Tag: 02.10.05

TV Does Not Rot Your Brain (Okay, MTV Might)

Bad television is still bad television, but television as a medium may not be as bad for our minds as we’ve always suspected. Decades of research make it clear that moderate amounts of television viewing can actually open cognitive doors for children, provided that the program being watched has an educational bent. “A child who watches Sesame Street in preschool will not only be better at recognizing letters and numbers in Grade 1, but will also be more willing to learn. And the change is not short-lived.”

What Good Is A Song If No One Knows It?

“Imagine a world where the songbooks of American composers, from Jerome Kern to Richard Rodgers to Stephen Sondheim, have never been recorded or captured on film and the only people who knew them well were the performers who originated the roles on-stage and a small community of cabaret connoisseurs… [T]hat hypothetically apocalyptic scenario is the reality of the younger, but equally pedigreed world of English Canadian musical theatre. Hundreds of Canadian shows and thousands of songs have been written in the past 60 or 70 years for which there are no recordings or, in many cases, no musical charts.” Now, a group of performers is trying to fill the void, creating an aural and written record.

Steppenwolf Not Looking Back

“To celebrate its 30th anniversary throughout the 2005-06 season, [Chicago’s] Steppenwolf Theatre has decided to take five big risks. For the first time in its history its principal subscription series will be made up entirely of new works.” Four of the five productions have already been announced, including new plays by Richard Greenberg and Steven Dietz.

Cleveland Orchestra Headed To Miami

Since the demise of the Florida Philharmonic two years ago, observers have been wondering just exactly who the under-construction Greater Miami Performing Arts Center is being built for. Now, an answer has emerged, courtesy of the chairman who presided over the Phil’s disbanding: the center will open in 2007 with a 3-week residency by the Cleveland Orchestra. It’s good news for South Florida music lovers, of course, but some former Philharmonic musicians are furious, suggesting that chairman Daniel Lewis, who has given $12 million to the Clevelanders over the years, allowed the Phil to die knowing that he could bring in a visiting orchestra more cheaply.

Jimmy Smith, 79

Pioneering jazz organist Jimmy Smith has died in Arizona. He “irreversibly placed the Hammond B-3 in the spotlight. Doubly blessed with a quicksilver technique and an unusually advanced harmonic imagination, he invented a brilliant new way of addressing the organ. Emerging as a musical force in the mid-1950s, Mr. Smith brought unprecedented virtuosity to the instrument, inviting comparisons to such bebop piano giants as Bud Powell and Art Tatum.”

Is British Ballet Really In Trouble With The Girls?

“Last week, former ballerina Dame Antoinette Sibley announced that the future of British ballet looked bleak, pointing to a lack of home-grown principals in British ballet companies: two out of 16 at the Royal Ballet, two out of 12 at English National Ballet and three out of 12 at Birmingham Royal Ballet. She also quoted what she called “shocking” figures from the Royal Academy of Dance showing a 67% drop-out rate of students at age 10-11. Is this really so surprising? After all, this is the age for dancers when the hard work really kicks in, and clothes and boys start to seem more appealing to many girls than pliés and pointe work. Not to mention that the stick-thin physique that dancers strive for is often thwarted by the development of womanly curves.”