These principals of the architectural firm WORKac found it challenging to design their own home. The psychological complexity of domestic life? The culmination of years of thought? “The hardest thing about designing our house was that we just haven’t designed a lot of houses.” Produced with the Center for Architecture. Photo: Harry Willks.
The artistic director of the Paul Taylor Dance Company summarizes his aesthetic: “The curtain goes up, twenty minutes happen, the curtain comes down, and it is transformative.” Easy to say, brilliant to achieve. And they do.
We – OK, I – look askance at those who claim to need an emotional-support animal to board an airplane, but we don’t mock those who take Prozac. What’s the difference? Patricia Marx, a staff writer at the New Yorker who has travelled with a support pig (research, not therapy), took up this question … Continue reading »
Her blog “Brain Pickings” ranges across the past and present, the arts and sciences, steering her cohort to unexpected delights. In our conversation at the Brooklyn Historical Society, she talked about a nineteenth century astronomer, a twentieth century elm tree, and a twenty-first century blight: people who walk down the street staring at their devices. … Continue reading »
After creating the TV series Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, he did something radical: left TV, came back east, and returned to writing prose, to the delight of the fans of The Borowitz Report. In this episode, taped at JCC Manhattan, he riffs on Donald Trump, ponders why Cleveland produces great comics and bad ball clubs, and reads … Continue reading »
This sly anthropologist of WASP ways is much admired for his plays The Dining Room, Love Letters, Sylvia, and more. We talked at the Flea Theater about fathers and sons, students and teachers, and most emotion-charged of all: dogs versus cats. Drama is conflict. Plus music from Duncan Wickel and Lily Henley, who got … Continue reading »
When we spoke at Wave Hill, these fine actors, colleagues on the TV series Billions, suggested that Sadaharu Oh is the Vanessa Redgrave of Japanese baseball. Or is Redgrave the Oh of actors? Either way, why are we inspired by such titans rather than intimidated by their inimitable brilliance? Plus a few jokes about Ibsen … Continue reading »
If an audience doesn’t laugh, the play/movie/book isn’t funny. Or might it be? Can an audience fail the writer? It’s complicated, says Paul Rudnick, who should know, having written for the screen (Adams Family Values), the stage (Jeffrey) and the page (The New Yorker). A conversation about comedy and stained glass windows – two … Continue reading »
His screenplay Tex X evolved into Blazing Saddles after amiable hours writing and rewriting with Richard Pryor and Mel Brooks: workmates! He directed Marlon Brando in a rare – and terrific – comedy performance in The Freshman. Plus a childhood visit to Victor Borge’s dressing room and a chance encounter with Philip Roth. And … Continue reading »
He created the role of Motel the Tailor in Fiddler on the Roof. He directed Elizabeth Taylor in The Little Foxes. He – well, it would be easier to list what he has not done during a lifetime in the theater. But what most surprised me about our conversation was his description of his lifelong friendship … Continue reading »
When Iranian interrogators accuse fashion models of being part of a cabal led by Kim Kardashian, do they believe their own loony charge? Journalist Maziar Bahari thinks they might. We talk about the effects of official propaganda, the plight of Iran’s Baha’i community, and his own imprisonment – all more amusing than you’d expect in the hands … Continue reading »
For opera lovers, it’s the Wagner conundrum. For movie goers, it’s the Woody Allen problem. Dubious people have done wonderful work. But Jan Gehl, the Danish urban planner, sees architecture differently: “If you don’t love people, you can not make good architecture.” For him, architecture is a moral act. A conversation with a champion of humanistic … Continue reading »
“Failure is a very creative place,” asserts James Nicola, artistic director of New York Theater Workshop where singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and director Rachel Chavkin developed their flamboyantly successful Hadestown, a folk opera based on the Orpheus myth. But is failure really so useful, or is it just, well, failure? Rachel and Anaïs consider that … Continue reading »
HBO’s Vinyl is gone, but its splendid soundtrack endures. “’I always seek out experts,’ said Randall Poster, one of the show’s music supervisors, who enlisted the Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo to help him build up the punk bona fides on Vinyl. Mr. Ranaldo brought on his own frequent collaborators, including studio veterans with a … Continue reading »