“Ballet abounds in self-contradictions. It continually shows mere mortals becoming works of ideal geometry, and helps us see music in terms of three-dimensional space. It can turn silliness into enchantment, make myth real, or — even in a work of pure dance — make us feel how the sublime coexists with the comic.”
Tag: 05.19.17
Architect Kulapat Yantrasast Brings ‘A Bold Openness’ To Design Of Marciano Art Foundation
But he’s no starchitect, despite his stylish glasses. “Yantrasast is funny and warm, as intrigued by vernacular culture as he is by high art. During the course of an afternoon interview, he expresses admiration for the choreographies of Pina Bausch and the sculptures of artist Gabriel Orozco. He also stops to admire homegrown modifications on a jalopy Toyota.”
William Brohn, Who Orchestrated Wicked, Miss Saigon, Ragtime And More On Broadway, Has Died At 84
“In ‘Wicked,’ for instance, Mr. Brohn selected woodwinds and harps to convey ‘the swirling girly fantasy’ of the good witch Glinda’s entrance inside a bubble, he told a website dedicated to the musical’s composer, Stephen Schwartz. For ‘I’m Not That Girl,’ which is sung by Elphaba, the green-skinned wicked witch of the West, Mr. Brohn used muted strings, a harp and acoustic guitars to stress its melancholy mood.”
The Ringmaster’s Last Day
Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson is Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ first African-American ringmaster, and as the circus runs its last performance on May 20, he’s the circus’ final ringmaster as well. “Ironically enough, I will be the very last voice in the 146-year history of this show, so I will be the last person you hear to speak of ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ — which is a wild little paradox, to be a first and a last at the same time.”
Putting The Rainbow Into Reading With Drag Queen Story Hour At The Library
The kids love the story hour, which started in San Francisco and spread via social media to New York. “As is the case with all readers, library staff members taught Ms. Sunbeam how to engage the children, with questions (‘Who likes rainbows?’) and to manage crowds of often restless youngsters. However, the differences between a rowdy drag show audience and a group of kindergartners are not as pronounced as one might imagine. ‘Little kids can be crazy,’ Ms. Shapiro said. ‘We like to joke that they’re kind of like drunk adults.’ When asked to pinpoint the main difference between story hour and an evening drag show, Ms. Sunbeam said jokingly, ‘I’m sober.'”
When They Asked An Artificial Intelligence To Name Paint Colors, Things Went Bad Quickly
Why yes, I’d like to use “Bank Butt” for the living room, while “Snowbonk” is nice for the kitchen. In short: “1. The neural network really likes brown, beige, and grey; 2. The neural network has really, really bad ideas for paint names.”
Can ‘Madame Butterfly’ Be Saved With A Radical Re-Write?
Maybe? Heartbeat Opera is trying. Co-writer Jacob Ashworth “said he expected many audience members to be relieved to see an adaptation that confronts the opera’s biggest issues. ‘No more trying to enjoy the beauty while quietly bearing the racism,’ he said.”
Striving To Revive The Ghostly Sounds Of Electronic Music Composer Maryanne Amacher
The composer created experiences that are hard to recreate: “A student of Karlheinz Stockhausen and a collaborator with John Cage and Merce Cunningham, Amacher had some of her greatest successes with huge sound-design installations tailored for specific spaces. These ‘linked room’ works exploited psychoacoustic effects that she pioneered: A foyer might hit the spectator with high-pitched tones meant to excite strange inner-ear responses. An adjoining space could feature quiet, slowly fading bass frequencies, lingering at the edge of auditory perception.”
How A Seattle Production Of Seagull Turned Into A Troupe Devoted To Chekhov
The artistic director of the group’s patron and incubator, ACT: “When they called me in 2011 and said, ‘We want to do the Ring Cycle of Chekhov and take it around the world,’ I was terrified, and told them so. … They loved it. ‘That’s the response we want,’ they said. Eventually, I fell deeply in love with the author—and the company too.”
The Night Solange Knowles Took Over The Guggenheim (And Got A Young, Racially Diverse Audience Into The Museum)
It was performance art with an extremely cool audience (and an extremely cool performance group): “At times, the event took on a mystical cast, Ms. Knowles and her troupe extending their arms toward the crowd in a kind of benediction. The effect was moving, the show itself museum-worthy. As Nat Trotman, the Guggenheim curator of performance and media, noted, it was part of a tradition that dates from the late 1960s, when Meredith Monk first performed in the rotunda.”