Peter Gelb Announces Cut Backs at Met Opera
General Manager Only One Surprised by Ticket Sales
By: Susan Hall - Dec 28th, 2022
It comes as a surprise to noone who attends Met Operas that the House is in trouble. Only Peter Gelb, who at first said that people were asleep after Covid, seems to find the Met Opera's failure to sell tickets news. His response is also odd. The operas he proposes to produce to cure are chamber operas unsuited to an opera house too large for our times.
Dear Suzanne By Eve Rifkah
19th Century French Artist and Model
By: Charles Giuliano - Dec 28th, 2022
Her father, an artist, took the poet Eve Rifkah to the Museum of Fine Arts. There the young girl became intrigued by Suzanna Valadon the model for Renoir's stunning Bal a Bougival. She has written a book of verse comprising conversations with and about herself and the legendary artist/ model. Our paths crossed at Manship Artists Residency.
Gloucester Encounters: Essays on the Cultural History of the City 1623-2023
Four Hundred Plus Years
With the 2022 publication of Gloucester Encounters: Essays on the Cultural History of the City 1623-2023, edited by Martin Ray, we have a kick start launch of a year of commemoration in 2023. Originally planned for six writers it was expanded to 36 by editor Martin Ray. It reads like a pot luck supper with savory chapters as well as many not so. But you won't leave it feeling hungry for Gloucester.
Daoist Traditional Practices and Stillness
By: Cheng Tong - Dec 27th, 2022
Zen Buddhist teaching and the use of Koans are for the purpose of disabusing one from thinking, and instead simply acting. Quiet oneself sufficiently, be fully present in the moment, and the correct response to the moment will arise on its own – naturally, instinctively, organically.
St. John the Divine Hosts AMOP
Julia Bullock and Christopher Reif Re-Design El Nino
Julia Bullock and the American Modern Opera Project brought a new version of John Adams' and Peter Sellars' El Nino to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, known for its support of the arts and blessing of all animals. This will become a traditional performance.
New Holiday Play Debuts in South Florida
By: Aaron Krause - Dec 23rd, 2022
"O Christmas Tree," a new holiday play with music, made a triumphant world premiere at South Florida's Thinking Cap Theatre. The playwrights are Thinking Cap's Artistic Director, Nicole Stodard, and Thinking Cap's Managing Director, Bree-Anna Obst. The world premiere marks just the beginning of "O Christmas Tree's" theatrical life.
Guggenheim Museum 2023
Schedule of Exhibitions
By: Guggenheim - Dec 21st, 2022
The Guggenheim Museum releases its schedule of exhibitions for 2023.
Red Speedo
A Ronnie Larsen Presents Production in South Florida
By: Aaron Krause - Dec 20th, 2022
Lucas Hnath's intense drama, "Red Speedo" is playing in an admirable production by South Florida-based producer Ronnie Larsen. The production runs through Dec. 30 at the intimate Foundry space in Wilton Manors, near Ft. Lauderdale. "Red Speedo" represents a significant departure from the kind of work that Larsen usually produces and creates.
Becky Nurse of Salem at Lincoln Center
Sarah Ruhl Tackles Witchery
Women have often been called witches and other words that rhyme. What insights can we glean today about the trials held in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts? Playwright Sarah Ruhl tackles the question.
Christmas in Connecticut
Premiering at Goodspeed
By: Karen Isaacs - Dec 20th, 2022
As a world premiere, this is a work in progress. Changes are being made. When I saw it, one song had been moved, and a reprise was eliminated.
SF Broadway's Gleefully Ghoulish Ghost Story
By: Victor Cordell - Dec 17th, 2022
Ghosts. Dancing skeletons. A giant toothy snake from Hell, like Saturday Night Live's land shark on steroids. "The Handbook for the Recently Deceased." When the title character mirthfully tells the audience that this is a play about death, he's not kidding. Fortunately, it's all in good fun, and there is plenty of it in this delightfully camp musical adaptation of the highly successful 1988 comedy-horror film.
Cabaret to Open Barington Stage Season
Directd by Alan Paul
By: BSC - Dec 13th, 2022
"I am always amazed at how Cabaret manages to speak to our time, making it one of the most remarkable and resilient works of American musical theatre," commented Alan Paul. "As the US experiences a rise in acts of virulent anti-Semitism, it seemed an appropriate time for our audiences to revisit this enduring classic. It's also an opportunity in my first season to celebrate one of the shows that helped establish the legacy of this theatre company."
