dirac

That's true - 'Pan's Labyrinth' is getting excellent promotional support and it showed up quickly in my local cineplex and is still running. 'Children of Men' was there for a couple of weeks. I think, however, that 'Babel' really took the place that 'Children of Men' might have had. Maybe some of the reviews, even the good ones, kept people away too. It sure didn't sound like a lot of fun. Also, welcome to the forum, fadedhour.

'Children of Men' has some truly stunning sequences. It would be nice if it and he received some acknowledgment, but I'm afraid he probably won't win.

Chenoweth’s voice is enormous. You can’t believe that such a big sound is coming from such a small person. I can only imagine what the effect is in live performance (although you’ve described it quite vividly). I don’t know that Sondheim was wrong, exactly. There is a sense in which Broadway stars in an older sense no longer exist – that is, when performers like Mary Martin or the Lunts, to take a couple of random examples, were nationally and internationally famous without benefit of an equally successful career in any other medium. Broadway alone just won’t do it for you any more. (Back then, too, some movie studio would have already have put Chenoweth under contract and launched her in films, and if she did well there would have been a series of musicals designed to showcase everything she could do, and....but those days are no more. Instead she plays second fiddle in ‘Bewitched.’) Thank you for the report, papeetepatrick. Would be interested to hear from others who’ve seen it, too.

I recall that Verdi didn't write the high C in "Di quella pira" but he did consent to the interpolation - with the proviso that the C be a good one. richard53dog writes: One of the first opera LPs I ever owned. As a kid, I was most impressed.

papeetepatrick writes: Not necessarily, I’d suggest. A contemporary performance of “The Merchant of Venice” may highlight by staging and acting ways in which our own view of Shylock differs from Shakespeare’s. It’s not exactly what Shakespeare intended – there’s no way it could be, things have changed too much – but neither is it a completely new work or a dismantling of the play. However, I could imagine ways in which such an approach might be taken too far and result in distortion.

Just so. (And your point about the noble native as the stuff of colonial fantasy is well taken.)

Yes, it is tacky. It doesn't really matter what the artist is flogging - cheap shoes or fur coats, it's all the same. I can't blame ABT for doing what it has to do, but there is something unseemly about this sort of thing. It's why Brad Pitt does TV commercials for overseas but doesn't allow them to be shown here, and why John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier cut the same kind of deal back in the day. (Although in defense of the latter two, both men had given the vast majority of their working lives to the theatre, which doesn't pay much. Gielgud didn't achieve genuine financial security until he was an old man.) However, in today's environment this is more acceptable than it used to be. It's off topic, but I always liked this story about Robert E. Lee. After the war, an insurance company offered him $10,000 for what we would call today an endorsement deal. Lee had been pretty much wiped out by the war and the dough would have come in handy, but he declined the offer, explaining that he could not accept money when he had done no work, and depended instead on his none-too-impressive salary as the president of what is today Washington and Lee University. Times have changed.

Thank you for posting the link, Mashinka. I would agree in theory that racism in old works is a legitimate topic for discussion - don't sweep it under the rug or take it for granted that people will understand where the problem lies, because believe me, not everyone will -- but to suggest that we doctor the works in question in order to tidy them up, as the good professor seems to do, is clearly not the way to go. (I think of what happened, over the decades, to the lyrics of 'Ol' Man River' until it was eventually decided the original words weren't too toxic to be sung.) Gosh, don't you hate those guys with respect for the composer's original vision? Please tell us about 'The Apple Tree,' papeetepatrick.

The actor Ian Richardson has died at age 72. Obituary in The Guardian. I always liked seeing him whenever he appeared in a series on PBS, which was regularly. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/news/st...2009628,00.html

I liked this quote: Delights me, too.

I’ve spoken to people who don’t know ballet at all, but two things they do know are “Swan Lake” and the 32 turns, and they’re disappointed on those occasions when they don’t get them. Speaking for myself, I enjoy seeing them unless they’re really botched, although if they are left out I won’t demand my money back.

