“In a surprisingly short period of time, the hi-fi as we know it has been rendered obsolete, tossed into the dustbin of history. According to the U.S.-based Consumer Electronics Association, sales in 1999 for individual audio components — CD players, tuners, etc. — exceeded 270,000 units. By 2003, that number had shrunk to roughly 20,000 pieces, barely enough to sustain a niche market. Where once the mark of musical sophistication was huge speakers and a stack of components, now it’s an iPod and bookmarked file-sharing sites on a PC.”
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Who Will Lead Dallas?
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s music director search is in full swing, and Scott Cantrell believes he has a handle on who might be a front-runner and who definitely isn’t: “Philippe Jordan, a Swiss-born 31-year-old with movie-star good looks, made his Dallas debut with richly expressive performances of Brahms and Strauss… having his mug on billboards wouldn’t hurt ticket sales. Claus Peter Flor, the DSO’s principal guest conductor since 1999, keeps molding one stunning performance after another… Yan Pascal Tortelier got finely finished playing from the orchestra, in spite of a strange baton technique.” And the up-and-coming Andrei Boreyko is making his Dallas debut later this year.
Can Hitler Be Funny… In Israel?
The Producers may be a global box-office smash, but there are still certain places you just wouldn’t expect a musical centered around a fictional work of theatre called “Springtime for Hitler” to show up. Israel, for instance. But there it is on the marquee: The Producers will be making its Tel Aviv debut this month – in Hebrew, no less. “In a nation created out of the Holocaust, where at least a quarter-million survivors of the catastrophe still live, it is — to say the least — a bold artistic and commercial move.” The artistic director of the theatre where the show will be staged says that Israelis are a “mature” audience with a good sense of humor, and doesn’t expect any problems.
Mapping The Strange World of American English
“Imagine looking at a map of the United States that is divided not into states but into dialects — a map that doesn’t tell you what a state’s capital is, but how a region’s residents pronounce their vowels.” That’s the aim of the newly released Atlas of North American English, a hefty tome that also comes with a multimedia CD-ROM and retails for over $600. “The atlas identifies about 16 dialects across the U.S. and southern Canada. Not all of them are unique, but each has distinguishing characteristics. The atlas is a monumental achievement in the already distinguished career of co-author William Labov, who is considered the founder of sociolinguistics, or the study of social influences on language use.”
Bright Sheng To Take Up Residence With NYC Ballet
For the first time in its history, New York City Ballet has named a composer-in-residence. Bright Sheng, the Chinese-American composer who has collaborated with cellist Yo-Yo Ma on the wildly successful Silk Road Project, will compose two new works for the ballet over the next three seasons, and several of his existing works will also be choreographed. The appointment is part of NYC Ballet’s artist-in-residence program, which has previously focused on conductors, choreographers, and costume designers.
Whither TV?
It’s been fifty years since television came to Australia, and with the internet age in full swing, some are suggesting that the medium will likely have lost much of its allure (and its power over the public consciousness) fifty years from now. But as cultural forces go, none in recent memory can match TV for sheer reach across all swaths of public and private life. “It seems to survive despite its own vagaries and its speciousness on occasions… It’s a completely voracious medium, but it suits people that, one, don’t sleep and, two, are fairly quick with ideas.”
The Popcorn Economy
It’s tough sledding owning a movie theatre these days. Hollywood squeezes you for every dollar they can get from ticket sales and forces you to show long preview reels that lengthen screening times; advertisers clamor for access, and will pay handsomely for it, but they insist on having the volume turned up to insane levels in order to insure that the audience can’t ignore the commercials; and then there are those damnable “serious” filmmakers, who insist on making movies that run longer than 128 minutes, or worse, giving their films engaging plotlines that encourage moviegoers to stay in their seats rather than heading to the concession stand to refill their barrel of popcorn and vat of pop.
Movies As Social Activist? (Not Now)
“Does political cinema mirror life? How much impact can a movie have on its audience? To what extent is it able to influence the way we think about politics? The relationship between cinema and politics, often troubled, has recently become far too distant.”
Back To The 60s
Are the 1960s back in dance? “It was 40 years from the 1920’s, the previous great liberating decade, to the 60’s, and 40 years from the 60’s to now. Maybe the societal shifts that provided so fertile a climate for the 60’s are about to burst forth again; you can’t repress youthful energy and optimism forever.”
An Underlying Malaise In British Theatre?
“On the surface, British theatre is in its healthiest state in years. But is this buzz of activity hiding a creative slump, in which celebrity and ‘ticking boxes’ are prized over innovation?”