BU Today feature: Predictions for 2019 from BU Experts
This article was originally published in BU Today on January 22, 2019 by Rich Barlow.
The Arts: Harvey Young, dean, College of Fine Arts
One of the many gifts of the fine and performing arts is the ability to reflect the times. How will the arts present and capture us in 2019?
On the Broadway stage, the prerecession excesses will be seen in Moulin Rouge, a stage musical adaptation of the Baz Luhrmann film. Gaudy and excessively theatrical, it captures the exuberance of the bull market and yet spotlights the everyday suffering and struggle that gets overlooked. A more subdued consideration of our sociopolitical moment—albeit contained in a throwback piece set in 1981 Northern Ireland—is The Ferryman, which, in great tragic tradition, spotlights people who live elsewhere, but compels you to reexamine your life, your family, and the world around you.
For the past few years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been vilified for the lack of diversity in its Oscar nominees, and more generally, on the big screen. Remember #OscarsSoWhite? Lessons have been learned (but more opportunities still need to be created). Black Panther fandom will get a new boost throughout the awards season and serve as a reminder that mainstream, popular entertainment vehicles can be built around nonwhite actors of color. If Beale Street Could Talk is the more sophisticated film (helmed by Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins) and Green Book has already generated more award season buzz, but the continued influence (into another year) of Black Panther should not be overlooked.
Boston University’s arts leadership will be on display throughout 2019, especially in the offerings of CFA’s School of Music. BU has injected a new vitality in the operatic world as evidenced by a new chamber version of Dolores Claiborne, adapted from the Stephen King novel. In an effort to create community through the arts, BU will sponsor a free concert featuring the University’s orchestra performing Gustav Holst’s The Planets at Symphony Hall on April 1.
I am especially pleased that Boston will erect a memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr. [GRS’55, Hon.’59]. It is thrilling to see a city invest in the arts as an important and necessary part of civic life.