“Shares in the amusement park SeaWorld fell 33% after a 6-7% decline in the company’s revenues was forecast – with falling attendances driven in part by the negative publicity surrounding the documentary film Blackfish.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
California Orchestra’s Board Ousts Maestro By Unanimous Vote
“David Ramadoff’s 33rd season holding the baton for the Vallejo Symphony Orchestra will be his last. Suzie Peterson, third-year VSO board president, said the organization seeks ‘a different direction’ after a 10-0 vote to replace the maestro following the third and final 2014-2015 concert on April 12”
Fantasy King Lear (Like Fantasy Football): Casting The Title Role
Charles McNulty: “Liam Neeson doesn’t have the Shakespearean chops but he has that combination of paternal fury and tenderness that is just what the role requires. … Al Pacino would either be the greatest Lear in recent memory or the most embarrassing. Actually, he could very well be both at the same time. … Nathan Lane is hardly just a comic actor.” (We haven’t even told you the real curveball.)
Rauschenberg Foundation Appeals $24.6M Court Award To Estate Trustees
“A legal battle has reignited between the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and three of the late artist’s friends and business associates. The foundation yesterday appealled a Florida judge’s decision to award the trustees of the Robert Rauschenberg Revocable Trust a fee of $24.6m.”
Paulo Coelho Is King Of The Internet
“Years before other novelists joined Twitter and Facebook, Mr. Coelho was reaching out to fans on MySpace and, later, putting short videos on YouTube. He has accounts on Instagram, Tumblr, Vimeo, Google+ and Pinterest.” On Twitter and Facebook, he has more followers than Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Danielle Steel and John Grisham combined.
The Magical Metamorphoses Of Indian Classical Dance
Alastair Macaulay: “Opera people often – and rightly – remark on the marvelous films of the soprano Maria Callas in concert; they show us the very moment when her whole face subtly switches into the character she is about to sing. It feels miraculous. Yet such moments keep recurring during individual Indian dances: the face changes contour; the body becomes another being.”
Utah Symphony Barnstorms The State’s National Parks
This orchestra had lost the high profile and wide admiration it had during its glory days under the late Maurice Abravanel. Now music director Thierry Fischer is determined to get them back, both nationally and within the state – so he and his players are touring beyond Salt Lake City to five of Utah’s most scenic locales.
“Who The Hell Wants To Be Happy All The Time?” Asks Christopher Plummer
“It’s a miserable state to be in permanently. Can you imagine how dreary that would be?”
Jeff Bridges And The Zen Of An Almond Croissant
“I love taste, and I love the immediate gratification of flavor and that satisfying swallow you feel all over. But I look at my body and I should say, ‘Is that really the most healthy thing for me?’ Wouldn’t it be great if I stopped eating this and worked out every day? Imperfection and perfection go so hand in hand, and our dark and our light are so intertwined, that by trying to push the darkness or the so-called negative aspects of our life to the side … we are preventing ourselves from the fullness of life.”
Re-Creating The Palace Of The Kaisers
“After much contention and delay, the Hohenzollern Palace, seat of Prussia’s monarchy and the jewel in the city’s crown until the East Berlin regime leveled the building in 1950, has begun rising again. … Off-site sculptors are crafting an exact replica of the palace’s baroque facade as it was before World War II.”