“It’s not every day that a hot Hollywood star takes a detour off Sunset Boulevard and into avant-garde art territory. We expect that sort of thing from moody European actors, not from publicist-groomed studio chattel. […] Now it turns out Franco has also carved out a side career in experimental video art. Earlier this month at MoMA in New York, the artist known as Carter presented his latest work, a 63-minute piece titled Erased James Franco.“
Author: Matthew Westphal
Broadway Producers Threaten Liberace Musical
“Is a lit candelabrum atop a grand piano still compliant with New York fire prevention and building codes? Someone had better find out,” because a new show titled Liberace: The Man, The Music & The Memories has been announced for Broadway this fall. The musical will “recreate the experience of a Liberace concert in a Las Vegas show room. The musician and comedian Wayland Pickard has been cast [in the title role].”
Hmm, What Other Dead Celeb’s Life Can We Make Into A Musical? How About Jade Goody?
A business partner of Britain’s reality TV megastar – who died of cervical cancer last month at 27 (having sold the rights to televise her final days) – announced the project at a book party for her just-published diaries. Naturally, the musical’s lead role will be cast via a television talent show.
Scottish Ballet On A Fast Boat To China
“Scottish Ballet is to tour China for the first time in 17 years after receiving funding from the Scottish Government, it was announced yesterday. The entire company, including 40 dancers and 20 backstage staff, will take their productions of Carmen and Pennies From Heaven on the Oriental tour next month after the £100,000 boost.”
Take That, Paul Potts! NYC Bus Driver Wows Riders With Tenor Arias
“[T]he acoustics are pretty good, and [Christopher G. Dolan] finds time to concentrate. ‘I sit at red lights, open up a score and memorize two lines,’ he said. And his audience is enthusiastic… enough to applaud, even whistle.” Dolan has even landed an audition while on his route.
Nelson-Atkins Museum’s Director To Retire After 28 Years
Marc Wilson, who took the helm of Kansas City’s top art institution in 1982, oversaw a massive transformation of the museum: the expansion of collections and launch of new departments, the growth of the board, the quadrupling of the staff, a new Learning Center, renovation of the Kansas City Sculpture Park, and the doubling of the museum’s space by opening the “luminous” Bloch Building, designed by Steven Holl.
Met Replaces Opera In The Parks With Outdoor Recitals, HD Festival
“With the economy in the state it’s in, it comes as no surprise that the Metropolitan Opera will not be returning to its former practice of touring complete opera performances out to the five boroughs and New Jersey this summer.” Instead of last summer’s Gheorghiu-Alagna one-off, the Met will present six vocal recitals in city parks and pre-Labor Day outdoor screenings of past “Live in HD” simulcasts.
PBS Launches Online Video Library
The new video portal “will aggregate thousands of full-length episodes from the network’s top series, along with complete seasons of current shows and full back-catalogues of classic series. Among the shows available on the new portal (PBS.org/video) are American Masters, Antiques Road Show, Masterpiece Theatre, Nature and Nova. Classic series, such as the various programs featuring cooking legend Julia Child, will also eventually be available in their entirety on the site.
Experimental Dance On Clear Channel’s Digital Billboards
This weekend in L.A., “[r]otating with the digital ads for fast food and auto insurance will be an eight-second spot promoting an experimental dance project. The advertisement will feature [still] images from Underwater Ballet, a digital film directed by Liz Goldwyn and starring dancer Deanna Beasom.” And for a week beginning May 1, Clear Channel will run the entire Underwater Ballet twice an hour on a billboard in New York’s Times Square.
New Guinea Tribesman Sues New Yorker
Last year the magazine published an “Annals of Anthropology” piece by Jared Diamond titled “Vengeance Is Ours,” in which “a blood-thirsty warrior [in the New Guinea highlands] bent on avenging his uncle’s death … touched off six years of warfare leading to the slaughter of 47 people and the theft of 300 pigs.” Said warrior is now seeking $10 million in damages for libel – and one researcher is backing the plaintiff up.