[Soon after I started Rick On Theater, I began collecting and stashing articles from various sources for possible future use as posts for the blog. Items of interest or curiosity or practical use or edification went into a file on my computer. Over the years, I’ve posted many of them, but some have been too short to republish on their own and I didn’t have something with which to pair them to make a good post.
[I
decided to collect a few of those items and present them as what they are: a
random collection of theater-oriented “odds & ends.” They’re not timely or topical—they’re just sort
of fascinating. I hope ROTters will find them so.]
“ARTIST AS SEERS”by Raymond J. Steiner
[Raymond J. Steiner’s Art Times essay, “Artist As Seers,” caught my attention when I read it because my acquaintance, theater director Leonardo Shapiro, about whom I’ve blogged many times in Rick On Theater, often wrote and said that artists were seers and visionaries. Many of his mentors and role models said so, too—Julian Beck of the Living Theatre and Peter Brook, author of The Empty Space, most prominently among them.
[Beck wrote, for instance: “An actor who brings back from his adventures a moment of communicable penetration is a hero, the light of our lives” (The Life of the Theatre [Limelight Editions, 1972: 5]).
[This essay was published in the “Peeks & Piques!” feature of Art Times [Mt. Marion, NY] 22.5 (Dec. 2005). Art Times, founded in 1984, is a monthly paper that provides commentary and reportage on the fine and performing arts, including editorials, reviews, essays and critiques; short fiction and poetry; opportunities listings, essays on dance, theater, film, music and an extensive calendar of cultural events. It’s distributed free at arts centers and galleries.
[One note regarding the posting of this item: Steiner wrote this essay all in one, long paragraph (which would look even longer in Blogger's narrow column), so I've taken the liberty of dividing it up for easier reading. I trust the author won't mind.]
Long before they became craftspeople and technicians, prehistoric image-makers (dare we call them artists?) were seers. Though largely incomprehensible to us, the abstract squiggles and rectilinear lines chiseled into rocks, tomb markers, and cliff faces meant something to their carvers, but what precisely they signify remains a mystery. In the first place, why such markings? What did they convey to the maker? What to their fellows?
Some, like Otto Rank [Austrian psychoanalyst, writer, and philosopher; 1884-1939], have hypothesized that these markings represent mankind’s earliest attempts at expressing the inexpressible and, as such, represented an incipient spirituality that served as some prototypical ‘religion[‘]. In this sense, then, these early image-makers were our first ‘priests’ since our major religions, being book-based, came long after speech was transformed into a written language—and, as we know, these pre-historic “artists” were around a long, long time before speech as a means of communication came about.
It was only after, when the tools became as important to mankind as had been their original use—namely, to express ‘something’—that the idea of craftsmanship began to arise. As craftspeople became more and more technically proficient in both the making and use of their tools, it then became the doing—and not the tools—that was deemed all-important. Attention thus shifted to process. A foregone conclusion, then, that it would eventually be the product that became the focal point.
In time, it was the object created by a craftsperson proficient in the use of special tools that became all the rage—and thus the concept of “art” was born. From purpose, to process, to proficiency, to product. What an evolution!
But what of that original impetus that started the whole thing going in the first place? What happened to the seer? To the one who tried to point his fellows to a something beyond their senses? Don’t we still tend to think of artists as those who can see more clearly than the rest of us? Do we still owe anything to that original gift of being able to see more than others? And how—and why—did he/she slowly evolve into a mere producer of objects? How did they get from ‘see’-ers to ‘do’-ers?
Ought there not be some homage paid to this business of genuine seeing? After all, these pre-literate stone-scratchers are the great, great, great, great granddaddies and grandmamas of all artists—from [Leonardo] da Vinci [Italian polymath who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect; 1452-1519] to Rembrandt [van Rijn; Dutch painter, printmaker, and draughtsman; 1606-69] to [Berthe Morisot; French painter and a member of the Impressionists; 1841-95] to [Andy] Warhol [American visual artist, film director, and producer; 1928-87] to the very latest wannabe on the block.
Shouldn’t today’s artists be showing/telling us something other than where we’ve been, where we are, or where we’re heading? Shouldn’t they be doing something about giving us a heads-up on where we ought to be going?
