Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki was one of the more adventurous and radical composers of the 20th Century. Now he’s written a piece that sounds like it could be Mahler or Brahms. “It is, though, a curious state of affairs when the composer who, more than any other, was identified with that scandalous way of writing should become the one who most saliently repudiates it.” – Sunday Times (UK)
Tag: 05.14.00
YOU GONNA FUND PORNOGRAPHY?
Jane Alexander’s new memoir recalls the battles over arts funding while she was chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. – Washington Post
COMFORTABLE ON THE STAGE
Who said the measure of success is whether your play gets made into a movie? August Wilson discusses why his work hasn’t been movified yet. “I told Eddie I wanted a black director, and they all looked at me and told me that there weren’t any.” – Boston Globe
REFORMING AN ANCIENT STORY
Every ten years since 1634 the villagers of Oberammergau, in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps, have been staging their six-hour passion play about the death and resurrection of Jesus. “It is a Roman Catholic play about Jews, performed in German before a largely Protestant audience, most of whom will be American or British. The newly refurbished Passion playhouse holds 4,700 people, and 112 performances have been scheduled.” This year the winds of reform have altered how the play will be presented. – New York Times
THEATRE AS TEST
Michael Frayn’s play “Copenhagen” imagines a philosophical conversation about the implications of quantum physics. The play’s been getting raves, but does anyone understand it/ The New York Times tested audience members on the way out of a performance. – New York Times