Tag: 10.09.00

DEAD OPERA, BALKING

San Francisco Opera premiered its new opera “Dead Man Walking” this weekend. “There is nothing musically offensive about ‘Dead Man Walking’, but to paraphrase Gertrude Stein, there’s not much there there. The aesthetics of ingratiation take an artist only so far, and this is subject matter with far greater needs.” – New York Times

“An opera by a composer of great musical heart.”  – Boston Herald
“A crowd pleaser created by artists who are also crowd pleasers in all that they do.”  – Los Angeles Times
“We feel worse when we leave “Dead Man” because misery has been hammered home with music, and a point is made, unmusically.” – Orange County Register
Musically, Heggie’s ‘Dead Man Walking’ is an impressive piece of work. Morally, it’s a washout. – Washington Post

THE CULT OF KEITH JARRETT

Keith Jarrett has returned to the concert hall after a debilitating illness. “Jarrett, fortunately, is not in that twilight zone, and there is no smell of death in what he is doing. Even so, his recent frailty has intensified his appeal to his followers, a kind of worshippers-come-nigh charisma that has gilded any shortcomings in his own performing.” – New Statesman

THE CULT OF KEITH JARRETT

Keith Jarrett has returned to the concert hall after a debilitating illness. “Jarrett, fortunately, is not in that twilight zone, and there is no smell of death in what he is doing. Even so, his recent frailty has intensified his appeal to his followers, a kind of worshippers-come-nigh charisma that has gilded any shortcomings in his own performing.” – New Statesman

HOW THE WEB IS CHANGING THEATRE

Theatre productions heading to Broadway used to be able to open quietly out of town and work the kinks out. No longer. The web has changed it all. “This torrent of gossip, news, amusing tidbits, and reviews – most of them unfiltered, unverifiable, and true – in chat rooms and on bulletin boards at sites such as playbill.com, broadway.com, and talkinbroadway.com, is throwing producers and the reporters covering them for a loop. Why? For the same reason the Web has turned every other industry inside out: It’s democratized something that used to be the exclusive purview of an entrenched elite, and the entrenched elite ain’t happy.” – New York Magazine

CREATING A NEW MUSICAL THEATRE

“While many on the West Coast see Broadway as a monolithic entity 3,000 miles away, “Broadway” is really about the people who create the shows – and it’s those creators who came to Los Angeles at their own expense because they wanted to be part of this conference. Their presence wasn’t simply to share anecdotes and professional expertise, but to stimulate West Coast musical theater writers and encourage us to keep creating new shows.” – Los Angeles Times

ART OF CONVERSATION IN CANADA

“What I’ve been thinking – just to while away the gaps in the dinner banter about Toronto real-estate prices – is that there can’t be many other nationalities that can devote three hours to watching an opera and then, by way of commenting on the experience, step amid the throng of fellow opera-lovers from the theatre foyer into the crisp, clear air, and, pondering the immensities of beauty and life and death that are still swirling around the memories of so stunning a performance, ask what parking level the car is on.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada) 10/09/00

POMPEII LIGHTS UP

After 2000 years, the lights are back on in Pompeii. “The $5 million lighting project sponsored by the Culture Ministry means that the ruins, one of Italy’s biggest tourist draws, will eventually be open at night. It also means the city’s stone amphitheaters will once again host performances.” – Discovery

MELBOURNE’S NEW ART MUSEUM

The about-to-open Melbourne Art Museum, with its sleek contemporary architecture, is a bit of a shock at first encounter. “Sitting alongside the beautiful Royal Exhibition Building, with its majestic Florentine-inspired cupola, the new building will be viewed as an extreme contrast of what museums have been and where they are going. – The Age (Melbourne)

COLLECTION BY COURT ORDER

Ontario’s McMichael Gallery is about to be forced to return control of its collection over to the original founders. The Ontario government is convinced that the gallery has lost its way from its original mission. But what would the Group of Seven – the artists whose work forms the core of the collection – think of all this intervention? Not much, thinks one art historian. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)