EXTRA CRITICUM

Concert Window: A new cyber-intimacy between performer and audience

The other night my friend Ann Klein, a fabulously talented singer-songwriter with amazing guitar chops gave a concert in her livingroom. The audience, however, were all in our own homes. I was on my sofa. This new form of performer-audience interaction is made possible by a website called Concert Window.

And I must admit, despite some deeply held Luddite tendencies, I was charmed.

Jonathan Mandell on "Diversity" (on Howlround)

Fascinating new questions raised about our new obsession with diversity in the theatrical realm. Jonathan Mandell asks some tough questions in his essay on Howlround. Here's an excerpt:

My Late Night Cinematheque

Movies are the easiest art form to catch up on. If I decide I want to read one of the many classics I’ve neglected (Moby Dick, Remembrance of Things Past, etc.), it’s a pretty major commitment. Even at the rate I read, we’re talking about a couple of weeks. On the other hand, if you want to see what the fuss is about this Ozu guy that all the cinemaphiles always yammer on about, you’re about ninety minutes away from knowledge.

Well, you are now. Thanks to Netflix. We all like to wring our hands about how technology has de-humanized us, but that’s only because some of the miracles it has brought now seem utterly mundane. If you had told any film student up to 1990 about Netflix – how you could basically have the entire history of cinema delivered to your door (often letterboxed, digitally re-mastered, and with commentary) for about $15 a month, their head would have exploded. Yet this is how we live now. We’ve come to expect it. We’re even annoyed that we have to wait a few days for those non-streamable titles to appear at our door. 

 

Thanking "The Audience" -- What does it reflect about our culture?

At a recent performance of the New York Philharmonic Biennial, five orchestra members approaching retirement were singled out and thanked publicly by the Board Chairman, Gary Parr for their years of service. As each accepted his or her bouquet of roses and made a brief statement of thanks, there was one personage that no one forgot to thank: The Audience.

I couldn't escape a slight feeling of unease on hearing this.