Theatre productions heading to Broadway used to be able to open quietly out of town and work the kinks out. No longer. The web has changed it all. “This torrent of gossip, news, amusing tidbits, and reviews – most of them unfiltered, unverifiable, and true – in chat rooms and on bulletin boards at sites such as playbill.com, broadway.com, and talkinbroadway.com, is throwing producers and the reporters covering them for a loop. Why? For the same reason the Web has turned every other industry inside out: It’s democratized something that used to be the exclusive purview of an entrenched elite, and the entrenched elite ain’t happy.” – New York Magazine
Author: Douglas McLennan
CREATING A NEW MUSICAL THEATRE
“While many on the West Coast see Broadway as a monolithic entity 3,000 miles away, “Broadway” is really about the people who create the shows – and it’s those creators who came to Los Angeles at their own expense because they wanted to be part of this conference. Their presence wasn’t simply to share anecdotes and professional expertise, but to stimulate West Coast musical theater writers and encourage us to keep creating new shows.” – Los Angeles Times
SO WHAT EXPERIENCE DOES EITHER OF THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES HAVE IN THE ARTS?
AL GORE “favors public funding for the arts, has a passion for van Gogh—and relaxes by painting abstractions.” While GEORGE W. BUSH “takes a moderate stance on government support and has a taste for American Western art.” – ARTnews 10/00
THE CHEAPENING OF APPLAUSE
“New inductees into the world of performing arts can’t seem to differentiate between what is merely mediocre and what is truly exceptional. This is can be seen clearly at the end of every performance I have attended over the last 2 years. Every performance, good, bad, or ugly received a standing ovation from the audience. Every one. Ultimately, this cheapens the performance.” – *spark-online 10/00
ART OF CONVERSATION IN CANADA
“What I’ve been thinking – just to while away the gaps in the dinner banter about Toronto real-estate prices – is that there can’t be many other nationalities that can devote three hours to watching an opera and then, by way of commenting on the experience, step amid the throng of fellow opera-lovers from the theatre foyer into the crisp, clear air, and, pondering the immensities of beauty and life and death that are still swirling around the memories of so stunning a performance, ask what parking level the car is on.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada) 10/09/00
POMPEII LIGHTS UP
After 2000 years, the lights are back on in Pompeii. “The $5 million lighting project sponsored by the Culture Ministry means that the ruins, one of Italy’s biggest tourist draws, will eventually be open at night. It also means the city’s stone amphitheaters will once again host performances.” – Discovery
MELBOURNE’S NEW ART MUSEUM
The about-to-open Melbourne Art Museum, with its sleek contemporary architecture, is a bit of a shock at first encounter. “Sitting alongside the beautiful Royal Exhibition Building, with its majestic Florentine-inspired cupola, the new building will be viewed as an extreme contrast of what museums have been and where they are going. – The Age (Melbourne)
FRENCH FEAR SCARY AUCTION FUTURE
French art auctioneers have had the French art market to themselves for 450 years. But that monopoly is due to be phased out after British Prime Minister Tony Blair intervened with the French government. Now the French auctioneers are fretting over the future. – The Telegraph (UK)
COLLECTION BY COURT ORDER
Ontario’s McMichael Gallery is about to be forced to return control of its collection over to the original founders. The Ontario government is convinced that the gallery has lost its way from its original mission. But what would the Group of Seven – the artists whose work forms the core of the collection – think of all this intervention? Not much, thinks one art historian. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
THIS YEAR’S NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE …
The Nobel committee failed to reach a decision last week on a winner for this year’s Nobel Prize for literature. “Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro are among a list of contenders for the $1.35-million prize that includes Chinese writer Bei Dao, Belgian author Ugo Claus, Trinidad’s V.S. Naipaul and Ireland short story author William Trevor.” – National Post (Canada)