And let's not forget the very imaginative cinema that has come out of Iran in the past two decades: Mohsen Mahmalbaf, Samira Mahmalbaf and others. Some of that was very political - in the broad sense of the word. Good point - this article focused primarily on the performing arts.

Redgrave and Didion were interviewed recently on National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7238970 I think this stands a good chance of being better than the book, with what Redgrave can bring to it.

My thoughts: Achtung Jeté I Fall Down Onstage Where the Steps Have No Name Some Plies Are Better Than Others Theme From the Swan ( title doesn’t even need any tinkering)

La Fille. Thanks for resuscitating this thread, Charming_Lise.

Today's Iran may seem very "llberal" to artists compared to then. I can only imagine.

In the current Opera News, there is a long piece about Mahagonny, which is being revived in Los Angeles, by Philip Kennicott. Looks like an interesting production. http://www.metoperafamily.org/operanews/is...1989&issueID=84

I was also struck by the youth of the population. bart writes: No way to tell, it’s true – but as you and the article point out, bart, the situation is more complex than it’s often shown to be. Despite the restrictions and the difficulties, it sounded to me as if there’s a very healthy spirit abroad in the artistic community there. (And it’s interesting to note that the theatre festival was set up after the revolution, not before.)

"Taste and appropriateness" -- exactly. I think also of an older word, "seemly."

Not necessarily, and it does make sense in myriad other situations. Maybe you have 'seen enough of it in your lifetime', but I haven't and I want to see a lot more. There is always the possibility of eroticism, and there are many contexts in which only the totally nude will do. It just never is ballet, classical or contemporary, as far as I'm concerned. I don't want to see any at all there. Agreed.

The Guardian runs an article on the current state of theatre in Iran. Interesting reading.

As a dance critic and occasional historian, it's a continuing frustration to deal with the lack of documentation in the field. People don't keep track of casting, repertory, choreographers (guest and otherwise), commissions, stagers, teachers, guests -- the whole collection of elements that go into the history of an organization. When I, a private individual with a basement, have a better collection of programs and press releases than a dance company does, something is seriously awry. My local ballet company has, over time, done well and less well with these things -- other local ensembles (and presenters) often take our recycling ethos much to far with their own records and archives. Thanks for letting me vent -- I feel much better now. So true. I note the copy for sale is an ex-library copy, probably picked up for a dollar or two at a library sale. Shame on the library for throwing out such a relatively rare and useful book.

Very interesting, indeed. There's a lot at stake. It would be nice also if female dancers came under consideration once in awhile, although with the male contingent traditionally as strong in the company as it is, I suppose it’s inevitable that men should predominate among the candidates. (Although as I think about it I recall at least one ballerina who thought she was right for the job, as Alexandra relates in her book on Henning Kronstam).

I have to admit to enjoying The Other Side of Midnight, too. Sometimes we need to have trashy guilty pleasures, no? I loved The Other Side of Midnight. I refuse to feel guilty, unless I'm laughing uncontrollably about something in really poor taste (like the film Raumschiff Surprise). You know, there's good trash and bad trash. Some of his other opuses I couldn't get through, but 'Midnight' worked. He was an important television writer, too, if not a terribly original one. He wrote entire seasons of “The Patty Duke Show” and “I Dream of Jeannie” more or less singlehandedly.

Another person saying thanks for this distinction. I've been mulling this over as the thread has progressed, and I think one of the difficulties that people are having is based in the physical nature of the art form. Some literary critics seek clues in the life of the author that might illuminate the book, and clues in the book that might illuminate the life of the author. But this is certainly not the only way to approach the book, or the author. and it can be quite difficult, especially in modern dances where the tradition of personal expression makes you assume that all works are designed to be revelatory. I agree that it's a useful distinction - as long as it's not hard and fast. Acocella's profile told us about Farrell as a person and an artist. I wouldn't bring in biography if I were writing a daily review of an artist in performance, but for a deeper analysis I might very well import the personal if I thought it was appropriate. That's so true. There are no performers so exposed as dancers, not even actors on stage, who have their characters to play. Dancers have choreography, which is not the same.