“This season, two micro-communities of visual-arts and performing-arts leaders are finding that collaboration is the secret to creating a vibrant scene in the wake of a debilitating recession. Their efforts are leading to more programming–much of it free–for arts-minded New Yorkers.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Movie Ticket Prices Rise Steeply, And 3-D Is To Blame
“The National Assn. of Theatre Owners reported Tuesday that the average ticket price in the first quarter was $7.95, up 8% from $7.35 in the same period last year. That’s the largest year-over-year increase since the association started tracking quarterly ticket price data in 2001.”
DC’s Studio Theatre Names Joy Zinoman’s Successor
“At 36, [David] Muse, currently associate artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, will become the youngest chief by far of a first-rank theater company in the capital. … The job, of course, does not come without challenges. It’s never easy, filling the contours of a seat warmed by the person who designed it decades ago.”
Canada Prizes Are Sent Back To The Drawing Board
“The Canada Council for the Arts will administer the hotly debated prizes as well as the $25-million endowment the government has pledged to form them. … Even the scant details made public when the Canada Prizes were first announced in late January of 2009 have been wiped away, and virtually all options are on the table….”
A Good Idea After All: Moby-Dick, The Opera
“[W]hile new work is often seen by audiences as more a duty than a pleasure, the opening-night crowd in Dallas broke into spontaneous applause three times during the first half, and screamed and yelled its approval at the curtain calls. It was a wonderful and rare reminder that new opera truly can excite people if it’s done right.”
Columbia University Gets Trove Of Edward Gorey Work
“Andrew Alpern, an architectural historian and lawyer who published a collection of ephemera by Gorey in 1980, donated the more than 700 items, which include nearly every edition of every work that Gorey published.”
Boston Pops Struggle With Dwindling Audience
“The Boston Pops is facing a very 21st-century problem. Ticket sales are down, television exposure is scarce, and the orchestra, one of Boston’s grandest traditions, is looking for answers as it kicks off its anniversary season.”
Hal Holbrook On What Playing Mark Twain Means To Him
“The easiest way to describe what it means to me is like this — when I sit in a hotel room, listening to the news, and listening to the idiots blabber in what they like to call ‘news’ … if I didn’t have Twain to go on stage and attack this kind of foolishness, I would end up in the nuthouse.”
Appreciation: Lynn Redgrave
“To Vanessa’s tragically unbending Antigone, Lynn was the levelheaded Ismene, the sibling not built for radical extremes, who preferred everyday humanity to the glories of myth. … The truth is that critics, by and large, were as susceptible to her appeal as her fans. As much as Vanessa Redgrave is revered, Lynn was beloved.”
Suddenly, Commoners Have Architects’ Attention
“After a long period in which America’s greatest talents seemed to work almost exclusively at the service of the wealthy, there are signs that their efforts are trickling down to other segments of society. … If things continue this way, it may actually mean a renewal of architecture’s onetime commitment to elevating the lives of ordinary people.”