February 2011

Untouched
When Muppet-creator Jim Henson died in 1990, his wife Jane was asked to relate a memorable moment about him.  She chose to tell a story about a family trip to Italy and a visit to the Sistine Chapel.  As they all looked at Michelangelo's work, Henson said to his assembled clan, "Only a hack would have had the fingers touch."
Michael Bettencourt

Kubrick Remembered redux
As each year goes by, more and more people realize what film artists have known since the 1960's... he was and remains singular among the handful of unique filmmakers in the 20th century. As one director mused: "I look at the history of cinema and I see it divided into 'before Kubrick' and 'after Kubrick'."
Arthur Meiselman

Spinach
This year marks my 30th anniversary in my little corner of the professional theatre game.  One of the features of my starting out was an on-going discussion about that fundamental concept – the intention.  Or was it your motivation?  Or your goal?
Or your objective?
Or was it . . . .?  Wait, it's your. . . uhmmm. . . . .
Nathan Thomas

The Game
I feel sorry for today's sports writers, especially those covering the pro football beat.  Increasingly with each passing season, their writing has very little to do with the game itself.  Because my friends, the game itself has very little in common with the game I and others of my age grew up watching in the 70's and 80's.
Les Marcott

Kitty Mommy
Talking through current
mish-mash on child-rearing
relentless parental repercussions over
transitory items
like pee and poop.
Claudine Jones

Ellen Stewart
Ellen Stewart (La Mama ETC), a remarkable human being, whose creative vision encompassed continents, has passed away. She was highly supportive of my efforts in the theater, as she was for everyone else with dreams and ambitions.pervasive, legendary & viral.
Ned Bobkoff

A Brief But Quirky History of he Arts January 2011 Click Here The Rising Fall of the Arts January 2010 Click Here The One January 2009 Click Here What Is Art? / 2008 January 2008 Click Here View of the Arts/2007 January 2007 Click Here The Art of Sex in the Arts February 2006 Click Here State of the Art of the Arts October 2005 Click Here

FILM
The King's Speech

...is to savor the delights of a solid, perfectly calibrated movie in which, like a meticulously run royal household, everything is exactly as it should be.
Miles David Moore

DANCE (Film Review)
Black Swan

...of psychological and stylish coherence, making me think of certain works by Polanski and Cronenberg.
Renate Stendhal

DANCE (Film Review)
Black Swan

...veers off into
 a silly melodramatic psychodrama
Catherine Conway Honig

MUSIC
Marin Alsop & the Droids

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra takes on John Williams' Star Wars Suite and Phillip Glass'
Icarus at the Edge of Time
Karren Alenier

ARTS OF THAILAND
A Simply Beautiful Project

An easy and rewarding opportunity for local artists and artists all over Thailand to meet and cooperate.
Janine Yasovant
คลิกเพื่ออ่านบทความนี้ เป็นภาษาไทย

THEATRE OF RUSSIA
The Audience Must Work!

Interview with
Dmitry Volkostrelov
Grigor Atanesyan

Steiny Road to Operadom
A Trinity of Influence

Gertrude Stein
Paul Bowles and
Allen Ginsburg,
how connected and antithetical these
writers are.
Karren Alenier

La Femme
La Mujer La Donna
The Thrill of It All

What is more romantic or more sexy than a really good orgasm? All a gal really wants is equal pay for equal work... to have an orgasm every single time she has sex too. Multiple would be even better. And that orgasm requires work and effort and skill and most of the time isn't found at the end of a penis.
Lia Beachy

Life Among
the Heffalumps
Art and Civility:
Sensitivity or Overkill?

I don't have any
bombshells up my sleeve; but if this column is absolutely fabulous it will
knock you out!
Kathi Wolfe

COMICS
My Old Man!

The first installment of a new series by Scene4's resident mad cartoonist
Elliot Feldman

THEATRE
Baku Impressions

The conference, in short, was a gamble on the part of Azerbaijan authorities to make a good impression through the arts; and it did. We were treated with infinite hospitality.
Ned Bobkoff

POETRY
The Old Barn

Poem #3 of
Earth Poems Trio
Interpreted from
Inuit Legend
Griselda Steiner