Announced in 2012, supposed to open in 2017, and … what now? “Setbacks have included sparring architects, the discovery of mastodon fossils by excavation crews, a budget that ballooned by roughly 90 percent, the ouster of its founding director and now, for the second time, the coronavirus pandemic.” – The New York Times
Tag: 12.18.20
Wood’s A Great Building Material, Except For That Little Thing Called A Legacy
Take Stonehenge, for example. “Stonehenge too might once have been largely a wooden structure. The central bluestones and the rings of sarsen stones that surround them are surrounded in turn by several rings of postholes, just as at Woodhenge. The stones could therefore originally have been covered or surrounded by a huge ring-shaped wooden building. The archaeological blogger Geoff Carter has even suggested that the sarsen stones themselves and their lintels could have acted as load-bearing structures in a huge wooden temple that completely covered the bluestones.” – LitHub
How The Ailey Company Is Dealing With The Pandemic
Considering that it’s not an easy time for dance companies, the Times says, the Ailey is making wonderful choices for its current and future audiences. “Since Dec. 2, the company has been releasing themed programs mixing archival and newly filmed performance excerpts with taped conversations about the dances and the moment.” – The New York Times
The Path From Broadway To Your TV Screen Is, While Now Familiar, Still Bumpy
The good: “Musicals — and, in a way, plays too — are now being filmed because of their music, not in spite of it.”
The less good: “They put us onstage with the story and give us no say.” – The New York Times
Why Netflix’s ‘Ma Rainey’ Ends With A Scene That’s Not In The Play
Director George C. Wolfe says of the final scene, “It’s a very slippery little slope: When does sharing become cultural appropriation become theft?” – Los Angeles Times
Many TV Shows Shut Down Because Of Positive Tests – Many Of Them False Positives
Several shows got what might be called early Christmas holidays this week, with a side of positive coronavirus test terror spicing up those free days. – Vulture
The Berlin Film Festival Is Now Delayed
And there are pretty clear indications that Cannes and Venice may – and probably should – follow suit. “‘There is a great desire to meet face to face,’ Mariette Rissenbeek, the festival’s executive director, said in a statement, but ‘the current situation does not allow a physical festival in February.'” – The New York Times
Record Intact: Boston’s H&H Extends Its Streak To 167 Years Of Messiahs. Here’s How
The period-instrument orchestra first performed the resplendent “Hallelujah” chorus during its inaugural concert in 1815, presenting the American premiere three years later. In the centuries since, H+H has often performed the storied oratorio, including, for the past 166 years uninterrupted, annual holiday performances that have sustained Bostonians through the Great Depression, two World Wars, 32 presidencies, the Civil War, and the Spanish Flu pandemic. – Boston Globe
It’s Been Six Months, And Australian Arts Organizations Still Haven’t Gotten Any Rescue Fund Money
“The $250m rescue package to arts and cultural organisations affected by Covid was announced in June, … [yet] in October it emerged in budget estimates that still no emergency funding had been disbursed.” Now the government says that some money has been designated for specific organizations, but those groups say no cash has actually arrived. – The Guardian
Performers Angry As One Of Australia’s Fringe Festivals Adds Non-Disparagement ‘Gag Order’ To Contracts
“Perth’s Fringe World, which opens on 15 January, attracted criticism and protests earlier this year over its longstanding sponsorship by fossil fuel giant Woodside. In a bid to head off disruption of next month’s event, the organisers – not-for-profit company Artrage – have included in the festival’s main contract the stipulation that ‘the presenter and the venue operator must use its best endeavours to not do any act or omit to do any act that would prejudice any of Fringe World’s sponsorship arrangements’. … [Performers] said the clause effectively amounted to a gag order, curtailing comment on anything from climate change to local politics.” – The Guardian