Nickell’s Bag

"This feels like a Mack truck falling out of the sky and hitting us," says Kevin Garland, executive director of the National Ballet of Canada. "It's great to have the Kirov coming to Toronto, but the timing couldn't be worse for us, and we didn't hear anything about it in time for us to plan accordingly."... […]

"The idea of opera singers moving choreographically is tantalizing. About the specific fantasy of a dancing Carmen, however, I would caution, be careful what you wish for. Many great opera singers are just not built for dancing."... […]

Kalpana, a filmed dance-drama by Uday Shankar (Ravi's oldest brother, and considered the father of modern Indian dance), will be reassembled and restored by Martin Scorcese's World Cinema Institute. No complete print of the film exists in India.... […]

Yes, it has cheesy production values and "pits dance styles against each other, usually to the disadvantage of contemporary choreography. Most of the numbers are stunt-heavy hip-hop routines, disco, Broadway, lindy hop and jazz." Somehow none of that hinders its addictiveness.... […]

Her name is Laurretta Summerscales. "Fans are already asking whether the baby of the English National Ballet, who has just triumphed in her first principal role, might be the new Darcey Bussell."... […]

"The week-long Easter festival has been shaken to the core after an apparent suicide attempt by its technical chief and the disappearance of the director amid allegations of a massive fraud totalling over €2m (£1.7m)."... […]

"This summer's season will run eight weeks instead of nine -- July 1 through Aug. 22 -- and that trim inevitably means a reduction in the overall number of concerts, master classes and other offerings."... […]

"Most experienced listeners know that thinking in terms of definitive performances is as meaningless for new music as it is for any other kind."... […]

"New York's Metropolitan Opera is bringing back Joseph Volpe, who left three years ago after 16 years as the company's general manager, to lead contract talks with some of its major unions."... […]

"Unwilling to believe that music was altogether useless, Darwin concluded that it may have made man's ancestors more successful at mating. Yet if that were so, you might expect one gender to be musically more gifted than the other, and there is no evidence of that. So what is the point of music?"... […]

"After years when big musicals ruled London's West End, new plays and revivals of classics dominate the nominations announced today for this year's Olivier theatre awards. The Royal Court took the lion's share, with 15 nominations."... […]

"Hollywood heavyweights feature strongly in the race for Britain's 2010 Laurence Olivier theatre awards, with Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, James Earl Jones and Keira Knightley among the nominees announced Monday."... […]

"In the US there has already been a rise in membership of show-choirs like the fictional one that Glee revolves around, and a live tour is planned for the cast. But will Glee leave an indelible mark on television? Musicals are a difficult genre to get right on TV."... […]

"When Marion Potts takes over as artistic director of the Malthouse Theatre company at the end of this year, she will make history as the first woman to assume creative control of one of Melbourne's major theatre troupes."... […]

"Isn't it a little embarrassing that the City of Toronto website is still claiming that Hogtown is 'the third-largest English-language theatre centre in the worl'? While Toronto may have indeed vied for that unscientific title in the 1990s, it's decidedly been in the dust in the past 10 years."... […]

The College Art Association tracks a decline in jobs through the economic downturn.... […]

"We question whether, in this landscape of scale and huge horizons and with a very robust end point that has stood for centuries and centuries, this is the right design approach?"... […]

"Iran cut ties with the British Museum on Sunday in protest at repeated delays in the loan to Tehran of an ancient Persian treasure."... […]

"Not the agony of painting but the far greater torture of writing about paintings, in order to attract people to see them. Art for art's sake? Forget it. What you need is artspeak for artspeak's sake."... […]

"The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art announced Thursday that it had raised more than $250 million to expand the museum and double its endowment. The museum is building a new wing to show the collection of Gap founders Donald and Doris Fisher."... […]