“Julius Fast, who won the first Edgar Award given by the Mystery Writers of America and went on to publish popular books on body language, the Beatles and human relationships, died on Tuesday in Kingston, N.Y. He was 89.”
Tag: 12.21.08
Could The Financial Crash Be Good For Art?
“In politics [in 2008] the old order was voted out. In the art world money is running out. Auctions are iffy. Galleries are closing. Museums are in slash-back mode. So 2009 could be 1989 all over again. Important to remember: The last crash opened the art world’s tightly guarded gates to a wave of upstart talent and radical new ways of thinking. That was great. It could happen again.”
Is The Best New Dance Passing New York By?
“New York is where most of the world’s best choreography is still created but too seldom where it is seen.”
Classical Music’s Most [Fill In The Blank] Of 2008
They’re not the best or the worst, necessarily, but Dan Wakin has compiled a list of other musical superlatives in 2008: Longest Road Trip (NY Phil in Pyongyang), Biggest Tumble (Alberto Vilar), Most Execrable Timing (the Juilliard Quartet’s new first violinist, who broke his wrist just days after getting the gig), and so on.
2008: Best Year For Satire Ever
“Politics has been very, very good to late-night television in 2008. During what turned out to be the most closely followed election since at least 1968, nothing was more appealing to late-night viewers than watching regular helpings of ridicule being dumped on the candidates – unless it was guest appearances by those same candidates.”
Isherwood: These Are The Good Old Days
“The New York theater, like virtually every other enterprise in America, appears to be heading for some lean times… At least this bygone era of amplitude is ending on a note of unusual aesthetic strength. Many of the marquee events of the last year on Broadway were superb examples of high-end stagecraft at its most rewarding.”
Brantley: The ‘Special Relationship’ Thrives On Broadway
“This was the year of trans-Atlantic theater in New York, when Anglo-American cooperation (a subject wittily excoriated this season in Caryl Churchill’s Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? at the Public Theater) produced a hearty crop of expertly mounted – and in some cases transcendent – productions.”
Charles Dickens, Rescuing Fallen Women
The Victorian novelist is certainly remembered as a social reformer, but relatively few people know that one of his dearest projects was a home for young rescued prostitutes – but a humane place where they would be treated with kindness as well as discipline, and made ready to build a new life in the colonies.
Poet-Playwright Adrian Mitchell, 76
“In his many public performances in this country and around the world, he shifted English poetry from correctness and formality towards inclusiveness and political passion.” In the foreword to his first book, he wrote, “Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people.”
Branding Orlando Ballet
Robert Hill, the 47-year-old former star of NY City Ballet and ABT, has just taken the reins of the Florida company, and he wants it to develop a recognizable face for the company. “We’ll do the classics, [but] we’re also going to develop a repertory that says ‘This is Orlando Ballet.'”