Mel Brooks’s latest musical, an adaptation of his film, Young Frankenstein, is almost guaranteed to be a huge hit when it comes to Broadway later this fall. That means plenty of profit, which you’d think would make Mel a popular guy in New York theatre circles. You’d be wrong.
Author: sbergman
The New Radio Ratings
“Radio advertisers who for years complained about the low-tech way of tracking listeners are getting what they asked for and more: Electronic ratings are delivering accurate counts, but are also upending basic assumptions about the industry.”
DVRs, Downloads Forcing Change In Ad Rates
“Right now, the biggest drama on TV isn’t a cop show or a medical show. It’s the attempt by you to dodge the commercials.” As a direct result of new digital technologies, “by the end of this TV season, the system could go haywire. Advertisers and the TV networks have agreed on a new system. Instead of ad prices being based on the number of overall viewers, the key component will be the number of people viewing during a commercial break.”
Giller Shortlist Released
Canada’s most prestigious literary award for fiction, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, named its five finalists Tuesday. “All the nominated books are novels – three by men, two by women – and of the five, three are by Ontario authors who have either won the Giller or been named to previous short lists. These include Toronto’s Michael Ondaatje… and M.G. Vassanji, a Torontonian and the only two-time Giller winner.”
MSG Buying Chicago Theatre
“In a development that will inject a powerful new East Coast player into Chicago’s burgeoning downtown entertainment scene, Madison Square Garden Entertainment said Tuesday that it will purchase the iconic Chicago Theatre.”
Bringing Disabled Artists Into The Mainstream
Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center has spent the past fifteen years using art as a means of engaging disabled individuals. But more recently, the center’s “decades of activism and tireless promotion of its artists have helped push the work of disabled artists into the mainstream. While in the past the work of Miller and others might have appeared in shows and exhibits dedicated to artists with disabilities, it’s now more likely to hang alongside that of other contemporary artists.”
If You Bribe Them, They Will Come
Boston is already seeing the results of its recently enacted tax breaks for filmmakers, and a healthy dose of newly installed upscale clubs, hotels, and restaurants are drawing in the glitterati as well. “Boston has built it – a powerful celebrity electromagnet, that is – and they have come. “It’s not a complex formula, but it can raise the heat index for a city like Boston, which has been traditionally regarded as more a net celebrity exporter (think Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Denis Leary, Jay Leno) than an importer or destination point.”
Artists Gotta Eat, Too
When you hear of an artist or musician receiving a $50,000 grant, you probably imagine him using the money to create more art or music, or to launch some exciting new venture previously beyond the realm of affordability. The truth is more pedestrian – most artists use at least part of the money from grants to pay for basic essentials of life – doctors’ appointments, a new pair of glasses, even house payments.
Music On The Big Screen
“There seems to be enough projects in theaters and in development built on the intersection between celluloid and what used to be called vinyl to fill a jukebox.” So what’s making the world of rock and roll so attractive to Hollywood all of a sudden? It’s all about new technology…
Soviet Modernism Finds A Powerful Ally
Russian billionaire politician Sergey Gordeev, 34, is making a name for himself in the art world with his acquisition and preservation of Soviet-era architecture. “With his fingers in so many pies, it can seem as though Mr. Gordeev’s hands hold the fate of one of the greatest legacies of 20th-century Modernism. And while the preservationists who once feared him now fervently praise him, they privately admit to some disquiet.”