Come on, being a seer is where it begins, isn’t it? It can’t all be about technique, trend setting, and sales—can it? When did the impetus first hit you? Remember? What was your vision and why was it strong enough for you to attempt to express it through an image? Is that initial urge to put pencil to paper still there, lurking around in your subconscious? Or have you buried it under a style, a favorite motif, or the theme of an upcoming, juried show?
Have you slavishly followed the same evolution from purpose, to process, to proficiency, to product? Or are you finally going to get serious and get back to that vision? Who knows—it might be you who really has something to share with us.
[Raymond J. Steiner (1933-2019) was a teacher, writer, lecturer, painter, and art critic/reviewer for Art Times, which he co-founded and for which he served as editor.]
* * * *“GAITHERSBURG INCLUSIVE THEATRE COMPANYBRINGS GERMANTOWN MENTOR BACK YEAR AFTER YEAR”by Samantha Schmieder
[This article, from a local paper from a Washington suburb, just interested me because it was about a generous young woman, still in high school at the time, who made wonderful use of theater to benefit some community residents. I find it heartwarming. It ran on 16 April 2015 in The Gazette of Gaithersburg, Maryland. (It was also published in the Washington Post of 30 April 2015 on the “Local Living: Montgomery Edition,”]
For Northwest High School [Germantown, Maryland, another D.C. suburb just west of Gaithersburg] senior Hannah Kauffman, mentoring ArtStream’s Gaithersburg Inclusive Theatre Company for the past five years has been more than community service — it’s been a passion.
“I started in eighth grade with no expectations,” said Kauffman, who turns 18 on April 25 [she’d be 27 now]. “We have 18 or 20 actors with a complete range of abilities. Just being able to see them grow over the five years I’ve been here has been amazing.”
ArtStream’s general mission statement, according to its website, is to “create artistic opportunities for individuals in communities traditionally underserved by the arts.” Part of that occurs through its Inclusive Theatre Companies in Gaithersburg; Silver Spring; Arlington, Va.; and Raleigh, N.C.; and at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., that are open to adults with intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities and those who are on the autism spectrum. There are two groups in Gaithersburg, and Kauffman has been working with Group B.
Nicolette Stearns, a co-founder of ArtStream, has children around Kauffman’s age and noticed her in their plays and social groups [she’d have been about 13 then].
“We needed mentors at ArtStream. She’s kind, smart, a quick study, respectful and very much a leader in the group. I asked if she wanted to come and she never left,” Stearns said.
Montgomery County Public Schools students must each earn 75 Student Service Learning hours in order to graduate and 260 or more for a special tassel to wear at graduation, Kauffman explained. She said she has earned 900 SSL hours in the five years she has been involved in ArtStream.
“It’s just one of those things you have to like doing. Even if I didn’t get the SSL hours, I would still do it,” Kauffman said.
Stearns explained that Kauffman is a prime example of a student really taking something away from their SSL hours rather than just doing something once and moving on.
“She actually comes in and makes a difference. She came here, wanted to give and she really is someone who took a lot away,” Stearns said. She added that Kauffman has even used her experience at ArtStream to guide her future career path and is planning on studying musical theater as well as speech pathology in college.
Not only does Kauffman mentor the members, but she performs in the play with them, as well. She explained that sometimes being up on stage and working with the actors with lines and choreography helps everything run smoothly.
“We do an original musical every year that is derived solely from the actors, director and team. For us by us,” Kauffman said.
This year’s play, “Broadway Story,” also features a play within the play called “Gaithersburg the Musical.” During rehearsals on Tuesday, the actors practiced a song lamenting the woes of the Red Line as they waited for the metro at Shady Grove.
[The Red Line is a line of the Washington Metro System that runs in a loop south from north of Bethesda and Rockville in Montgonery County, into central DC and returns to Montgomery County through Silver Spring and Wheaton to Glenmont in an elongated U pattern.]
Terrel Limerick, 43, lives in Rockville and is one of the actors in this year’s production. His favorite part of the program is when all of the actors, mentors and directors work together to write their original play.
“We write all together. We have to talk and give ideas back and forth,” Limerick said. “I like to give my ideas and they like to hear my ideas and they put all the ideas together for the play.”
Kauffman said her favorite part of each cycle is the time they all take at the beginning to write the play.
