Author: Douglas McLennan

MANHATTAN ON BROADWAY

One of New York’s most venerable non-profit theatres makes a play to take over the deteriorating Biltmore Theatre on Broadway. “The Biltmore would make Manhattan Theater Club productions Tony-eligible, which brings national exposure and a potential boost to ticket sales. The Biltmore will allow the theater club to have an orchestra pit for the first time, and fly space for scenery. – New York Times

THE WHIFF OF FLOP IN THE AIR

A few short months ago, “Seussical” the musical looked like the season’s sure-fire hit on Broadway. But when it opens next week “it arrives a wounded animal, bloodied by brutal out-of-town notices and months of backstage gossip, with the moniker ‘troubled’ clinging to its hide like a tick. It has a new director, set designer and costume designer, and an entirely new physical production. Its book has been substantially revised, and its budget has soared from $8.5 million to $10.5 million.” – New York Post

AN IMPOSSIBLE JOB

Why would anyone want the job of running London’s Royal Opera House? The place has run through five directors in as many years. The board is feisty and meddlesome, and the public isn’t so well disposed towards the company. “What that leaves for the ROH chief executive is little more than shuffling schedules and making sure the floors are swept. Most people who want to run an opera house do so with a view to having some influence on what happens on stage – inserting a fancied singer here, a favourite ballet there.” – The Telegraph (UK)

THE POWER OF YESTERDAY

The Beatles’ “Yesterday” has been named by Rolling Stone and MTV as the most popular song since 1963. “The song, which lasts precisely two minutes and four seconds, has been played on the radio seven million times. It is the most broadcast song of the modern era, and has been covered by at least 2,500 other performers with the same sincerity you displayed when you sang it in the shower this morning.” – The Globe & Mail (Canada)

CHURCH TRUCE

In the middle of the second day of the court case brought against her by her former manager, singer Charlotte Church settles the breach-of-contract case. The settlement is believed to be around £2 million. – BBC

THE VERY GENEROUS KIMBELL

Fort Worth’s Kimbell Museum, which surprised the art world earlier this year when it was revealed that the museum paid $1.5 million in salary to two of its board members, has finally filed its tax return for last year. “The generosity of the board toward Cline and the Fortsons was paralleled by the nearly $1.6 million dispensed to its favored charities – more than five times the amount it gave in 1998. Many of the charities’ boards are heavily weighted with Kimbell board members, kinfolk, or employees, in spite of foundation claims to the contrary.” – Fort Worth Weekly