America's Foremost Arts Cities
Pittsfield Makes the List
By: SMU DataArts - Dec 15th, 2022
The Arts Vibrancy Index report is an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to better understand how the arts and culture sector contributes to a community's economy and public life. Now in its seventh iteration, the report has helped organizations evaluate where to relocate or focus their operations; provided clarity for funders on how and where to invest; and made it easier than ever for communities to learn how to cultivate arts vibrancy in their area.
The Brightest Thing in the World at Yale Rep
Leah Nanko Winkler writes in a cinematic style – the play opens with a series of brief scenes (fewer than five lines), which sets up the meeting and subsequent developing relationship between Steph and Lane at the Revival Coffeeshop. It is the usual Rom-Com mixture of unsaid things, clues that aren't picked up, and fears.
Death of a Salesman on Broadway
Starring Wendell PIerce
Death of a Salesman, starring Wendell Pierce, is getting an interesting, if not always successful, revival at the Hudson Theater on W. 44th Street. The revival produced by the Young Vic Theatre originated in London last spring to acclaim.
Hand Shadow Puppetry by Steven Wendt
HERE Presents Phil Soltanoff, Director
This and That delights. The production also raises questions: Can a serious effort be delivered with casual aplomb? Great beauty? Mystery? From a messy theater? In the hands of Philip Soltanoff and Steven Wendt, the answer is a resounding Yes.
Metropolitan Opera Website Down
Never Underestimate Putin and Netrebko
The Metropolitan Opera website is down for the third day in a row. Griner freed. Met Opera now captive?
Clark Offers Free Admission
January Through March
By: Clark - Dec 08th, 2022
"There's no better way to start the new year off than by making sure that our doors are wide open for our community and for all visitors to the area," said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark. "We believe that the chance to engage with art is a truly fulfilling and enriching part of life and we want to make sure that everyone has plenty of opportunities to visit the Clark and to get to know us better."
Geoffrey Richon is a major contractor and philanthropist in Gloucester. He co-founded Gloucester Stage Company. For artistic director he hired and later fired the playwright Israel Horovitz. He was outed as a sexual predator, first by the Boston Phoenix in 1993, and then by the New York Times in 2007. The company has been through rough times but Richon sees a bright and expanded future.
Art Bath in New York
Daring New Creations at the Blue Building
On a drawing board of mixed media, live at the Blue Building on 44th Street, Art Bath gives New York talent a chance to experiment. Six times a year, twice in the spring and twice in the fall, Art Bath presents programs in which artists mix and match new and daring forms. These are enchanted evenings.
Microcosms: A Homage to Sacred Plants of the Americas
Secret Life of Plants
By: Rick Harlow - Dec 07th, 2022
Confocal microscopy, also known as confocal laser scanning microscopy, is a specialized optical imaging technique that provides contact-free, non-destructive measurements of three-dimensional objects. For this website, plants considered sacred by indigenous groups of the Americas were scanned at St. Lawrence University's Microscopy and Imaging Center.
TheatreWorks' Bubbly Chinatown Adaptation
Okay – let's cut straight to the chase. The unique chronical of "Little Shop of Horrors" is laugh-out-loud funny; the music is foot-stomping energetic; the production is superb; and the performances are great. Did I miss anything? If you see this TheatreWorks production and disagree, check with your physician to make sure you have the pulse rate of a sentient being.
New City Players Near Ft. Lauderdale
New City Players in Southeast Florida has mounted a solid production of a live radio play adaptation of the Christmas classic film, "It's a Wonderful Life." The production runs through Dec. 18. The adaptation, while charming and heartwarming, is too similar to the source material.
An irreverent Contemporary Musical Adaptation
By: Victor Cordell - Dec 02nd, 2022
This rendering must be measured by a very different yardstick than traditional versions. By a calculation based on contemporary sensibilities, Adaptor/Director Emma Rice's innovation succeeds in providing a multifaceted entertainment executed with top rate professionalism.
Twelve Angry Men
Palm Beach Dramaworks
By: Aaron Krause - Nov 30th, 2022
Palm Beach Dramaworks (PBD) in Southeast Florida is preparing to mount a production of the classic courtroom drama, "Twelve Angry Men." The play's basis is the Academy Award winning 1957 film with the same title. PBD's production will run through Dec. 24 at PBD's intimate venue in West Palm Beach.