A look at one New York repertory company’s play-selection process: “A nonprofit theater’s season planning is a craft all its own, one of mundane logistical maneuvering as well as lofty creative ambition; of sleepless-night angst and pride-swelling triumph; of big-picture matters like building audiences and details as precise as choosing a hat.” – New York Times
Month: September 2000
151 DAYS AND COUNTING
Despite the efforts of federal mediators, negotiations between actors and the advertising industry collapsed Wednesday, dashing hopes of an imminent end to the bitter 5-month work stoppage. “The unions are now expected to intensify their strike. SAG president Daniels has threatened to ‘unleash celebrities’ in a massive public relations blitz against advertisers. ” – Backstage
ODD COUPLE
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton’s collaborative musical opens in London’s West End. “Sadly, hopes that The Beautiful Game might prove a Northern Irish West Side Story are hardly realised. Indeed, at worst the piece comes over like Grease-meets-Riverdance with the odd bit of earnest Eltonesque moralising thrown in. Working with Elton has certainly loosened Lloyd Webber up as both composer and producer.” – The Telegraph (UK)
UNLIKELY PARTNERS: “Well, they don’t come together quite as successfully as they clearly hope that peace-loving Ulster Catholics will come together both with Protestants and with their own more bellicose elements.” – The Times (UK)
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS MOVIE STAR
Julian Schnabel winters in New York, and summers in the Hamptons. And in between, he makes movies. People were lining up to slam it, but his first film, a bio-pic of the short life of the artist Jean Michel Basquiat, was outrageously well received. His second, Before Night Falls, is about the exiled Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas. It has just taken second prize at the Venice Film Festival. Schnabel is on a roll. – The Independent (UK)
PIANO POLITICS
If the winner of a major international competition feels it necessary to later enter another big competition, what does that say about the first competition that it wasn’t able to properly launch the career of its winner. “As this all suggests, the piano competition circuit is rather more of a lottery than most competition organisers would like the public to realise.” – Irish Times
BAN REVOKED
Ireland’s censor has just revoked a ban on a 1967 movie version of Joyce’s “Ulysses.” “The production, which contains all the sexually explicit language that made the novel notorious, is expected to be released to cinemas here for the first time. Film censor Sheamus Smith said it was ‘innocent stuff now’, and has granted a certificate for showing to audiences aged 15 and older.” – Nando Times (AP) 09/27/00
STEPPING INTO THE VOID
Government funding for the arts in Canada has declined precipitously in recent years – down by $41 million a year in Toronto alone. But Canada doesn’t have a tradition of individual giving to the arts. “Canadians donated $4.44-billion to charitable and non-profit organizations between 1996 and 1997, but only 3 per cent went to arts and culture.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada) 09/27/00
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST?
The international arts world has witnessed countless casualties these last few months, with orchestras and dance companies closing shop and widespread budget cuts near certain. Arts lovers bemoan the losses, but one critic sees the futility in trying to save the foundering organizations. “My heart goes out to stranded artists, as it does to shipbuilders and steelworkers whose jobs have vanished. But propping up arts companies that have lost their popularity and purpose is futile. Better, surely, to rally resources around the fittest ensembles, whose success may breed regeneration.” – The Telegraph (UK) 09/27/00
FROM THE STADIUM TO THE SYMPHONY
Australian arts companies feared the Olympics would draw audiences away from their performances, but the opposite has proved true. Sydney’s arts audiences are booming. – Sydney Morning Herald 09/27/00
HOW ARE WE GOING TO MAKE MONEY?
Electronic book conference begins in Washington. “Publishers at the show were looking for ways to make e-books simple to download but difficult to copy. Librarians, hoping to stretch their small budgets and offer a greater variety of e-books to their patrons, expressed alarm that the e-book technology of today may be obsolete tomorrow.” – Washington Post