Citing “irreconcilable artistic points of view” among the key collaborators, the Goodman Theatre has cancelled its upcoming summer production of the musical “The Boys are Coming Home.”
Tag: 02.11.08
Can America’s Liberal Arts Colleges Be Saved?
The 95 “true” liberal arts colleges, the pure practitioners of liberal education, are in trouble. The number of persons who view themselves as liberally educated is declining. The number who wish they were liberally educated is declining even faster and the number who think they know what a liberal education is, or even that they would like to know, is shrinking fastest of all.
Trying To Appreciate 99-Year-Old Elliott Carter
The conundrum of Carter’s career is that while he may be, as the pianist and scholar Charles Rosen recently called him in the Times, “the most respected and admired of American composers,” that glow of approval is limited to a small, gold-plated coterie of musicians, critics, students, and pedagogues.
Winners, Losers In The Writers’ Strike
“The deal may transform the use of content on the Web, making writers rich and changing the entire power structure of Hollywood. Or maybe it won’t.”
Grammy Broadcast Down In The TV Ratings
“CBS’ 3 1/2 -hour Grammys delivered an average of 17.5 million total viewers, a 12% decline compared with last year, according to early figures from Nielsen Media Research. Grammy ratings tend to fluctuate depending on the popularity of the nominees and the level of competition from other shows, ranging from a recent low of 17 million (2006) to a high of 29.9 million (1993).”
Chinese HipHop Under The Censor
In America, hip-hop began as the voice of disenfranchised urban black youth. In China, the government has to clear all album lyrics, and you get – well, compare What up Gangsta by 50 Cent and Welcome to Beijing by Yin Tsang.
Why Hamlet Has Never Made Good Ballet
It’s surprising how many times choreographers have tried to make Hamlet into a ballet.
“Although dance incarnations of the Melancholy Dane date back to the 18th century, few have made a lasting impression. How can you possibly measure up to source material that at its angst-ridden core is so internal?”
Character And Creator In A Dance
“Diana Vishneva, 31, is a mesmerizing beauty from the illustrious Kirov Ballet, a master of channeling feeling through a classical vessel’s restraint, and so peripatetic a performer that her repertory has become her only real home. She plays both character and creator at once. She digs into her role and lifts herself out of the story to reveal, godlike, its scope.”
Betraying The Author’s Manuscript
Last month, charges were raised against a scholarly edition of Robert Frost’s private notebooks. The work, first published in early 2007, had been heralded as offering a rare glimpse into the reclusive poet’s creative process. But now the notebook transcriptions appear to be riddled with errors that made Frost look like “a dyslexic and deranged speller,” who often “made no sense.”
US Networks Look To UK Imports
“The U.S. demand for British imports has been accelerated recently by a combination of the Writers Guild of America strike and the shifting face of domestic television, which is moving away from rigid scheduling and expensive scripted series.”