In an uncommon agreement with the producers of “A Steady Rain,” the Shubert Organization will invest in their projects and guarantee them a Shubert house. The deal gives the producers “a strong advantage on the Main Stem, where real estate is a hot commodity and numerous incoming productions vie for a limited number of available theaters.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Oh, The Shame: Bookish Women Fall For Twilight
“‘Twilight’ came for the tweens, then for the moms of tweens, then for the co-workers who started wearing those ridiculous Team Jacob shirts, and the resisters said nothing, because they thought ‘Twilight’ could not come for them. They were too literary. They didn’t do vampires. They were feminists. Then something happened: the release of the ‘Twilight’ movie….”
Losing Govt., Corporate Funds Could Be Good For Theatre
“While hardship will not necessarily produce better art, standing outside official patronage might at least encourage artists to kick against the establishment rather than adorn it. The art we have enjoyed over the last 12 years has been wealthy, and wealthy art is supine.”
FBI Spent 45 Years Tracking Studs Terkel
The oral historian and radio host applied for a job with the FBI in the 1930s, but he looked like a communist to the bureau, which started a paper trail on him in 1945. “His file ends in 1990, when agents clipped a Wall Street Journal article quoting his reaction to financier Michael Milken’s junk-bond scandal.”
What’s The Etiquette For Spoilers?
In this era of live blogging and TiVo time-shifting, “[p]eople are, if anything, more insistent on keeping their bubbles of cultural innocence intact. Heaven forbid they should learn that, in a romantic comedy that opened three weeks ago, the guy gets the girl in Act 3.”
In LA, The 110 Freeway Is Operatic Material
“According to L.A. Opera, ‘The 110 Project’ tells the story of four central characters as it travels through 70 years of L.A. history” in communities along the freeway. “So what will the opera sound like? You guessed it: the music is said to be inspired by freeway sounds….”
When Universal Removed Black Actors From A UK Poster
“Studios make dumb decisions all the time. But … the real underlying issue behind these kinds of gaffes” is homogeneity among the higher-ups. “The decision-makers at studios are virtually all white, so they don’t see potential racial slights in the same light as they would if they had someone — anyone! — of color in the executive suite.”
Why Is This Year’s Best-Actress Oscar Pool So Shallow?
“The lack of depth has led to a slew of awards-season chatter, from the expected downplaying — all categories are cyclical — to blanket explanations about studios making fewer awards movies in general. If the latter explanation were a factor, best actor also would be weak this year. It’s not. … So what’s really going on here?”
Survey: US Architects Got More New Contracts In October
“It was the highest level of new business for the nation’s architects since August 2008, a report from the American Institute of Architects says. ‘This news could prove to be an early signal toward a recovery for the design and construction industry,’ said Kermit Baker, the AIA’s chief economist.”
All The Bible Really Needs Is A Little Star Power
“Jim Caviezel (Jesus), Malcolm McDowell (King Solomon) and Richard Dreyfuss (Moses) were among hundreds of actors who lined up to create ‘The Word of Promise Audio Bible,’ all 98 hours and 79 CDs of it.” Other boldface participants: Max von Sydow as Noah, Gary Sinise as David, Marisa Tomei as Mary Magdalene and Jason Alexander as Joseph.