Author: Matthew Westphal

Actors In UK’s Publicly Subsidised Theatres To Get Pay Raise Of 2% Over Three Years

“[After] negotiations described by union Equity as the toughest in recent times, … performers’ weekly minimum pay will increase from £450 currently to £459.05 over three years – leaving actors concerned that, after tax and agent fees, they will not be earning much more than the minimum wage, currently £8.21 an hour.” – The Stage

National Museum Of Brazil, Destroyed By Fire Last Year, Sets Date For Partial Reopening (And There’s Good News About The Collection)

“Our intention is to inaugurate a part of the reconstructed palace in 2022 with expositions that let us celebrate the bicentennial of Brazil’s independence,” said an official. And while early reports last year said that 90% of the museum’s collection had been lost in the fire, that figure turns out to be only 46%. – Artnet

$8 Billion Was Spent On New Cultural Venues Worldwide In 2018: Report

That figure, high as it seems, is down from $9.9 billion in 2017, the year that saw the completion of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. There were 148 such buildings — museums, performing arts centers, and other cultural hubs — completed in 2018, with the largest number of projects in North America but the three most expensive all in China. – Hyperallergic

Chattanooga Symphony Sued By Its Concertmaster For Breach Of Contract

Holly Mulcahy, who has been the orchestra’s concertmaster since the fall of 2013 (and who takes up a second concertmaster position at the Wichita Symphony this month), is seeking damages “for breach of contract, misrepresentation, tortious interference with business relationship and intentional reckless acts related to the same … related to Plaintiff’s confirmed solo performance contract on October 6, 2019.” (The orchestra’s printed season brochure had listed the program for that date as music of Haydn and Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 2, with Mulcahy as soloist; the orchestra’s website now lists it as an all-Haydn program.) – WTVC NewsChannel 9 (Chattanooga, Tenn.)

Filmmaker Who Spent 12 Years Shooting ‘Boyhood’ Will Spend 20 Years Shooting Sondheim Musical

Richard Linklater’s new long-term project is a silm adaptation of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, which traces, in reverse, the gradual, bitter estrangement of three longtime friends. Starring are Blake Jenner, Ben Platt, and Beanie Feldstein, the latter two themselves close friends since high school. – Los Angeles Times

Actor Valerie Harper, 80

“[She] amassed four Emmys during her time as Rhoda [Morgenstern] — three for her sidekick role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977, and one as the lead character in the spinoff Rhoda, which ran from 1974 to 1978 on the same network. She continued to act on television and in the theater for more than three decades, her stage roles ranging from the flamboyant actress Tallulah Bankhead to former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. But she was forever known as Rhoda — a reflection of the preservative power of reruns, and the enduring appeal of her signature character.” – The Washington Post

Art Dealer Who Kicked, Choked, And Banged Head Of His Girlfriend Sentenced To 20 Days In Rehab

London dealer Joseph Nahmad, 31 and part of a powerful multibillion-dollar family network of art dealers, got a suspended sentence of 14 weeks along with the rehab order from Judge Jeffrey Pegden, who told Nahmad, “There are mitigating factors. You are of good character and have taken steps to address your offending behaviour.” As compensation for her injuries, Pegden also ordered Nahmad to pay his victim £750 ($906). – The Daily Mail (UK)

Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie Make 2019 Booker Prize Shortlist

The Testaments, Atwood’s secrecy-shrouded sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, and Quichotte, Rushdie’s recently-released riff on Don Quixote, are joined on the list of six semifinalists by Elif Shafak’s 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World; Chigozie Obioma’s An Orchestra of Minorities; Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other; and Lucy Ellmann’s 1,000-page, single-sentence Ducks, Newburyport. – Irish Times