“These unconventional ideas you don’t think will go together that completely do,” Kauffman said, smiling, while recalling the space monsters and Greek mythology from previous years.
“Broadway Story” and Group A’s play, “The Lost Toys,” will be performed at The Historic Stage at Olney Theatre Center from May 7 to May 10. Both plays, according to Stearns, are “very sweet stories about family, finding who your people are and belonging.”
“All my friends come see the shows. They all know the actors, they love seeing the actors, they love the actors,” Kauffman said. “And I love the actors, too, for all of their quirks.”
[Samantha Schmieder is a University of Maryland graduate who wrote for The Gazette for over a year-and-a-half. She’s now the Corporate Communications Manager at JBG Smith, a real estate investment trust based in Bethesda, Maryland.
[I have tentatively identified the high school senior from Germantown on whom Schmieder’s article above focuses. A website called RocketReach, a sales intelligence platform intended to streamline the sales processes which features an extensive contact database, lists a Hannah Kauffman from Germantown, Maryland, who was active with ArtStream from 2009 to 2022. I can’t be certain, but the listed credits strongly suggest she’s the Hannah Kauffman about whom the Gazette article reports.
[The site says that she has a 2020 Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre (Musical Theatre Track) and Bachelor of Science in Speech Language Pathology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Indiana, Pennsylvania) and a 2022 Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology/Pathologist from West Virginia University (Morgantown).
[Kauffman has experience as a graduate assistant at WVU, and from work at ArtStream; as a teaching artist with Imagination Stage, a Bethesda theater arts organization that presents productions for young people by professional actors and artists and offers a range of programs for children and families; and as a sales lead for Janie and Jack, the San Francisco-based children’s clothing manufacturer. She’s currently a Speech Language Pathologist at CommuniCare Health Services, a provider of skilled nursing care with headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio (and eight healthcare centers in Maryland and Virginia).]
* * * *“BROADWAY POLISH
ADDED IN CHICAGO”by Michael
Paulson
[If you know anything about the history of commercial theater in the U.S. since the end of World War II, you know that plays that land on Broadway used to do a try-out tour to work out the kinks and find their sea legs. That’s what the Cole Porter song from Kiss Me Kate, “Another Op’nin’, Another Show,” is all about: Another op’nin’, another show / In Philly, Boston or Baltimo’, / A chance for stage folks to say “hello” / Another op’nin’ of another show. Philly, Boston, and Baltimore were among the city’s the Broadway try-outs played—Washington and New Haven were others.
[But touring got too expensive as post-war inflation pushed costs up, and the New York preview performances were created. But as you’re about to read, sometimes it’s still a good idea to test the show in front of an audience outside the Big Apple before letting the highly critical New York theatergoers loose on your baby—not to mention the acerbic review-writers with their mighty sharp pens (think the late John Simon or Frank Rich, the Butcher of Broadway).
[So producers find a city with a sophisticated and theater-wise populace, but one that’s gentler than we Gothamites. According to Michael Paulson, who writes about theater for the New York Times—but used to cover religion—some producers think that town is Chicago. Maybe . . . after all, it does have a play named after it!
[Paulson’s report on Broadway in Chicago ran in the New York Times on 13 January 2016; it appeared on the paper’s website on 12 January under the headline “Before Broadway, Musicals Make a Detour to Test the Waters in Chicago.”]
CHICAGO — When the director Jerry Mitchell was looking for a place to try out a new musical about a struggling shoe company saved by a drag queen, he picked Chicago because the city was familiar (Mr. Mitchell grew up in the Midwest [born in Paw Paw, Michigan, in 1960, grew up in St. Louis, Missouri]) and the audiences friendly (compared with New York).
That show was “Kinky Boots,” and after Chicago’s embrace, it moved to Broadway [4 April 2013-7 April 2019 (2,505 performances); Al Hirschfeld Theatre] and won a Tony Award for best new musical. So a few years later, when Mr. Mitchell was ready to see what theatergoers might make of a jukebox musical about Gloria and Emilio Estefan, he again chose Chicago — and after some nipping and tucking, that show, “On Your Feet!,” also landed on Broadway, where it is pulling in more than $1 million a week [5 November 2015-20 August 2017 (746 performances); Marquis Theatre; no Tonys].
