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'Elemental and irreplaceable': Stars pay tribute to Stephen Sondheim
NEW YORK, NY.- Passionate tributes to Stephen Sondheim came quickly as the news of his death reached the theater world and beyond Friday. Comparisons to Shakespeare were invoked more than once; so was appreciation for his tough-love feedback to those who interpreted his songs. Because the Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer of such beloved shows as Sunday in the Park With George and Sweeney Todd was known for his wit and wordplay, writers who stick to the page, not the stage, weighed in with admiration as well. And, given how often Sondheim songs traded in wistfulness and melancholy, the composers own lyrics were used to celebrate and remember him, too. Here is a sampling of responses. Im weirdly numb and super-emotional all at the same time. I cant quite process what the world (especially the theatrical world) looks like without him. He was a giant, he ... More

The essential musical dramatist who taught us to hear
NEW YORK, NY.- One of the greatest American composers, clearly the greatest lyricist and, by virtue of those two rarely linked greatnesses, the essential musical dramatist of our time wanted to talk about double acrostics. This was not quite what I expected when I met the man in 2004. But Stephen Sondheim, who died Friday at 91, leaving a lifes outpouring of rapturous, hilarious, gorgeous and tortuous song in his wake, was, in my first interview with him, and in every interview since, uninterested in reputation. Thinking about The Frogs, the 1974 musical he wrote to be performed at the Yale University swimming pool, and which he was in the process of revising for Lincoln Center Theater, he preferred to recall the fun hed had with Burt Shevelove, his collaborator on that show as well on A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. But double acrostics? ... More

Revitalizing Black neighborhoods by preserving their history
NEW YORK, NY.- Jevonte Porter grew up hearing family stories about a bustling era of arts and business in the Orange Mound section of Memphis, Tennessee. After World War II, locals flocked to performance spaces like the W.C. Handy Theater; those without tickets often sold hot dogs or other goods on the busy streets outside venues. To Porter, 25, these anecdotes almost sounded like fiction. As a child, he played hide-and-seek around abandoned buildings. Orange Mound often cited as the first community in the United States founded and developed by African Americans had become less the domain of street vendors and more of a food desert. Now, Porter sees signs of revitalization taking root. Leading the effort are developers Victoria Jones, an artist, and James Dukes, a music producer known as IMAKEMADBEATS, who want to transform the United ... More

Pat and Michael York, who spent decades collecting the world, share their treasures at Heritage Auctions
DALLAS, TX.- For nearly 54 years, Michael and Pat York have lived as a binary star, each in orbit around the other. Throughout those decades, as husband and wife, they have shone brightly in a galaxy filled with the luminaries they called colleagues, subjects and friends. He, of course, is a famous and venerated actor, having appeared in such films as Logan's Run, Cabaret, Romeo and Juliet, The Three Musketeers and the Austin Powers series, not to mention several Simpsons episodes. And she is a celebrated photojournalist and magazine editor whose work has been collected in numerous books and displayed in myriad galleries around the world, including the Russian State Museum in St. Petersburg. In a 1993 article on the couple, The New York Times wrote of Michael that he's a "versatile British actor who has shared the stage with nearly every show business legend ... More

Morphy's Dec. 7-8 Fine & Decorative Auction richly laden with Tiffany, Galle, Amphora & fine jewelry
DENVER, PA.- Morphys 45,000-square-foot gallery never looks more beautiful than just before the companys December Fine & Decorative Arts Auction. Thats the time of year when visitors are greeted by a breathtaking array of Tiffany Studios lamps, fine jewelry, paintings, both European and American pottery and glass, and many other superior-quality art objects carefully curated by Morphys specialists. This years event, which will take place at the gallery on Tuesday and Wednesday, December 7-8, features 1,149 lots, each a prime candidate for gift-giving during the holiday season. All forms of remote bidding will also be available, including live online through Morphy Live. The incomparable artistry of Tiffany Studios is on display in dozens of auction lots, most notably the leaded and stained-glass lamp selection that includes a red Damascene desk lamp, estimate ... More

The Fall by Susan Philipsz now on view in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam
AMSTERDAM.- The first Dutch solo exhibition of Scottish sound architect Susan Philipsz (Glasgow, 1965) has opened in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam. Philipsz takes the music of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck as the starting point for her new work. The Netherlands most famous composer was buried in the Oude Kerk 400 years ago. After numerous visits to the church and extensive artistic research, Philipsz now presents her context-specific sound installation The Fall in Amsterdams oldest building. It can be visited until 29 March 2022. If it had been up to Calvinism, all organs would have disappeared from the churches after the Iconoclastic Fury (1566). Thanks to Sweelinck, however, who as city organist played daily in the Oude Kerk, the organs were preserved. Sweelinck laid the foundations for public organ concerts after the Reformation. Young organists from all over Europe came ... More

