Author: sbergman

Toronto Rising? (Maybe)

Toronto is unveiling a slew of new cultural buildings this summer, and anticipation is high. “But do these projects mark a beginning or an end? Does the renaissance stop here? Or will it lead to a second wave of cultural works that will bring new depth to the arts in Toronto?”

Luminato To Partner With Ballet

The fledgling Luminato festival dominated Toronto’s arts scene in the first half of June, and that wasn’t good news for the National Ballet, which saw its ticket sales dip. “But out of this sorry situation comes some good news. Luminato and the National Ballet have just agreed to be partners next year, and are already negotiating terms of a deal under which Luminato funding would help the cash-strapped dance company produce a major new work, the drawing power of which would be augmented by serious marketing support.”

Spacey Has Scoreboard

Kevin Spacey may be a favorite target for theatre critics on both sides of the Atlantic, but you can’t argue with his drawing power. Spacey’s star turn in the critically derided Broadway play, A Moon For The Misbegotten, was enough to allow the show to recoup its entire investment and turn a profit in a limited run. That’s more than can be said for most Broadway shows, including this year’s critical darling, Spring Awakening.

Preserving Modernism? It’s A Tough Sell.

No one ever accused modernist architecture of being nice to look at, but should ugliness be enough of a reason to avoid preserving a generation of buildings in the way that we preserve other schools of architecture? “But the actual threat to Modern architecture stems mostly from real-world concerns,” such as the fact that most of them are inefficient and costly to maintain.

Critics Weigh In On London LoTR

Now that Lord of the Rings has opened in West End, it’s time for London’s famously hard to please critics to have their say. And they are: “a thumping great flop,” says The Telegraph, and The Independent wasn’t much more positive, calling it “a show with a bit of an identity crisis, strong on dynamic spectacle, squeezed as a drama.” Still, a few critics liked the show, with The Times calling it “a wonder.”

Clear But Cold

Richard Ouzonian says that the London Lord of the Rings is both better and worse than its aborted Toronto run last summer. “What has the show gained since its run in Toronto? A more effective use of its sets and lighting, a clearer storyline in Act III and a smashing performance from Laura Michelle Kelly as Galadriel. What has it lost? About 20 minutes of its running time and almost all of its heart.”

Drawing New Fans By Striking Close To Home

A new play has been quietly building steam with some unconventional audiences this spring in New York. “Platanos & Collard Greens concerns itself with the tension between the African-American and Latino communities in New York and the overwhelming majority of men and women who go to see it, some over and over, are nonwhites.” Estimates are that by September, when the play ends its run, over 90,000 people will have seen it.

PBS To Offer New Programming Online

PBS has a unique problem in getting viewers to watch its programs – since local affiliates are allowed to make their own schedules, it’s almost impossible to promote a national start time for a new episode of an established program. Now, the public broadcaster is planning to get around this problem by offering new episodes of certain series online ahead of their first broadcast time.

Where’s The Love, San Antonio?

San Antonio, Texas, is a huge city by American standards, and yet, its orchestra is the very definition of small time, with stagnant wages, an undersized complement of musicians, and a board that seems either uninterested or incapable of raising even the bare minimum that the organization needs to avoid crisis every few years. “The board’s timidity indicates economic leadership that doesn’t have the will, energy or ambition to lead — that likes to claim the title of a major city but doesn’t want to work very hard to make it so.”