Now Mr. Mitchell is back in Chicago, for the third time in four years, using a five-week run here to find what works and what doesn’t with “Gotta Dance,” a Broadway-bound musical about older adults learning to dance hip-hop for a New Jersey basketball team’s halftime show.
[Gotta Dance débuted 28 December 2015-10 January 2016 at Chicago’s Bank of America Theatre. The Broadway transfer was postponed and the show retitled Half Time. Then the Broadway run was canceled and Half Time was rescheduled for a limited engagement at Milburn, New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse, 31 May-1 July 2018. No Broadway opening has been announced.]
“I come to this town to do my work, so when I get to New York, I don’t have to do the work,” Mr. Mitchell said. “The performances get sharper, and everything just gets focused. Chicago, for me, is a great place to do that.”
Over the last several years, Chicago has emerged as the go-to city for Broadway tryouts, consolidating a key position in the commercial theater industry as a stream of new musicals try to find their footing here.
The reasons are manifold. Most important, producers say: The city has a large population and a strong theater scene, meaning that there is a sizable base of experienced showgoers. And the audience mix resembles that of the Broadway audience: mostly female, older and more affluent than the general public, and with a significant dose of out-of-town tourists.
“You know you’re seeing the actors, the sets, just the way it’s going to be done in New York, minus the changes and tweaks, and it is a lot cheaper,” said Roger Zawacki, a 66-year-old retired high school administrator and theater director who saw “Gotta Dance” in late December and then offered an endorsement on Twitter, calling it “so much fun that it made me want to be a senior citizen. Oh wait, I am.”
There are other reasons as well. Several large downtown houses — in a newly revitalized theater district — are configured like Broadway stages, allowing sets built to be used here to be reused in New York. The State of Illinois has adopted tax credits to encourage local production of shows headed to Broadway. Labor unions, hungry for the related jobs, have embraced the challenge of making frequent changes to shows even after opening night.
And Chris Jones, the theater critic for The Chicago Tribune, is known for authoritative but also instructive reviews that producers say often help them persuade creative teams to make difficult but necessary changes.
Since a rollicking tryout of “The Producers” in Chicago in 2001, more than two dozen musicals with Broadway aspirations have had premieres here. A vast majority have been at commercial theaters, although a handful have been at nonprofits; many have successfully transferred, but some flamed out in Chicago (“First Wives Club,” which played early last year, appears to be the most recent example), while others transferred and then flopped (“Amazing Grace,” “The Last Ship” and “Big Fish,” to name a few).
[First Wives Club premièred at The Old Globe Theater in San Diego, California, on 17 July through 23 August 2009 and then opened on 16 February 2015 at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre and closed on 8 March; no New York production has been scheduled. Amazing Grace had a 17 May–10 June 2012 production by Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut and a pre-Broadway run in Chicago at the Bank of America Theatre from 19 October to 2 November 2014. It opened on Broadway on 16 July 2015 and closed on 25 October (116 performances).
[After a tour of the United Kingdom and a run on the West End, Sting’s The Last Ship opened a U.S. tour at Los Angeles’s Ahmanson Theatre from 25 June to 16 February 2020. The show played the BoA Theatre in Chicago from 25 June to 13 February 2014. It opened at the Neil Simon Theatre on 26 October 2014 to 24 January 2015 for 105 performances.
[Big Fish opened at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre on 2 April 2013 and closed on 5 May. It transferred to the Niel Simon Theatre in New York City on 6 October 2013 and closed on 29 December for 98 performances.]
Several more new musicals with Broadway hopes are on Chicago’s calendar, including Nickelodeon’s first theatrical venture, “The SpongeBob Musical,” based on the animated TV show “SpongeBob SquarePants” and featuring original songs by pop stars including Cyndi Lauper, John Legend and the Flaming Lips.
[The SpongeBob Musical opened at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago on 19 June 2016 and closed on 10 January. SpongeBob SquarePants débuted in New York at the Palace Theatre on 4 December 2017-16 September 2018 for 327 performances. The production won the 2018 Tony for Best Scenic Design of a Musical and six 2018 Drama Desk Awards: Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Actor in a Musical for Ethan Slater, Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for Gavin Lee, Outstanding Wig and Hair for the hair design by Charles G. LaPointe, Outstanding Set Design for a Musical for David Zinn, and Outstanding Director of a Musical for Tina Landau.]
