BEACH BLANKET ADO

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, June 29th 2007 at 8:18

    Last Friday, before I skipped town for the weekend, I forgot to post a notice about this year's Tucson Parks and Recreation Shakespeare Under the Stars production, Much Ado About Nothing. So here's a reminder that this is the final weekend for the show. Last year, I attended ...

VIBRATO AGAIN

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, June 29th 2007 at 7:27

    Back in February I drew your attention to an essay by David Hurwitz, of Classics Today, demolishing the HIP argument that vibrato was largely absent from orchestral playing before World War II. I approved of most of Hurwitz’s contentions, but wondered why he drew most of his conclusions from ...

THEY'VE GOT A SECRET

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, June 29th 2007 at 6:54

    In the latest Tucson Weekly, I condescend to approve of the latest romp at Gaslight Theatre:

    Before Austin Powers, before Johnny English, before Top Secret!, and just before Our Man Flint, there was Bond, James Bond, the spy who launched a thousand spoofs. And why not? The early Bond movies ...

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, June 27th 2007 at 7:45

    As part of its triage effort to stop our orchestras from hemorrhaging audiences and donors, the American Symphony Orchestra League has taken the bold step of—changing its name! Beginning this fall, the professional association and advocacy group will be called the League of American Orchestras. According to a press ...

TOM MACHAMER

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, June 26th 2007 at 7:14

    Back in the early 1980s, the local news didn’t have to wedge into little slots in Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as it does now. (KUAT-FM doesn’t carry those programs, but our local news is simulcast with KUAZ, which does.) Newscasts back then lasted a full 15 ...

SIMON SAYS

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, June 21st 2007 at 7:37

    Here’s my latest screed from the Tucson Weekly. This time, two Neil Simon plays, each of them actually pretty decent (this from a critic who dislikes most Neil Simon), and benefiting from excellent production. Here’s the lowdown on what’s at Live Theatre Workshop:

    Neil Simon is a ...

CRITICAL CONDITION

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, June 19th 2007 at 6:51

    Here are two related items one can find while trawling ArtsJournal.com, both relating to the wholesale sacking of arts critics at American newspapers these days, after years of more gradual and subtle dumbing down of arts coverage. First, Michael Kennedy, a Twin Cities high school teacher and sometime theater ...

ATC GOES BEDDIE-BYE

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, June 15th 2007 at 9:50

    This just in from Arizona Theatre Company:

Arizona Theatre Company gets bright and brassy, sexy and sassy with the addition of a brand new revival of the classic Broadway musical The Pajama Game to its 2007-2008 season. … ATC’s all-new production of The Pajama Game replaces the scheduled run of ...

WITH FANFARE

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, June 15th 2007 at 8:56

    Among my several income sources—it takes several to make a living as a freelancer—is Fanfare magazine, for which I write CD reviews and features, and also serve as a sort of Webmaster. I don’t think of myself as a real Webmaster, building and repairing the site's ...

SHAKING AND SIZZLING

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, June 14th 2007 at 7:43

    After some time off, I’m back in my usual Tucson Weekly spot(s) with two items. First, a review of the latest fare from Borderlands Theater:

    Los Angeles is one big seismic hazard, and nowhere more so than in the vicinity of Esmeralda Portillo and Sam Reyes. They work ...

ROMAN HOLIDAY

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, June 13th 2007 at 7:20

    No time or money for a trip to Rome this summer? Here’s a consolation: a virtual tour of ancient Rome, as it looked around A.D. 300. The site is called “Rome Reborn,” and it’s part of a big project undertaken by the Insitute for Advanced Technology in ...

SEEING STARS

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, June 13th 2007 at 7:18

    Salon.com’s tech blogger, Farhad Manjoo, has an interesting article on ratings bias, and why all those user-driven Web sites featuring one- to five-star reviews aren’t reliable. The story contains a nugget that applies to professional criticism as well as amateur contributions; referring to the head of one ...

SPOLETO OPERA

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, June 12th 2007 at 10:38

    A week and a half ago, I dropped in on the Spoleto Festival USA, in conjunction with a meeting of the Music Critics Association of North America. I saw two of the festival’s opera productions, which on musical grounds were mostly solid, and occasionally impressive (aside from Karen Huffstodt ...

DR. PANGLOSS, EDITOR

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, June 11th 2007 at 7:32

    Hank Klibanoff, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's managing editor for enterprise, tells Alex Ross that he’s shocked—shocked!—by the uproar over his paper’s plans to revamp its arts coverage, requiring respected critics to re-apply for jobs that may or may not involve substantial criticism: “I really thought the ...

THRIVING

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, June 6th 2007 at 6:55

    From the Washington Post:

    A bunch of European composers who haven't had a hit in decades have been very, very good to radio station WETA.
    Since dropping news and talk programming for classical music in January, the Arlington public station has seen its fortunes soar. Ratings have more than ...

BLOGROLL UPDATE 2

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, June 4th 2007 at 7:59

    Once I catch up on a few things I left in-progress last week, I’ll fill you in on a couple of performances I attended last week at the Spoleto Festival USA. I was there to attend the annual meeting of the Music Critics Association of North America, and found ...