Unlike film and TV, theater is a luxury object, but one that ordinary middle-class people can still afford. Above all, it isn't a mass medium: Live theater is a small-scale, handmade art form. Intimacy is what makes it special.
Terry TeachoutRead
Just as most of us prefer to watch a trapeze artist work without a net, we like to be absolutely sure that a virtuoso is giving us our money's worth, and a seemingly effortless performance, no matter how spectacular it may be, deprives us of that slightly sadistic thrill.
Interpretation
We appreciate skilled performances more when they come with an element of risk, as it heightens our enjoyment.
This quote illustrates the human tendency to seek thrill and satisfaction in performances that include a sense of danger or uncertainty. It suggests that mastery, while admirable, requires an element of risk to fully engage an audience, as the absence of danger can dull the excitement of watching someone display their remarkable skills.
In practice
In a speech about the arts, this quote can illustrate why audiences appreciate danger in performances.
Unlike film and TV, theater is a luxury object, but one that ordinary middle-class people can still afford. Above all, it isn't a mass medium: Live theater is a small-scale, handmade art form. Intimacy is what makes it special.
No translation can possibly be perfect. Every production and every performance is a different path up the mountain, and nobody ever makes it all the way to the summit.
No, I don't know how to get young people to start listening to jazz again. But I do know this: Any symphony orchestra that thinks it can appeal to under-30 listeners by suggesting that they 'should' like Schubert and Stravinsky has already lost the battle.
Century-old records are the closest thing we have to a time machine. To listen to the voice of Theodore Roosevelt or the piano playing of Claude Debussy is to feel the years falling away like autumn leaves from a maple tree.
I enjoy wording. Words for me are tangible bodies, visible sirens, incarnate sensualities.
While writing, I tend to repeat the same song, endlessly, for thousands of times. This helps me ignore any lyrics, and helps create a consistent mood for each book.
Writing is a great comfort to people like me, who are unsure of themselves and have trouble expressing themselves properly.
Everything we know about Hamilton, we knew when he was alive, because he told us.
Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts.
A musician is a professional, whether he or she is successful or not. The profession itself must be regarded as a stable job.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.