Russell Hicks, the Nickelodeon executive overseeing that project, said that when he turned to theater experts for advice, “it was the consensus that was brought to us: Chicago is a great place to start.”
Out-of-town runs are expensive — Mr. Mitchell said his tryouts cost $1.5 million to $2.5 million [$1.9- 3.1 million in 2025] — but they are built into the capitalization of the ensuing Broadway productions. Audience feedback is assessed instinctively — are people in the seats laughing? crying? yawning? — but also, sometimes, more methodically, via focus groups and surveys.
“We’ve been at just about every performance, sitting in every section of the theater, to watch the audience watching the show,” said Dori Berinstein, one of the producers of “Gotta Dance.” Her co-producer, Bill Damaschke, added, “You become a bathroom stalker for a lot of anecdotal response.” (So far, the creators have taken steps to make the 20-something head of the dance squad more likable, and have written new songs that they may introduce later on.)
Most of the commercial productions take place in one of the five theaters operated by Broadway in Chicago, a subsidiary of the Nederlander Organization [second-largest owner of Broadway theaters, with nine, plus five in Chicago], which has aggressively courted pre-Broadway tryouts (some of which later wind up in Nederlander-owned theaters in New York).
Lou Raizin, the president of Broadway in Chicago, cited the work presented at nearly 250 Chicagoland theaters, as well as the increasing number of Broadway-bound productions beginning here, to argue that the city is “now the third-most-important theater city in the world, behind New York and London.”
And the theater operators have a partner in labor, which is eager for the associated jobs. “It’s found money, and it’s putting a lot of people to work,” said Craig Carlson, a third-generation Chicago stagehand and leader of the local stage workers’ union [International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) – over 170,000 members: technicians, artisans, and craftspersons].
As in other cities around the country, there are several nonprofit theaters that are developing musicals with Broadway aspirations: Last fall, Chicago Shakespeare Theater mounted “Ride the Cyclone,” a Canadian musical that has received strong reviews as it heads toward a likely production in New York [world première in Canada followed by American première from 29 September 2015 until 8 November; opened Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on 30 November 2016, closing on 18 December], and next summer, the Goodman Theater is mounting “War Paint,” a new musical that features the Broadway stars Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole as competing cosmetics industry titans [18 July-21 August 2016; Nederlander Theatre, 6 April-5 November 2017 (236 performances)].
There are also a pair of commercial houses in the suburbs, the Marriott and Drury Lane theaters, that are mounting musicals with Broadway aspirations.
“Until recently, we just did revivals, and some of our subscribers, who have been with us for 30 years, have seen some shows multiple times,” said Kyle DeSantis, the executive director of Drury Lane, which began producing new musicals with New York aspirations last year. “It’s nice to have new titles for them.”
Drury Lane first mounted “Beaches,” a musical adaptation of the Bette Midler film, last year [24 June-16 August 2015; no Broadway dates have been announced], and this year is presenting “Hazel,” a musical adaptation of the comic strip/television series [NBC, 1961-1965; CBS, 1965-1966], directed by the Tony-nominated choreographer Joshua Bergasse (“Smash”) [6 April-26 May 2016; Broadway opening hasn’t been announced].
For actors, the Chicago tryouts are a challenge (many leave children with relatives in New York), an adventure (they tend to live in a few apartment buildings recommended by the production), and a chance to develop their roles.
“The purpose of being here is to change things, experiment,” said Nancy Ticotin, a 58-year-old Broadway veteran (“Gotta Dance” will be her sixth show) playing Camilla, a character excited by trying to master hip-hop dance, as well as by a relationship with a much younger man. “Yesterday, I said to Jerry, can I say this word, instead of that word? He said, ‘Try it!’”
[From 2000 to 2010, Michael Paulson covered religion for the Boston Globe. Since 2010, he’s worked at the New York Times, where he initially continued his religion coverage. His work at the Times reflected his early politics roots and continued to tie religion to national issues. Since April 2015, Paulson has covered theater at the New York Times.]
* * * *“PROSECUTORS: PRODUCER BILKS 7 INVESTORSOUT OF $165K FOR FAKE BROADWAY SHOW”
[This report was broadcast on WCBS-TV (Channel 2) on 19 August 2016, reported by CBS2’s Jessica Layton. Aside from its sheer audacity—you’ll see what I mean when you read the short report—the similarity to a Max Bialystok scheme, which Layton points out, make this an irresistible post for ROT. If theater is often art imitating life, then this story is absolutely life imitating art—and I wonder if con artist Scahill figured as much.
