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salzberg

Rest in Peace
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Everything posted by salzberg

  1. I lit Caliban there. (Upon subsequent reflection, Jeff decided that perhaps the above was too cryptic and needs further detail. . .and, besides, I'm really bored, waiting for my laundry to finish.) Caliban was James Clouser's rock ballet based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, but told, obviously, from the point-of-view of, well, Caliban. Because the action takes place on an island, the ballet thought it would be cool to do it at the Medinah, which was a HUGE (the Shrine Circus performed there, elephants and all) old (there was a picture of Pavlova dancing there)thrust stage (that means there are audience members on 3 sides). No one seemed to consider the fact that dance doesn't work all that well on a thrust stage -- especially a ballet that was originally choreographed for a more conventional (oh, yeah, the Medinah also hosts conventions) theatre (Houston Ballet/Jones Hall, where it was very, very good). You could call the production a success, I guess, but then you could also call me Robert Redford. . . . [ 05-09-2001: Message edited by: salzberg ]
  2. You should have tried to do ballet, as I did once, in the Medinah Temple.
  3. So I think the question is: Why is Chicago -- the 3rd-largest city in the US, with over 3 million residents -- such a bad place for ballet, when the art thrives in smaller cities such as San Francisco, Boston, and Atlanta? Remember that Chicago is a veritable hotbed of activity in theatre (to the extent that there's a separate Actors' Equity contract for "Chicago Area Theatres") and has an opera company that is, to say the least, healthy. One would expect, then, that this arts-awareness would carry over.
  4. It's never happened to me, but I know what I'd do. About 20 years ago, the theatre critic of the Tampa Tribune asked in print, "When you go to the theatre, are you expecting it to change your life?" To me, the answer is "yes". Those moments to which you refer are the reason we go to the theatre. . . .And why would we stay after seeing one? Because there might be another one coming up. [ 05-06-2001: Message edited by: salzberg ]
  5. What, pray tell, is the difference between the elitism of the snob who says that all art should be highbrow and that of the snob who says that all art must be lowbrow?
  6. Let me hasten to add to my earlier flippant reply that there are many honorable, ethical arts administrators. As always, it's the bad apples that make the entire barrel look bad.
  7. An arts administrator talking out of both sides of his mouth? I'm shocked.
  8. . . .And it's especially gratifying that it went to one of ours! . . .And I, too, hope to see more of Leigh's work soon. [ 04-14-2001: Message edited by: salzberg ]
  9. Bijoux said, in the Boston X 3 thread: So. . . . Should companies reflect the tastes and experiences of their home cities or should they aspire to a higher (or at least more universal) aesthetic? [This message has been edited by salzberg (edited March 25, 2001).]
  10. Well, obviously, it's time for the Age of the Lighting Designer. . . . ------------------ Jeffrey E. Salzberg, Lighting Designer This Day in Arts History: www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg/arthist.htm portfolio: www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg email: salzberg@suncoast.quik.com
  11. Well, folks, to be truthful, there are some musicians who are quite knowledgeable about dance and whom I would trust to select repertory (Leigh, you know at least one of the people I'm thinking of), but not many. I think it's dangerous to generalize about people (but I'm gonna do it anyway). I think Boston's making a mistake -- a bad one.
  12. I might point out that the Metropolitan Opera is headed by a former stagehand. ------------------ Jeffrey E. Salzberg, Lighting Designer This Day in Arts History: www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg/arthist.htm portfolio: www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg email: salzberg@suncoast.quik.com
  13. On this day in history: 03/09/1959 - Barbie, the popular girls' doll, debuted; over 800 million have been sold.
  14. The Western Symphony] Scherzo may turn out to be the Flying Dutchman or Brigadoon of ballet.
  15. I suppose one could have the Wilis appearing in an elevator. . . .
  16. I suppose one could have the Wilis appearing in an elevator. . . .
  17. I assume that the ad was placed by Le Flack.
  18. When I lived in NY (I left at about the time that the first Brooklyn Museum controversy was starting) I thought of him as "Il Duce"; the parallels with Mussolini are striking, including the justification that he's "made the trains run on time". If Nixon can be the subject of an opera, could we make a ballet about Giuliani? [This message has been edited by salzberg (edited February 18, 2001).]
  19. I can'y speak for my fellow liberals, since we don't march in lockstep, but I, for one, would not be. Several years ago (at the time that Jesse Helms was first attacking the NEA, I attended a production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible -- the best production of that play I've ever seen -- at a Christian theatre in Houston. After the performance there was a"talkback" and I asked, "How do you, as both Christians and artists, view this play (for those who don't know it, it uses the Salem Witch Trials as a thinly -- and I mean very thinly -- veiled metaphor for the McCarthy hearings) in light of recent attempts by the Christian right to use federal funding to inhibit the content of artistic works?" The first person to answer hemmed and hawed, but the second attacked the question right between the eyes -- "I do not approve of censorship in any way, shape or form, ever." I agree with him. . . .So if someone makes art that reflects badly on Blacks, Jews, or for that matter Texans, I won't like it. I won't pay to see it. . .but I also won't censor it. ------------------ Jeffrey E. Salzberg, Lighting Designer This Day in Arts History: www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg/arthist.htm portfolio: www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg email: salzberg@suncoast.quik.com
  20. I've got a little list. . .they never will be missed. . . .
  21. That is, of course, the definition of "accident"; every accident can be traced back to human error. I'm going to continue this, I think, in a new thread in the "Tech" forum, where backstage safety is a recurrent theme. ------------------ Jeffrey E. Salzberg, Lighting Designer This Day in Arts History: www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg/arthist.htm portfolio: www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg email: salzberg@suncoast.quik.com
  22. We can take cheer, I think, in the belief that Ms. LeC is now fully mobile and dancing all over the place (whichever "place" that might be).
  23. Well, there is, sort of. It's called "the editor". ------------------ Jeffrey E. Salzberg, Lighting Designer portfolio: www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg email: salzberg@suncoast.quik.com
  24. When I was teaching college, I told my students that "the essence of theatre is one person performing and one person watching". It doesn't truly become art until both are participating. This means, of course, that each dance becomes a different work each night, because each night brings a new audience. ------------------ Jeffrey E. Salzberg, Lighting Designer portfolio: www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg email: salzberg@suncoast.quik.com
  25. Me? Complain? Never! Whenever I am serving as Stage Manager, one of my jobs is usually to find out which dancers (or actors) do or do not want to know when critics are in the house and which performers want to see reviews before the end of the run. As a designer, I always want to know who's there and I always want to read the reviews right away, but my situation is different from that of the dancers; my work is already done and its quality is unlikely to be affected by my reaction to a critic's comments, as opposed to the dancers, who do not need to be onstage thinking "the Times critic didn't like me in this section". ------------------ Jeffrey E. Salzberg, Lighting Designer portfolio: www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg email: salzberg@suncoast.quik.com [This message has been edited by salzberg (edited October 23, 2000).]
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