Joe Queenan: “Consider the case of Ben Franklin, printer, engraver, scientist, wordsmith, diplomat, philosopher and, because he was a fellow denizen of the City of Brotherly Love, my personal favorite among the founding fathers.” Until, that is, Queenan had a good look at Poor Richard’s Almanac.
Tag: 07.04.10
Streamlined Now, North Shore Music Theatre Reopens
“Shuttered for a year after going bankrupt in 2009, the beloved institution — once the largest nonprofit theater in the region, with close to 350,000 people attending annually — is coming back to life under [Bill Hanney’s] watchful eye. Hanney bought the place for $3.6 million in February and is overseeing every detail of the reopening….”
A Contest To Liven Up Washington’s National Mall
“Few people realize that the National Mall has never quite turned out quite as its (several) designers intended” – as “a vibrant center of civic and cultural life in the capital.” Instead, it’s a giant lawn with some monuments, surrounded by museums and deserted at night.
“A group of architects, historians, and preservationists has devised a contest intended to remedy that problem: the National Ideas Competition for the Washington Monument Grounds.”
Taking Dance Class With New York City Ballet In Saratoga
Every summer, in a little fitness studio in Saratoga Springs, about 20 or so devoted fans – mostly middle-aged women – take ballet classes led by City Ballet dancers.
Are These Theme Parks Or Conceptual Art Installations?
A Lithuanian attraction that’s all about Soviet prison camps. A Chinese park that’s both a tribute to Disney World and a middle finger to trademark law. A place near Mexico City where visitors pretend they’re illegal immigrants being chased by the US Border Patrol. An all-too-apropos amusement destination, unfinished and on indefinite hold, called Dubailand.
Jeffrey Deitch And His General Hospital Public Art Event
“That [MOCA] had become a soap opera set was pure Deitch, for better or worse: stuntlike, crazily experimental, scrambling high and low culture, risking ridicule and seeming not to care much when it rains down on his head. And the shoot was a perfect emblem of the issues and anxieties raised by the choice of Mr. Deitch last January….”
Cautiously, Scholastic Translates Kids’ Books Into Arabic
“The education ministers, who came from Bahrain, Lebanon and Jordan, drew up a list of 27 ‘no-nos,'” a Scholastic VP explained. “‘No dogs, no pigs, no boys and girls touching, no magic,’ she said, naming a few. They liked values and talk of honesty and cooperation among children,” but not “overly independent children or religion.”
What Makes A Patriotic Song?
“Such songs speak to us as only music can, evoking feelings of national fervor despite — or perhaps because of — their sometimes commonplace-to-cornball lyrics. It’s no coincidence that patriotic music has accompanied virtually every war the U.S. has been involved in, save perhaps for the Afghan conflict.”
Director Israel Hicks Dies At 66
The artistic director of the Ebony Theatre in Los Angeles, “Hicks made history with the Denver Center Theatre Company in 2009, when he became the first director anywhere to helm August Wilson’s entire 10-play, 10-decade exploration of the black experience in America for the same theater company.”
Small Venues Take Lead In Producing New American Opera
“A new opera production at a major company can cost millions of dollars; a world premiere adds another million or so to the price tag.” But new opera “springs up in smaller corners of the performing arts scene” in Washington, which “may actually be a harbinger of the future of the field around the country.”