Class-winning Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce and unique Jensen head to auction
LONDON.- Among the H&H Classics offerings at Buxton on December 8th are a historic rally class-winning 1953 Aston Martin DB2 Vantage and a concours award-winning 1931 Rolls-Royce 20/25 Swept Tail Sports Saloon, while alongside them is a 1970 Jensen FF II project which was the worlds first production car to feature such modern staples as anti-lock brakes and four-wheel drive. The 1953 Aston Martin DB2 Vantage Estimate Â£150,000 - Â£180,000 is among the last twenty DB2 cars to be built. It was supplied new by Brooklands of Bond St, London to Ian Scott Duffus Esq. Treated to an extensive, chassis up restoration from 1985-1996 it is finished in its original colour of Black with Red leather upholstery. Subject to circa Â£100,000 worth of improvement and development work during the current nine year ownership, its engine was reworked by renowned Feltham Aston specialist Four ... More

Dix Noonan Webb to sell Iraq George Medal awarded for preventing a major incident
LONDON.- The important and impressive Iraq G.M. group of six awarded to Colour Sergeant M. P. Caines, Princess of Waless Royal Regiment will be sold by Dix Noonan Webb in their auction of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria on Wednesday, December 8, 2021. The George Medal is one of only five awarded during the Iraq conflict and is estimated at Â£20,000-30,000. He is selling them to pay the deposit for a new home. Martin Paul Caines was born in 1979 in Surrey, England and was raised in Northern Ireland and England. He was a member of the Army Cadets and joined the Princess of Waless Royal Regiment in 1997. Having completed two tours in Kosovo he was embarked for Iraq on operation Telic 4 in July 2004. As Christopher Mellor-Hill, Head of Client Liason at Dix Noonan Webb noted: Colour Sergeant M. P. Caines, who as Platoon Leader, employed both clear ... More

The day Josephine Baker refused to sing in segregated Miami club
MIAMI, FLA.- In December 1950, Josephine Baker received a telegram from Copa City, a posh nightclub in Miami Beach, inviting her to give a series of concerts. But with segregation rife in the United States, the Black French singer refused to perform in a venue where African-Americans were not accepted, a decision that became a turning point in her struggle for racial justice. On November 30, the US-born star, who died in 1975 at age 68, will become the first Black woman to be entombed in the Pantheon in Paris, a mausoleum that houses the remains of the most notable figures of French history. By the late 1940s, the singer, music hall dancer, and member of the French Resistance, Baker was already a world star who triumphed in the cabarets of Paris, where she had lived since 1925. But even Baker's fame did not prevent her from facing discrimination in the country of her birth. ... More

Hong Kong protest film wins Taiwan's Golden Horse award
TAIPEI.- A film on Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement won best documentary at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards on Saturday, at an event dubbed the Chinese-language "Oscars" that went ahead without the legion of mainland filmmakers and stars who once used to walk its red carpet. Hong Kong director Kiwi Chow's "Revolution of Our Times" takes its name from a pro-democracy protest slogan and has never been shown commercially in Hong Kong. The awards have become a bulwark against Beijing's censorship and bolster films that would be banned in China and Hong Kong. They ran afoul of Beijing when a Taiwanese director called for the island's independence in an acceptance speech at their 2018 ceremony, prompting outrage in China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, to be retaken one day by force if necessary. No mainland films featured in the 2019 nomination list ... More

Dominique Morisseau pulls play from L.A. theater, citing 'harm'
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Playwright Dominique Morisseau has ended the run of her play Paradise Blue just a week after it opened at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, saying that Black women who worked on the show had been verbally abused and diminished. Morisseau did not specifically describe what happened. But in an 1,100-word Facebook post Wednesday, she said that members of the creative team had been allowed to behave disrespectfully, that she had demanded an apology from one member of the team and that instead of staunchly backing this, the Geffen continued to enable more abuse. Harm was allowed to fester, Morisseau said in the Facebook post. I gave the theater an ultimatum, she added. Respect the Black womxn artists working on my show, or I will pull my play. In a statement about the cancellation, the Geffen Playhouse said officials had apologized ... More