“Philip K. Dick was a disaffected loner in life, [but] in death his ideas turned out to be pitch-perfect for a Digital Age that wanted science fiction not just about aliens but also about the alienated. Posthumously, Dick became a one-man factory for Hollywood projects, with his fiction reaching the screen nine times… All of it makes for a staggering turnaround for the family of the troubled writer whose work presaged the cyberpunk movement.”
Tag: 09.15.07
Doing For Musicals What Utah Did For Movies
The New York Musical Theatre Festival is only four years old, and yet, its reputation has been growing by leaps and bounds. Some now refer to it, without a hint of irony, as Sundance for musicals, an event with the power to simultaneously reinvent and reinvigorate an old form long taken for granted by its audience.
17 Million Words Lead To One Opera
Would you want to read a 17 million-word diary? What about watching someone write it? “The diary of Arthur Crew Inman, a notorious recluse and one of Boston’s great eccentrics, has already been transformed into a play: Camera Obscura by Lorenzo DeStefano. Tonight the chamber opera company Intermezzo premieres The Inman Diaries, an opera by Thomas Oboe Lee based on the play and on Inman’s colossal diary.”
The Two Faces Of TIFF
“In its 32d year, the Toronto International Film Festival is a binary experience… Toronto is now the official starting gun of Oscar season; what used to be an evenly spread 10-day smorgasbord of cinematic riches (for the most part) is now front-loaded with studio premieres and red carpet photo ops. By contrast, the back leg of the festival has become a parade of unheralded world-cinema pleasures and unfilled theaters.”
Reliving The Worst, And Loving It
Small towns that have been through devastating natural catastrophes generally aren’t terribly eager to relive the experience. But for residents of a town in Iowa that was nearly wiped off the map when the Mississippi River flooded in 1993, a theatre project that was begun shortly after the floodwaters receded has taken their story of disaster and recovery from the Midwest to New York and back again.
Curtis Gets $1.5m Promise From A Faculty Member
“Music conservatories scramble for donations like every other nonprofit organization. The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia has found an unusual source: Aaron Rosand’s violin, the famous “Kochanski” Guarneri del Gesù. Mr. Rosand, a longtime teacher at Curtis and a soloist, has promised that when he retires and sells his violin, the school will receive $1.5 million.”
Watching The Parade Go By
In a bizarre but alluring reversal of theatrical behavior, spectators at a performance art/street theatre event in New York are sitting in a storefront window, watching seemingly ordinary New Yorkers walk, dance, and sing by them outside. “There is no narrative structure. Some scenes last a few seconds, others a few minutes. Famous New York City characters — Jacqueline Onassis, Spider-Man, ‘On the Town’ sailors, the couple from the Times Square V-Day kiss photograph — make appearances.” The title of the show – One Million Forgotten Moments.