Word: focused
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Broadway musical comedy on the way to its beleaguered state: the form became known as simply the "musical." Dropping "comedy" was more than a shorthand simplification. It reflected a rising notion that shows with music should aspire to as broad a range of subjects and as intense an emotional focus as any straight play, and should integrate song, dance and story in an earnest -- often grittily realistic -- performance. This redefinition has yielded some extraordinary work but seems to have almost banished the romantic froth and high-spirited vaudeville that first won the form a loving audience...
...balloting only when their regular long-distance service is suddenly reassigned to a different supplier on the basis of the voting outcome in their designated area. Dozens of such reassignment possibilities now exist across the U.S. as a result of the 1984 breakup of the Bell System. The main focus of the telephone balloting battle, though, was on AT&T (1985 long-distance revenues: $17.3 billion) and its two remaining major national rivals, upstarts MCI ($2.5 billion) and US Sprint ($1.4 billion). Last week experts projected that AT&T would claim 80% of the final vote. MCI will probably trail...
...artist is part camera, of course: he is the seer, adjusting technical and emotional focus to find a unique approach to the thing seen. Equally, he is reluctant to open the aperture on objects of his inspiration. In two hours, Wyeth has not mentioned Helga's name, referring to her only once as the "young lady." About the Helga series he will say only, "I feel -- not * all -- but there are a number of paintings in there that are as penetrating as anything I've ever done." Asked if he thinks it comprises his best work, Wyeth stares out toward...
...however, Soviet officials have hinted that they would like to talk with the Israelis again. After months of elaborate negotiation, the two countries confirmed last week that their representatives will meet Aug. 18 and 19 in Helsinki. The first publicly acknowledged talks between the nations in 19 years will focus on minor diplomatic issues. Israel and the Soviet Union will then receive each other's delegations for visits that may last several months...
...gone back to its beginnings. The inspiration for the piece, Miller acknowledges, was Studs Terkel's sprawling oral history Hard Times. But during pre-Broadway workshops and a Charleston, S.C., tryout, Miller was repeatedly counseled by critics to shift emphasis from a documentary-style montage of vignettes to a focus on a particular family, resembling his own, whose growing deprivation and humiliation reflected the Depression in microcosm. These semiautobiographical characters proved unable by themselves to bear the weight of enormous events; meanwhile, the play's sweep had been diminished, and the tinkering, especially the search for jokes, had drained Clock...