“The new series is called Cast Offs and follows six characters – each played by an actor with a different disability – who are left to fend for themselves for a year on a remote island. Although the series is entirely fictional, Channel 4 has said that it will be filmed in a mock-documentary style.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Baltimore Opera Throws In The Towel
“Three months after seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and canceling the remainder of the 2008-2009 season, the board of trustees of the Baltimore Opera Company voted today to pursue Chapter 7 liquidation instead and dissolve the 58-year-old organization.”
Seattle Welcomes A New Chamber Opera Company
Pacific Operaworks, founded by lutenist Stephen Stubbs and dedicated to small-scale Baroque and contemporary works, makes its debut this week with the well-regarded (and well-traveled) William Kentridge/Handspring Puppet Co. staging of Monteverdi’s Return of Ulysses. The critics are impressed.
No Farewell Tour For Plácido Domingo
“[He] cannot see himself retiring the way many opera stars do: by announcing a farewell tour and going from company to company, accepting tributes. ‘Rather,’ he said… ‘I think it will be one evening, after a performance, to say, That’s it.'” The tenor says he considered doing just that after the final performance of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor.
Atlanta Ballet’s Executive Director Heads For Boston
Barry Hughson will leave the Atlanta Ballet in May after only two years. “He will take over the Boston Ballet, one of five largest ballet companies in the country. Its $25 million budget is more than three times that of Atlanta, which has a budget of $8 million.”
Major Staff Cuts At Met Museum
The MMA revealed “that it would lay off more than a quarter of its merchandising staff, eliminating 74 jobs in addition to 53 already cut over the last year. It also warned that the worsening economy would most likely force it to shrink its overall work force by 10 percent – as many as 250 full- and part-time jobs in all – before the summer, including some in curatorial and other pivotal departments.”
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Decides Not To Sell Trade Division
The CEO of HMH’s corporate parent said that the four unsolicited offers received “weren’t giving us the kind of value we could deliver in the foreseeable future by growing the business ourselves.” The division “publishes consumer books from Curious George to Phillip Roth novels to the Peterson Field Guides to birds.”
‘Covent Garden North’ Plan Is ‘Spellbinding’ (-ly Expensive)
A report for Arts Council England describes the proposed second home for the Royal Opera and Ballet in Manchester with the un-bureaucratic word “spellbinding,” calling the plan “the most significant arts development in this country for a decade.” But the report also says the scheme is “not yet viable” and would require £100m in capital costs and £15m in annual funding from the central government.
Edinburgh’s Purple-Cow-Shaped Theatre Heads To London
“Udderbelly, the 400-seat, giant upside-down purple cow that has been a popular feature of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 2006, is to make its London debut this summer when it will play host to a new arts festival on the South Bank.” The venue, in partnership with the Southbank Centre, will offer an eight-week season of plays, music and children’s shows.
Texas Ballet Theater’s Temporary Chief Becomes Permanent
“Margo McCann, who has served as the Texas Ballet Theater’s interim managing director during the last six months, was officially named the company’s managing director, the ballet announced Thursday.”