’s Safely In Their Own Cars
As one bitterly disappointed singer posted on Facebook after the pandemic had ended all choir rehearsals, “Every time I hear someone go, ‘Hey, is there an app that can let me do a choir rehearsal with no latency?’ NOT UNLESS YOU BREAK PHYSICS, YA DUMMY.” Baritone David Newman replied, “Physics are not insurmountable.” And his solution requires only some inexpensive audio equipment available at almost any Walmart or Best Buy. – Los Angeles Times
Europe’s Largest Movie Market Saw Business Down By 70% This Year
That would be France, where total box office receipts were more than $1 billion lower than in 2019. (For a year like 2020, those figures may not be so terrible.) Unusually, no French film was in the top five this year; equally unusual is that French movies had a higher share of domestic ticket sales than American titles for the first time in 14 years. – Variety