“A glance along the ‘A’ shelf of any good bookshop will reveal a dizzying array of books on Jane Austen: study guides, biographies, source books, companions … [She has also inspired] board games, tarot card decks, figurines, Web sites, discussion forums, book club meetings, Empire-waist fashions.” And, of course, “[n]ever before, perhaps, has so small an oeuvre (she wrote six novels) launched so many academic careers.”
Tag: 05.18.10
A Concerto For Turntable And Orchestra
“Stephen Webber has news for those who believe classical music and hip-hop could never meet. The professor from Berklee College of Music in the US has composed The Stylus Symphony, a full-length piece for turntable and orchestra.”
Abbey Theatre Sued Over Updated Playboy Of The Western World
“A dramatist who claims he co-wrote a modern version of Playboy Of The Western World with novelist Roddy Doyle has alleged breach of copyright over the staging of the play in the Abbey Theatre [in Dublin].” This is the third court action taken over the production.
This Isn’t New York Theatre’s Golden Age — But It Could Be
Michael Feingold: “The era of mega-profits, now apparently over, and of digitized communication, now degenerating into Tweeted triviality, have given us bad cultural habits. … The Golden Age we think we lack, and yearn for, the one granted public recognition, may be just around the corner. The ore is there, waiting to be mined.”
UK’s National Theatre Plans £50M Facelift
The ’70s Brutalist concrete pile (which The Economist described as a “cultural concentration camp”) will be getting a major upgrade to its public areas. The proposed plan will finally make use of the site’s prime riverfront location, with the garbage bin area now facing the Thames replaced by a new glass entrance.
The Secret Photo Albums We Carry In Our Minds
“All the poets who loved colorful street life, starting with Whitman and Baudelaire, knew that the unforeseen was one of the inherent qualities of the beautiful. We come face to face with someone, or we catch a peek at them from the corner of our eye and the camera in our heads clicks, suspending the image.”
Yvonne Loriod, 86, Messiaen’s Wife And Foremost Interpreter
A piano prodigy who had mastered all of Beethoven’s sonatas by age 12, she met her composer husband when she took his harmony class at the Paris Conservatoire; he went on to write two great piano cycles and many solo parts in orchestral and chamber works for her. She was also an early specialist in the music of Pierre Boulez.
Iranian Filmmaker Jafar Panahi Begins Hunger Strike
The award-winning director (The White Balloon, The Circle), who supported opposition candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi in the disputed 2009 presidential election, was arrested in March and sent to Evin Prison in Tehran; he began his hunger strike on Sunday. His case has drawn much attention at the Cannes Festival, where he would have been on this year’s jury.
Is The Metropolitan Opera Phasing Out Free Summer Concerts?
“This year, the Metropolitan Opera will again feature a scaled back summer outreach to the outer boroughs concert series, focusing instead on a ten-day festival of free HD screenings in Lincoln Center Plaza. … Is this being done to help lower expectations enough that it won’t be such a shocker if the organization does away with the outer-borough tours all together?”
Why Cigs, Drugs, Drink And Overeating Are Good For You (Yay!)
“When people are under chronic stress, they tend to smoke, drink, use drugs and overeat to help cope with stress. These behaviors trigger a biological cascade that helps prevent depression, but they also contribute to a host of physical problems that eventually contribute to early death.”