— giant illustrates difficulties faced by the few remaining independent production companies. – San Francisco Chronicle 02/23/00
Should you like her never-produced, long-forgotten play? Nah. But that’s not the point, says a San Francisco producer, who’s presenting the play in tandem with an Arthur Miller play about censorship to “make a point about currents of ‘repression’ in the United States.” – Salon
Billboards advertising McDonald’s have gone up around Berlin showing a picture of a hamburger next to words like ‘Plima!’ or ‘Liesig!’ Written in a caricaturist ‘bamboo script,’ the misspelled words play on a popular misconception that Asians, and particularly the Chinese, cannot pronounce the letter R. “These ads are jolly and funny,” says a McDonald’s spokesman. “We haven’t heard any complaints.” He sure has now. – Die Welt (Germany)
Bodes well for upcoming Olympic Arts Festival. – Sydney Morning Herald
Korea plans major investments in its cultural infrastructure to reshape the country’s cultural profile over the next ten years. Plans include a massive new cultural center for Seoul. – Korea Herald
Irish artists have always felt ambivalent about London – the need to live there for career vs. resentment of the British omnipresence. The new generation of Irish artists working in London are finding national identity increasingly irrelevant. “Your nationality depends on who’s giving you the grant.” – Irish Times
Was he artist or illustrator? Who cares, asks the Chicago Historical Society, on the eve of the opening of the blockbuster Rockwell show. The show was so popular in Atlanta they couldn’t get all the people in who wanted to see it. – Chicago Tribune
New Paris footbridge across the Seine opens, then closes quickly after disconcerting swaying and “weird and wonderful” movement. – The Times (UK)
Museums and exhibitions dedicated to the Holocaust have seen a growing commercialization in artifacts from the Holocaust. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
A new kind of songwriter has infiltrated the soul of the Broadway musical – the pop-tune writer, who’s work plays as well alone on the radio (or skating rink) as it does onstage. – Chicago Tribune
