“Nielsen Media Research was in full damage control mode Wednesday as the primetime network ratings were held hostage for a third day in a row. Patient network execs … had nonetheless grown impatient as they woke up to yet another day without any numbers.” Consequently, “the networks are likely to again dust off complaints that they’re hamstrung by the Nielsen monopoly.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
What Makes Opera So Pricey (Hint: Look Backstage, Too)
“If you have never understood why an old saying calls opera ‘the most expensive human endeavor, with the possible exception of war,’ a day at the Metropolitan Opera explains it. The divas, maestro, managers and orchestra are just part of the equation. So much else goes into the productions, made more complicated by the Met’s tradition of staging operas in repertory. The Met is often a 24-hour operation. Make that a 24/6 operation, and occasionally 24/7.”
Kindle DX, Newspapers’ Savior — Or So It’s Hoped
“It’s not even 10 inches tall, it’s just one-third of an inch thick, and it costs nearly $500. But Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle DX, unveiled Wednesday, has already been assigned a huge job: reversing the fortunes of the struggling newspaper industry.”
Was There Any Question There’s Still A Market For Picasso?
“A five-foot-tall Picasso was sold by a victim of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme last night at Christie’s International for $14.6 million, easing the mood from the day before at Sotheby’s, when one of the painter’s works flopped. … The star lot lifted the total to $102.8 million,” but the sale’s “tally was still Christie’s lowest for Impressionist and modern art in New York since 2004.”
$3M Painting Joins Russia’s Catalogue of Fraudulent Works
“Russian art experts have listed as a fake a painting that Christie’s International sold as a $3 million work by Boris Kustodiev. The picture is on the latest installment of a list of 900 works identified as fraudulent by a Russian government culture agency. The 100 new additions include three allegedly by Russian masters sold by Christie’s and rival Sotheby’s over the past decade.”
In Defiance Of A King, Forgotten Handel Piece Resurrected
“A forgotten piece of music by 18th century German composer George Handel is to be performed for the first time in more than 250 years.” The funeral anthem “was originally commissioned by King George II to be played at the burial of his wife,” after which the king “ordered the music be thrown away and never heard again.” Turns out never is a very long time….
Tolkien’s Legend Appears Headed To Best-Seller List
“The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún features Tolkien’s translation of two epic poems from Norse mythology, The New Lay of the Völsungs and The New Lay of Gudrún.” Unlikely best-seller material? Perhaps, but Waterstone’s said it “was on course to make the top three of the best-seller chart by the week’s end.”
ENO Loses Iranian Director Angered By Visa Ordeal
“The English National Opera’s season has been thrown into chaos after an acclaimed Iranian director pulled out of a production in a row over the ‘disrespectful’ behaviour of British Embassy staff in Tehran. Abbas Kiarostami objected to the behaviour of officials as he attempted to negotiate his way through the ‘unduly time-consuming and complicated’ visa application process, which requires all applicants to be fingerprinted.”
What Really Cost-Conscious Theatre Will Look Like
“A new player will be popping up more and more frequently on Baltimore stages next season: The Almighty Dollar. As local companies prepare for the 2009-2010 theatrical season, never in recent memory has the economy played such a prominent role in determining the number and type of shows that will appear on local stages.”
Phew! Big Read Director Won’t Have To Eat Mockingbird.
“Would he really have done it? Fortunately for the digestive tract of David Kipen, the residents of Kelleys Island in Ohio proved to be a literary-minded lot and he wasn’t forced to make good on his promise to eat a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird if the entire population of the island failed to read the book.”