Some of the thoughts and observations that didn't make their way into recent reviews and posts:
Wit - Be thankful when nurses and staff workers ask your name repeatedly during
your hospital stay. You'd be surprised at the number of procedures done on the wrong patient. And BTW, you
may want to confirm the anatomical side of your operation.
A Bright
New Boise - Are performance art and crafting the endtime of culture?
Lungs
- The importance of the collaborative nature of theater is revealed when design is minimized.
Boise & Lungs - Why the need for so much profanity and why do all the f-bombs
end up in the lines of female characters?
OR, The Rivals &
Wit - Direct monologues and asides to the audience are engaging as well as funny. The "fourth wall"
- intended to provide immediacy - has actually separated the viewer from the theater experience.
Fahrenheit 451 - Techno creep will do us in long before governments do. Worry more about cloud computing
and social networking as forms of mind control.
The Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra & the National Philharmonic at Strathmore - Guest conductors and touring soloists pack light for travel.
Look for crowd pleasing programs when the artistic director's away from the podium.
Where in the world is Anne Midgette? Since Placido Domingo questioned the objectivity of The Classical Beat
reporter in a letter to The Washington Post - for an unkindly review of Tosca and his work as an artist
- her posts on the blogsite have all but disappeared. Are changes in the offing?
Boise - Is a position paying 7-8 dollars an hour, strictly speaking, a
job? If not, what do we say about the service industry at large where the hourly rate barely clears minimum wage?
The underemployment figure may be the real one to worry about in this economy.
Wit - Strong Medicine. We want easy answers to our questions about faith, knowledge, and existence
when there are only tough ones.
The Habit
of Art & OR, - Theater has a way of trivializing history for dramatic effect that even film can't quite
match (JFK, Elizabeth, etc.). Movies subvert subtly whereas the stage does it over-the-top. We don't
so much want to tear down icons as laugh at them.
Classical music, opera
& The Bard - When the repertoire is limited - and the critics and fans have seen it all - expectations are high.
Consider the source (if you must) when deciding whether or not to attend a performance.
Restaging classics - One person's "high concept" production is another's gutting of a masterpiece.
Theater partnerships - Why do all DC co-productions end up in Washington instead
of originating here?
theaterWashington - Businesses are failing left
and right - low end to high - from bars, restaurants & bookstores to boutiques, art galleries & car dealerships.
Yet, for some reason tW, a spin-off of The Helen Hayes Awards, believes that patrons will go out and spend money on theater.
Is this a form of escapism or delusion?
Survival of the fittest - If
there were two playwrights left on Earth, one would be working on a farce, the other a backstage comedy.
High Notes - Rena Cherry Brown's performance in Wit, musicians of
the BSO, Ted van Griethuysen in The Habit of Art, the slam-bang opening night of Center Stage's The Rivals,
and the finale of Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the National Philharmonic.
Support the arts and see a show!
© John F. Glass, November
1, 2011
