“Mr. Cumming, who won the Tony Award for best actor in a musical in 1998 for his role as the emcee in ‘Cabaret,’ was set to play the villain Green Goblin in ‘Spider-Man’ for his friend Julie Taymor,” who is directing the long-delayed show, now said to be slated for “the Hilton Theater sometime in 2010.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
National Gallery Puts Its Forgeries On View
“The gallery’s mistaken acquisitions have at times paid off: some paintings thought to have been by unknown artists or copies of genuine works have since turned out to be the real thing, created by the hand of the greatest Master Painters. The downgraded paintings, do, however, outnumber the upgraded ones.”
‘Hopper Landscape’ Gets A Reprieve On Cape Cod
“In the latest chapter in a roiling Outer Cape dispute, the land court has struck down a building permit for a mansion being built next door to the former [Edward] Hopper cottage, halting construction of the multimillion-dollar house, which is well on its way toward completion, and returning the legal clash to the town’s zoning board.”
If You Build It, Cash Will Come?
“For decades” in New York, “new open areas have been born as by-products of business deals and carved out of leftover acreage into awkward, stingy shapes.” Governors Island, where the park design has come first, is a chance for the city to reverse its own pattern.
Evaluating Peter Gelb’s First Full Met Season
“Gelb has been running the company for more than three years, but this is the first full season he planned, paid for, and delivered–a rollout of eight new productions, culminating with Armida and laying out a program of modernization that is supposed to save the art form. … The strategy is fine, but its execution needs more muscle and judgment.”
Smoke Signal: TCG Files Brief In Denver Theatres’ Appeal
“‘Theatrical smoking has been a part of free expression in America since the First Amendment’s ratification in 1791,’ [Theatre Communications Group] executive director Teresa Eyring said in a brief filed Friday [with the U.S. Supreme Court]. ‘Theaters rely on actors’ expressive conduct, including smoking, to convey meaning in tandem with a play’s dialogue, movement, mood and tone.'”
Hundreds Protest Plan To Eliminate Georgia Arts Council
“A $17.8 billion state budget passed by the Georgia House last week would wipe out the arts council, which supports the arts statewide, administers grants and maintains the State Art Collection. … Georgia could be the only state without an arts council recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, unless the Senate restores funding cut by the House.”
France As Melting Pot? Musically, Yes.
“France has become a center of stylistic blending. They do it so well in part because it resonates with their cultural history, but also because the current wave of immigration from Africa has produced a conflictual combination of obsessive anxiety and fascination. … In French pop one hears what France could become if it got over its hysteria about immigrants.”
Could The iPad Be Publishing’s Savior?
“Publishing exists in a continual state of forecasting its own demise; at one major house, there is a running joke that the second book published on the Gutenberg press was about the death of the publishing business.” Threatened now by Amazon’s tough-guy tactics, the business is looking to Apple and even Google as allies.
Judge: Spielberg’s Rockwell Painting Wasn’t Stolen After All
“While Judge Roger Hunt didn’t say so directly in his April 8 decision, his ruling in the convoluted case of ‘Russian Schoolroom’ … is based on evidence that the FBI must have erred when it put the painting on its list of stolen artworks.”