[I also wonder how Mel Brooks felt when he first read a report like this one—because you know it went viral!]
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – It seems like the kind of crime Mel Brooks made famous, except this one was a flop.
Roland Scahill [b. 1975] claimed to be the lead producer of a new Broadway show and scammed $165,000 from seven would-be investors in less than three months, according to District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s [b. 1954; New York County (i.e., Manhattan) District Attorney: 2010-22] office.
Scahill, 41 [in 2016], told his investors he had secured the rights to opera star Kathleen Battle’s [American soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone; b. 1948] life story and that Lupita Nyong’o had signed on to star in a production [a one-woman play] about her at Broadway’s Booth Theatre, prosecutors said. He also told them Netflix would film the bogus show, dubbed The KB Project, and make it available online, according to prosecutors.
Scahill told his victims he was raising money for the show at a rate of $15,000 per share [equivalent to $19,700 in 2025] to fund the first stages of production, prosecutors said.
After a while, the investors wanted their money back, and Scahill sent them checks which bounced, prosecutors said. He had already spent it on stocks, options, credit cards, rent as well as food, alcohol and entertainment, according to prosecutors.
“This indictment closes the curtain on Roland Scahill’s phantom production,” Vance said. “My Office will continue working to safeguard the integrity of this vital industry.”
Scahill faces charges of criminal possession of stolen property, grand larceny and scheme to defraud.
New Yorkers had mixed reaction to the investigation.
“I think it’s absolutely disgusting. It makes me sick when stuff like that that happens in the city,” Christopher Poyiatzis of Queens told CBS2’s Jessica Layton.
“It’s not surprising . . . right? I think what’s surprising is the people invested without having all the facts,” another person said.
Running a show starring some of the best names in the business? It’s nice work if you can get it, but the only ticket Scahill has right now is the one to jail.
His attorney told CBS2 the client pleaded not guilty. Attempts at reaching the producer were not successful.
[In 2017, Scahill, owner of RMS2 Productions, pleaded guilty and was convicted of stealing $205,000 [$264,000 today] by falsely claiming to be producing a play based on the life of Kathleen Battle. He was charged with Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Second Degree, a class C felony, one count; Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a class D felony, seven counts; Scheme to Defraud in First Degree, a class E felony, one count.
[Scahill was sentenced to six months in jail and five years’ probation. In addition, he must also undergo psychiatric treatment and repay $189,000 [$243,000] to his investors over the next six years.
[According to court papers, Scahill sold shares in the non-existent show for $15,000 and got investors to buy extra shares by representing that that Netflix had agreed to film and broadcast a performance. Not only were none of Scahill’s claims true, “representatives for [Battle, Nyong‘o, and the Shubert Organization, which owns the Booth Theatre] say Scahill never approached them and that they never had any deal with him.”
[Most of the alleged scam took place between October 2014 and August 2015. It fell apart in late 2015 when several investors demanded their money back. Scahill reportedly sent them checks that bounced, then ceased all communications with the investors.
[Music critic Michael Walsh (b. 1949) described Kathleen Battle as “the best lyric coloratura in the world.” She rose quickly in the ranks of the opera world and branched out into other types of music. She soon gained an international reputation and was in demand all over the world. She was admired by both audiences and critics.
[Battle was not only collecting a stack of laudatory reviews and articles, she was showered with awards and honors. But in the early 1990s, her relationship with the leadership of the Metropolitan Opera was straining. She was gaining a reputation for being difficult and exacting. She began exhibiting harsh, willful behavior with both company members and management.
[In a February 1994 article entitled “Battle Fatigue,” Time magazine reported that Battle was “renowned for leaving a trail of ill will in her wake wherever she goes.” The Met general manager Joseph Volpe, said Time, cited Battle for “unprofessional actions” and “summarily fired” her.
[The singer claimed that she had no idea there was a problem and didn’t understand shy she’d been fired. She ceased performing opera immediately and has only recently made overtures to returning to the musical form that made her famous.
[It was reputedly this contretemps and its consequences
that was to be the focus of The KB Project.]
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