A celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Martha Graham Company shows the company is in trouble, writes Tobi Tobias. “The Graham company is in serious distress. Granted, it is no stranger to turmoil. The difficulties have always gone beyond the money troubles common to dance troupes, though the group’s present financial straits are indeed dire.”
Blog
Will London Do Olympic Culture?
Many Olympic cities have used the games to showcase culture along with sports. Most assume London will do the same for the 2012 games. But shouldn’t the planning already be underway?
Not Good Enough For Pulitzer?
Why did the Pulitzer board decline to name a winner for drama this year? More than a few playwrights feel snubbed. Adam Rapp, who was among the three finalists for his play “Red Light in Winter,” said Tuesday that the lack of a drama award was like “a year without a Santa Claus” for playwrights.
What A Missing Pulitzer Means
“The omission of a drama award, for the 15th time since the inception of the prizes in 1917, denies prestige, $10,000 and a key marketing tool to an American playwright. It also sends an implicit message that 2005 was an off year for new U.S. plays.”
Julia Roberts Broadway Debut Draws Mobs
Julia Roberts’ Broadway debut Wednesday night was a big event. “Hundreds packed the narrow city block outside the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on 45th Street in Manhattan. Even parking-lot attendants across the street sat three stories up hoping to catch a glimpse of the Hollywood royalty on hand to support one of their biggest stars.”
Julia Roberts – So How’d She Do?
“Though Ms. Roberts gives a genuinely humble performance, there is no way that this show is not going to be all about Julia. Ms. Roberts is the sole reason this limited-run revival, which ends on June 18, has become the most coveted ticket in town. Mr. Greenberg’s slender, elegant play from 1997 about familial disconnectedness and the loneliness of intimacy has certainly never known — and probably will never know again — such fame and fortune. On the other hand, it’s almost impossible to discern its artistic virtues from this wooden and splintered interpretation.”
Get Smarter With Your Computer
Nintendo’s Brain Age software promises to make you smarter. “Developed in partnership with Japanese neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima, the game promises to help you keep your brain in tip-top shape through daily exercise. As you complete the exercises, the game charts your daily progress and calculates how “old” your brain is according to the results.”
Mama Mia Heads To Silver Screen
“Mama Mia,” the ABBA jukebox musical is going to be made into a movie. The musical has been produced live worldwide and made more than $1.6 billion US. “Producers of the film project, including the musical’s producer Judy Craymer and ABBA members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, are hoping to release the film in 2007.”
UK TV Exports Up
Does British TV travel? Of course. The UK’s top TV export last year was the Bafta Awards broadcast. “It tied with a wildlife documentary about chimps and Wild Sex, according to figures collated for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Sales of TV exports increased in the US by 10%, while there was an 85% growth in western Europe.”
Ode To Lingua Franca
“You recall Lingua Franca, don’t you? Fewer and fewer do, although if you ask some of the best and brightest editors and writers at the dwindling number of serious magazines and periodicals around these days, you’ll probably find Lingua Franca in his or her past. It was a monthly magazine about the clash of ideas in literature, politics, history and philosophy, controversies that would otherwise be obscured within ivory towers, written for the educated, but not necessarily academic, reader. It soon became a much-talked-about phenomenon inside and outside academia.”