“In earlier eras, when Broadway spawned its own stars, Rodgers and Hammerstein or Andrew Lloyd Webber were imprimaturs of a good show; more recently theater producers have cast movie stars like Hugh Jackman and Jude Law to build an audience. Now the latest idea is tapping marquee names from pop culture as investors and ‘presenters.'”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
National Theatre Wales Takes Drama To The People
“Like Scotland’s national theatre, the company has no permanent home. Its home is all of Wales, and its first season will feature a dozen productions stretching from Cardiff, Swansea and Newport in the south to the beaches of north Wales, via Barmouth, Bangor and a military firing range in the Brecon Beacons.”
A Disillusioned Simon Rattle Regards UK From A Distance
“Does he find himself echoing Kennedy’s ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ line? ‘No, I don’t feel like a doughnut yet,’ Rattle grins. ‘Just a bit deracinated. I’m the one who can’t speak English any more, without necessarily being able to speak German.'”
What A Lovely Morning To Be Naked At The Opera House
“[T]he one thing the 5,200-odd people who posed for the American artist Spencer Tunick at the Sydney Opera House earlier today had in common was that they were all totally naked.”
Architects Envision A NYC Protected From Rising Seas
Commissioned by MoMA to design climate-change solutions for the city, five teams of architects “craft a waterfront that’s more like a beach than a bulwark: a soft urban edge that welcomes waves, drinks them up and puts them to work, and lets floodwaters ebb without drama.”
Alberta Ballet Website Overrun With Elton John Fans
“No sooner did tickets go on sale Monday for Love Lies Bleeding, the new ballet inspired by the songs of Elton John, than they went off again.” Would-be buyers had crashed the site.
Kate Moss To Pair With Baryshnikov In Dance Film
“Miss Moss will star in a short film with the 62-year-old Russian – with the working title Baryshnimoss – made by the renowned choreographer and director Michael Clark.”
As Theatre Budgets Tighten, Co-Productions Flourish
“Last season included two coproductions in the region, one more than the year before. This season, at least five plays are a result of sharing by 10 theaters – with two out-of-town companies in the arrangements.”
Dallas, Fort Worth Tussle Over Cultural Bragging Rights
“There’s a showdown brewing in Texas: between the neighboring cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. They’re not fighting over land, or water, or oil or gas rights; they’re fighting for cultural supremacy. Who’s got the best art museum? Who’s bigger in the music world?”
The Secrets To MAXXI’s Success
In Rome, where Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI awaits its May opening, “any building of such size and exalted cultural purpose must justify its presence in the company of world-famous monuments to imperial and papal glory. Her shrewd solution has been a combination of flamboyant experimentation with implicit respect for the past.”