“Video conferencing and smartphone apps make it possible to at least share the same screen space. But there are pros and cons to creating this way. Choreographers and dancers can be freed up for more opportunities. Yet almost all would still prefer to be in the same room, collaborating in real time. Here’s how some choreographers are making it happen.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Producer Craig Zadan, Who Specialized In The Meeting Of Musicals And Television, Dead At 69
He and producing partner Neil Meron produced countless television movies and miniseries, most notably musicals and biopics of music and music-theater stars such as the Beach Boys and Judy Garland. His work bringing musicals to the small screen ranged from the Bette Midler Gypsy (1993) to NBC’s recent succession of shows performed live, from The Sound of Music (2013) to this year’s Jesus Christ Superstar.
George Clooney Tops Forbes’s Annual List Of Best-Paid Actors With $239 Million
Granted, most of this is not for movie roles at all, or even endorsements: it comes from the purchase by a conglomerate of a tequila business Clooney co-founded five years ago. (Forbes‘s list includes income from endorsements and other “extracurricular” activities.) At no. 2 with $124 million is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who racked up the highest-ever income to come strictly from acting. (Unfortunately and predictably, the best-paid actress of the year earned much, much less.)
World’s Best Paid Actress Is (Alas, And Of Course) Far Behind Her Male Counterpart
With $40.5 million, Scarlett Johansson is the highest-ranking female on Forbes‘s annual list of best-paid acting professionals. Her earnings come mostly from her role as Black Widow in the Avengers franchise. (The figures for the highest-paid male actors are far higher.)
Frick Collection Makes Rare Purchase, Then Italy Tries To Block It After The Fact
“The Frick, which adds only sparingly to its collection, described the portrait” – a seven-foot-tall image of Prince Camillo Borghese (Napoleon’s brother-in-law) by François Gérard – “as its most significant painting purchase for nearly 30 years when it announced the acquisition last December.” Now the Italian culture ministry, saying that the portrait is important to the national patrimony, has canceled the export license for the work and is trying to get it returned.
Plácido Domingo Sings His 150th Role
“Now 77, well past the age at which most star singers retire, Mr. Domingo has performed nearly 4,000 times in a six-decade career, recorded more than 100 albums, and become a household name as one of the Three Tenors and in appearances on Sesame Street and The Simpsons. And he has continued to add voraciously to his repertory” – as well as to conduct, an endeavor in which his reviews have been mixed.
Miriam Nelson, 98, Hollywood’s Hardest-Working Choreographer
“She choreographed pivotal scenes in the films The Apartment, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, and she also conceived the dance moves for Judy Garland’s first TV special, two Academy Awards telecasts and episodes of The Red Skelton Hour, The Lucy Show and The Bob Hope Show.” (And that’s not even near the half of it.) “Miriam Nelson may not have achieved the kind of fame as the actors who executed her moves. But [she] left behind a sizable body of film and TV work as well as the legacy of being the rare female choreographer in a field that was dominated by men.”
Tuscaloosa, Alabama Museum Of Art Announces Shutdown With Ten Days’ Notice
“The Westervelt Co.’s Tuscaloosa Museum of Art, home to a world-renowned collection of American and Asian paintings, furniture and decorative art amassed by former CEO Jack Warner, will close Aug. 31 … Core pieces will remain in the collection, including some of its early American-themed art, and the ‘Wild Birds of America’ series by Basil Ede, commissioned by Warner, but others will be ‘prepared for shipment,’ and not available for viewing by the public.” In its current form, the museum has been operating for less than seven years.
Portland Center Stage Names Marissa Wolf Artistic Director
“Marissa Wolf, chosen after an eight-month search, will lead the city’s largest professional theater company in partnership with Cynthia Fuhrman, Portland Center Stage’s managing director. Wolf replaces Chris Coleman, who stepped down as artistic director this spring after 17 years to take a similar position in Denver.”
Tony-Winning Director Vivian Matalon Dead At 88
“He was as comfortable with dramas like William Inge’s Bus Stop … as he was with a musical like The Tap Dance Kid, whose 1983 Broadway production earned him a [Tony] nomination for best direction of a musical.” (He won a Tony three years earlier for a revival of Morning’s at Seven.) “Though he worked with many stars over the years, he had special memories of directing [Noel] Coward late in his career.”