“Manchester could play host to an annual 18-week season of performances from the Royal Opera House” under a proposal that would see “the Palace Theatre in the city centre undergo a £100m refurbishment to transform it into a first-class home for lyric theatre and ballet.” But some fear that “that a refurbished Palace Theatre could cannibalise [local] audiences – and eat up public money.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
AC/DC, Accompanist Of Dire Economic Straits
“Last night came final and irrevocable proof that the country is entering tough economic times, unseen since the 80s: AC/DC have returned to the top of the album charts for the first time in 28 years.”
Why Aren’t Women Writing Big-Idea Books?
“Books like Freakonomics, defining significant cultural or economic trends with a punchy title, never seem to be produced by women. But why?”
As If Times Weren’t Tough Enough For Hedge Fund Wives
“Tatiana Boncompagni, the author of ‘Hedge Fund Wives,’ a novel to be published in May by News Corp.’s HarperCollins, sued her sister Natasha over claims she copied parts of the manuscript and sought copyright protection as its co-author. Tatiana Boncompagni … accused her sister of secretly copying parts of ‘Hedge Fund Wives’ this year during family visits in New York and Milwaukee.”
With $128 Million, Met Opera Led Arts Fundraising In ’07
“The Metropolitan Opera led all U.S. arts organizations in fundraising from private sources with $128.1 million in 2007, according to a survey of 400 nonprofits by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.” Also raking it in last year were Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Miami’s New World Symphony, the San Francisco Opera Association, and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas.
Dylan Thomas’ Birthplace Is Restored
“The restoration of Dylan Thomas’s birthplace has been completed on what would have been the poet’s 94th birthday. … A [Swansea] businessman and his wife have spent three years restoring the former student bedsits to how the house would have looked when Thomas lived there.”
Ananiashvili To Bid Adieu To ABT With Swan Lake
“Nina Ananiashvili will give her final performance with American Ballet Theater as part of its spring 2009 program at the Metropolitan Opera House, it was announced.”
Via JetBlue, A Whiff Of Travel’s Romantic Past
Eero Saarinen’s masterpiece, the long-empty TWA terminal at JFK Airport, “is making a halfway comeback. The Port Authority has begun to restore it, but the work won’t be finished for months, and it remains unclear whether the building has a destiny as a food court or just a white elephant. Meanwhile JetBlue has transformed it into a neat little accessory for its new $743 million Terminal 5, designed by Gensler.”
Parks Gets First Master Writer Chair At Public Theater
“It looks like the Big Orange is soon to lose another playwright to the Big Apple. Suzan-Lori Parks, the Pulitzer-prizewinning playwright (‘Topdog/Underdog’), has been awarded the first Master Writer Chair at the Public Theater in New York City.” (Surely the timing of the announcement, made hours before playwrights were to face down producers over the paucity of scripts by women staged Off Broadway, is a coincidence.)
Another Lit Critic Slams German TV; Is Sacked Immediately
“A growing cultural rift over the perceived quality of German television has intensified as yet another TV literary critic blasted the country’s public broadcasters, forcing pubcaster ZDF to fire her and cancel her show.”