“[South Williamsport, Pennsylvania] school officials on Friday dismissed the show’s director after months of back-and-forth arguments – which drew unflattering media attention – over whether the [high school] principal canceled Spamalot because of the show’s gay content.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Disney/Taymor “Lion King” Is Now Top-Earning Title In Any Medium
“With a worldwide gross of over $6.2 billion, The Lion King stage musical has now achieved the most successful box office total of any work in any media in entertainment history. … The show quietly took over top spot from the $6 billion-earning The Phantom of the Opera late this summer.”
Fed-Up Riccardo Muti Quits Rome Opera
In a letter to the director of the chaotic, strike-plagued, financially unstable house, the conductor wrote, “There are no conditions [there] to ensure the serenity necessary to my leading successful productions.”
NY Times Public Editor Slams Article About Shonda Rhimes
“The readers and commentators are correct to protest this story. Intended to be in praise of Ms. Rhimes, it delivered that message in a condescending way that was – at best – astonishingly tone-deaf and out of touch.” (includes responses from the Culture Editor and the article’s writer, TV critic Alessandra Stanley)
Alessandra Stanley Says She Meant To Praise Shonda Rhimes, She Was Just Being “Arch”
“In the review, I referenced a painful and insidious stereotype solely in order to praise Ms. Rhimes and her shows for traveling so far from it. … I didn’t think Times readers would take the opening sentence literally because I so often write arch, provocative ledes that are then undercut or mitigated by the paragraphs that follow.”
Scottish Referendum: What Are The Ramifications For The Arts?
“With culture already devolved, there was little focus on the potential impact of independence on the country’s artistic scene, with many artists simply focused on the wider picture. The fate of BBC Scotland was one of the few genuine talking points. … I suspect many artists will simply return to creative work and trying to make a living. The campaign is likely to have been a major distraction and an energy-sapping experience. Others will realise they have divided their audience by speaking out.”
How A Combination Art-and-Housing Project Earned Its Creator A MacArthur Grant
“Social sculpture” is the term that artist – and new MacArthur Fellow – Rick Lowe uses to describe Project Row Houses, which functions as both visual and conceptual art, social housing (notably for young single mothers), and art incubator and exhibitor.
García Márquez’s Books Finally Get U.S. Digital Release
“Vintage Books will release nine of García Márquez’s works as e-books on October 15th, marking the first time his books will be available digitally in the United States.” Not included are One Hundred Years of Solitude and No One Writes to the Colonel, which are published by HarperCollins.
Actress Polly Bergen, 84
“A brunette beauty with a warm, sultry singing voice, Bergen was a household name from her 20s onward. She made albums and played leading roles in films, stage musicals and TV dramas. She also hosted her own variety series, was a popular game show panelist, and founded a thriving beauty products company that bore her name.”
Alastair Reid, 88, Poet, Essayist, Translator
“In his poetry, he was perhaps best known for his anthologised poem ‘Scotland’, which concludes ‘We’ll pay for it, we’ll pay for it, we’ll pay for it!’ and he was renowned as a fine essayist” who wrote for The New Yorker for 40 years.