Sob sister scoop!
Adept arbiter Anne Midgette has announced her farewell to The New York Times, moving on up to the Washington Post where she will reign as interim chief critic beginning January 1. The WaPo‘s current chief critic, Tim Page, is off to teach a semester at USC and, who knows, may extend his stay in academe to something more lasting. We here at parterre.com will miss la Midgette’s pungent and always well-supported critiques of New York performances, and we look forward to her take on the WNO.
South Carolina or Southern California?
Midgette has a piece on Diana Damrau in tomorrow’s (10/28) Times. One sentence had me scratching my head: “Pamina . . . has been abducted by Sarastro, Pamina’s father.” Say what? I suppose you can make a case for Sarastro being Pamina’s dad, but I don’t think Mozart or Schikaneder ever made it nearly as clear as Midgette makes it sound.
Can’t get rid of Tim Page soon enough !!!!!!!!
Sarastro as Pamina’s father comes from the Bergman movie. Like many another I’m sure, that was my first introduction to Magic Flute, and it was years before I discovered that the paternity angle was a directorial embellishment. Though as Ping says, not a particularly far-fetched one — and in fact, Bergman goes even further, to make Sarastro and the QotN conspirators in setting their daughter on the path to love and enlightenment. One of the many great moments in that movie is the complicit glance they throw towards one another in the final seconds, as if to say, “Our plan worked.”
Anne’s relocation is excellent news for Washington, bad for NYT readers wherever we may dwell.
While I was in law school in Washington, I read Tim Page every day for three years.
I thought Tim Page was an excellent critic–not perfect, but fair and free from advancing personal agendas. Further, he was sometimes willing to challenge the various platitudes and dogmas of our day, which too few writers are willing to do.
I hope this is only a temporary absence and not a permanent departure.
The Post would have better served its readers had it moved Phillip Kennicott back to the music critic’s chair rather than imported the lightweight Midgette.
Midgette is error-prone and writes schoolgirl prose, which will not be welcome for many Post readers, and her musical judgments are not sound.
These are great news! At least for NYT readers…
F
They should hire Peter G. Davis to replace her, but I’m not holding my breath.
Don’t let the door slam behind you, Ann, dear,…GOOD Riddance to one of the most needlessy mean-spirited , un- informative writers the Times has had on staff in a long time (can you take Mr. Holland with you?
This is terrible news for Washington!!!! Anne Midgette is good writer but if Tim Page goes it is a terrible thing. With Peter Davis and Richard Dyer gone who will we read? Page is the only critic who makes me laugh out loud but he is not stupid or careless. Even though I think sometimes he likes Phillip Glass too much he is still somebody who is smart and fun to read. I grew up listening to him on the radio and have read him a lot since moving in Washington five years ago. The Post has changed so much in the last years.