“Regional theatres are being targeted by a new live broadcasting scheme that will transmit shows from outside London to cinemas across the UK.” Organizer Quantum Digital “estimates that venues taking part in the programme could expect to earn up to £30,000 per broadcast.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Mary Rodgers, Composer Of ‘Once Upon A Mattress’ And Daughter Of Broadway Royalty, Dead At 83
“As the daughter of a famous musical theatre composer (Richard Rodgers), a musical theatre successful composer herself (Once Upon a Mattress) and the mother of a musical theatre composer (Adam Guettel), [she] held a singular place in the history of the American theatre.”
Spain Returns “Small Museum’s” Worth Of Artifacts To Colombia
“Spain returned 691 artefacts, spanning nearly 3,000 years of history, to Colombia on Tuesday. The pieces were recovered by Spanish police during a drug trafficking and money laundering investigation in 2003. Since then, the works have been kept for conservation in Madrid’s Museum of the Americas, where 885 recovered pieces were studied.”
Why Are Orchestra Salaries So Much Lower In Britain Than In America?
“The average pay of a sample of US orchestras in 2013 and 2014 makes jaw-dropping reading for anyone in a British orchestra.” Tom Service argues that the problem is not that U.S. musicians are overpaid.
Is This The Strangest Job In Retail? Staff Organist
For 25 years, Peter Richard Conte has playued two 45-minute recitals a day on the Grand Court Organ (said to be the largest musical instrument on Earth) in the old John Wanamaker department store, now a Macy’s, in center city Philadelphia.
‘Anti-Amazon Law’ Unanimously Passed By French Parliament
The legislation – actually nicknamed the “Anti-Amazon Law” by the French media and lawmakers, and intended to protect the country’s many independent bookstores – forbids any bookseller from offering free shipping along with a 5% discount, already the maximum allowable in France.
Sinkhole At Corvette Museum Is Now Its Top Attraction
In the 4½ months since the sinkhole opened up at the Kentucky site and swallowed eight vintage cars, attendance is up almost 60% over the same period last year. So the museum’s directors (following AAMD deaccession guidelines, no doubt) have decided to preserve the sinkhole, or at least part of it.
John Lithgow On The Single Greatest Challenge Of Playing King Lear
“[It’s] modulation. For Lear, the first half of the play contains four titanic temper tantrums of near bipolar intensity, and the second half tips over into dementia, bottomless grief and (spoiler alert) death. In rehearsing these opening scenes, I need to constantly remind myself how far I still have to go, like a marathoner husbanding his resources.”
Shia LaBeouf Arrested For Disrupting Broadway ‘Cabaret’
“The former star of the Transformers movie franchise was smoking and yelling during the performance, the police said. Officers escorted him out of the show during intermission. … [He was seen] handcuffed and in tears as six officers surrounded him outside the theater.”
Tampa Bay’s Florida Orchestra Names Next Music Director
“The global search went on for three years, but in the end it took just two key performances for Florida Orchestra leaders to know they had their conductor. On Tuesday, they named British musician Michael Francis as the orchestra’s new music director. Leaders were so wowed by Francis, they ended their hunt a full year earlier than expected.”