The star of the sitcom Designing Women, who died this week at age 70, knew that she had given up a lot – artistically and in reputation – in exchange for the steady money a TV series provided. Yet in the last decade of her life, starting with an powerful performance as Maria Callas in Master Class on Broadway in 1997, she flourished as a stage actor and cabaret artist.
Tag: 04.15.10
Ireland’s Abbey Theatre Closes Its Set Workshop
“The Abbey Theatre in Dublin is closing down its long-established workshop and outsourcing set construction in a bid to save money. … A total of 11 staff will lose their jobs, some of whom have been involved with the workshop for more than 20 years.”
Who Says The Human Brain Can’t Really Multitask?
A new study “illustrates how the brain can simultaneously keep track of two separate goals, even while it is busy performing a task related to one of the aims, hinting that the mind might be better at multitasking than previously thought.” Says one researcher, “This is the first time we observe in the brain concurrent representations of distinct rewards.”
Baroque Violin And Appalachian Fiddle Are Closer Than You’d Think
Violinist Murray Somerville: “I watched this [Tennessee] fiddle player, and his bowing looked so much like a Baroque violinist’s – the loose wrist, the grip high on the bow. When I asked where he’d learned these techniques, he said ‘I just play the way my daddy taught me’.”
Did The Donner Party Really Eat Their Dead Brethren?
“Detailed analysis of the bones instead found that the 84 Donner Party members consumed a family dog, ‘Uno,’ along with cattle, deer and horses. Cattle, likely eaten after the animals themselves died of starvation, appear to have been their mainstay.” The analysis shows no evidence of cannibalism.
Sondheim, Rodgers & Hammerstein To Get Their Own Proms This Summer
“Musicals will be strongly represented at this year’s BBC Proms, with the line-up featuring a concert paying tribute to the work of Stephen Sondheim and another devoted to the shows of Rodgers and Hammerstein.”
Hated The Met’s New Tosca? Well, There Have Been Some Changes…
Luc Bondy’s staging is still neither sumptuous nor traditional, but some of the stage business that so upset many fans of the opera is gone. For instance, Scarpia no longer humps the statue of the Blessed Virgin, and while Tosca still doesn’t place a crucifix on Scarpia’s dead body, Patricia Racette makes what the character does do more credible.
‘Odd-Man-Out Syndrome’: When You’re The One Audience Member Who Doesn’t Get It
“This [condition] can roughly be described as the experience of attending an event at which much of the audience appears to be having a rollicking good time, while you sit in stony silence, either bored to stupefaction or itchy with irritation.” New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood and his readers discuss the phenomenon.
Ever Wanted To Bash Andy Warhol’s Head In? Now’s Your Chance
“Food artist” Jennifer Rubell has made a 20-foot-tall piñata of Warhol’s head as the centerpiece of her food-art exhibit, titled Icons, at this year’s Brooklyn Ball at the Brooklyn Museum. Yes, patrons can take a whack, and yes, Andy’s head is filled with sweets – “prepackaged, vernacular American dessert items,” of course.
‘Invisible Siegfrieds Marching Sunset Boulevard’
Yes, this is how Angelenos celebrate the city’s first-ever Wagner Ring cycle. Actually, it’s part of the citywide Ring Festival. “Led by alto Christina Ascher, volunteers wearing camouflage helmets will march down Sunset Boulevard, from downtown to the Pacific Ocean, over the course of four days.”