Brazilian Broadway Losing Ground: Though Brazil saw a musical theater boom in the decade after the turn of the century, the country’s Broadway scene is now waning. After a decade of economic vibrancy, the country has slipped into a deepening recession, leading to rises in unemployment and inflation. New theaters, built for the boom that happened in the last decade, are now haunted by low ticket sales and empty seats. Ticket sales have reportedly dropped 20-30% across the industry this year, leading producers to cut either ticket prices or production costs. Chief content officer for a Netherlands-based company now presenting a show in Sao Paulo argues, however, that “Brazil is one of the strongest countries in Latin America. It’s definitely not a death knell by any means.” Hopefully the Brazilian economic recession does not translate to an artistic recession as well–hope lives on in the musical comedies like “Nice Work” that are still drawing large audiences and rave reviews.

Single Ladies…In Bulgaria…In Silence: Gery Georgieva, a British-Bulgarian artist known for blending pop and folk cultures, has perfectly re-staged Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” in the snow-filled Bulgarian mountains. In an innovative twist, Georgieva completes the original choreography wearing traditional folk garb and in complete silence. She explains: “I see pop and folk culture as parallel…in that they’re the lowest common denominator way of belonging that can move such a big amount of people. That power — to have the ability to encourage thousands of people to learn the Beyonce dance — that’s something quite special and weird.” The re-creation is, as Huffington Post writer Priscilla Frank calls it, “bizarre and oh-so-beautiful.” Georgieva’s performance is certainly proof that a single artistic idea or work of art can be reimagined in endless and fascinating ways.

Museums of the Future: The technological advances of recent years are set to revolutionize the museum experience, as institutions incorporate immersive exhibits and find new ways to engage visitors. For example, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York hosted an event for kids where visits used virtual-reality goggles and looked at a Jackson Pollock piece, making the paint seem to jump off the canvas before their eyes. This past summer, the Natural History Museum in London unveiled a virtual-reality movie showing ocean creatures from 500 million years ago. Interactive videos and virtual-reality experiences are spreading to museums across the globe. The vice president of exhibits and collections at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago argues that museums are “aware that the expectations of their audiences are changing fairly dramatically and…they are committed to experiment and prototype different approaches to engaging an audience.” An increasingly tech-savvy audiences requires increasingly sophisticated exhibit design. Debate continues over what the future of museums should actually look like, but these innovative exhibits are using science and technology to draw more visitors and foster learning and exploration–certainly something we can all agree is a good thing.

Choreographing for the MOMA: Renowned choreographer William Forsythe has taken his talents to the museum, creating his first major show, “The Fact of the Matter” set to open this weekend and run through the end of January. Dance is neither the focus nor heavily featured, but instead what Forsythe calls “choreographic objects” that explore line, movement, volume, compression, and limitations.  Forsythe commented on the advantages of his new project: “With choreography, the audience sits still and ideas are moved in front of them…In this case, the audience circulates among the ideas. The public must move or the work doesn’t speak.” In one part of the exhibit, visitors must climb to the other side using 200 gymnastic rings, all without touching the floor. Forsythe’s ideas get museum-goers up and moving, forcing them to engage with art and the ideas behind it.