Shakespeare was not a full-time writer without other responsibilities, like O’Neill or Williams. But what might look like a distraction for such authors—acting in his own and other people’s plays, coaching fellow players, helping manage the ownership of the troupe’s resources (including its two theaters, the Globe and Blackfriars)—was a strength for Shakespeare, since it made him a day-by-day observer of what the troupe could accomplish, actor by actor. [...]
'According to Pacini,' Julian Budden writes in The Operas of Verdi, 'it was the custom at the San Carlo theatre, Naples, for the composer to turn the pages for the leading cello and double bass players on opening nights.' The composer had to change his score to fit new voices if there were substitutions caused by illness or some other accident. In subsequent performances, he was expected to take out or put in arias for the different houses, transposing keys, changing orchestration. He was not a man of the study but of the theater.
Shakespeare and Verdi in the Theater.
posted by shakespeherian
on Nov 18, 2011 -
48 comments
"A giant gust of wind picked up a tarp and garbage from across the field and flung it toward the audience and lifted the whole stage — where Cheap Trick had been playing — and almost like a convertible in a car, just folded it backwards in the same direction."
The
main stage at the Ottawa Bluesfest
has collapsed in a sudden storm, during a performance by
Cheap Trick. Injuries are reported to be minor. The
annual festival brings thousands of music fans into downtown Ottawa.
Photos of the
aftermath.
posted by ricochet biscuit
on Jul 17, 2011 -
43 comments
The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast talks to director Stuart Gordon about Herbert West - Reanimator (
part 1,
part 2). A prolific director, Gordon is responsible for some of the
better adaptations of Lovecraft's work (and
From Beyond). Currently he is directing Reanimator star Jeffrey Combs as
Edgar Allan Poe in the one-man shoe Nevermore, which just finished a hugely successful run in LA and is now heading for Poe's hometown of
Baltimore.
posted by Artw
on Dec 25, 2009 -
23 comments
The Guardian has compiled a list of their
top fifty arts videos, the majority being from either rare or obscure sources and uploaded onto YouTube.
posted by djgh
on Aug 30, 2008 -
13 comments
