“Although it still teeters on the edge of financial viability, the progressive online publication is very much alive, while other boom-era magazines, like the Industry Standard, Upside and Red Herring, are dead or reinvented as leaner versions of their former selves.”
Blog
Cleveland Public Looks To Alt-Theatre For Its New Chief
Cleveland Public Theatre has tapped experimental theatre artist Raymond Bobgan to be its next artistic director, beginning next April. Bobgan is only 38, but has been the No. 2 administrator at the city’s leading alternative theatre troupe for several years. He succeeds Randy Rollison, who resigned earlier this month.
Narnia Author Opposed Movie Of His Books
It turns out that “CS Lewis, the author of the Narnia stories, with which Disney hopes to establish a blockbuster movie franchise to rival Harry Potter, was ‘absolutely opposed’ to the idea of a live action version of the stories, it has emerged. The author made clear his distaste for the idea in a hitherto unpublished letter to a BBC producer…”
FCC Threatening Cable Crackdown
“Sexed-up, profanity-laced shows on cable and satellite TV should be for adult eyes only, and providers must do more to shield children or could find themselves facing indecency fines, the nation’s top communications regulator said yesterday.” The FCC’s decision to threaten cable and satellite broadcasters is bound to be controversial, since the agency has historically been charged with regulating the terrestrial airwaves, but not channels carried over cable lines. But Congress is considering a new package of legislation that would increase indecency fines and give the FCC authority over cable and satellite programming.
Wanna Rescue Your Broadway Show? Make A Lousy Movie.
The movie version of the long-running theatrical hit, Rent, is not pulling much business by Hollywood standards, but the opening appears to have given a boost to the staged original, which last week had its best sales week ever. “The same thing happened last year with The Phantom of the Opera. The movie, which cost about $100 million to make, grossed just $150 million worldwide. But it lifted the fortunes of the Broadway show… As more and more stage shows are being adapted for the silver screen, theater producers are discovering that even if the movie isn’t very good, the stage production benefits. The spike in ticket sales registers as soon as the trailer for the movie starts playing in theaters.”
Nothing Funny About It (Yet)
British comedians and satirists are struggling with the same problem that confronted American entertainers in the months after 9/11: how to acknowledge the terrorist elephant in the room without insulting anyone or bringing the mood down. For comedians, who frequently operate on the razor edge of good taste, anyway, the July train bombings in London are a delicate matter. If those comedians happen to be of Middle Eastern descent, well, then, the pressure is even more intense. Some comics are gingerly beginning to talk about the bombings, but “for all the effort at cheerful revenge, none of the dozens of acts addressing this year’s hot issue know quite what to say about it.”
Whitney Biennial Goes Dark
“The 2006 Biennial will have a title for the first time, ‘Day for night’, which the curators believe sums up a dark mood in contemporary culture. They say that many of the works that will be included in the show reflect a sense of foreboding, dread or anxiety which emerged as a recognisable theme from the hundreds of artist studios they visited.”
Voices Of Poetry
“Historic recordings of poets such as Tennyson, Yeats, Kipling, Betjeman and Sassoon are being made available through a new online initiative. The Poetry Archive also aims to ensure current leading English-speaking poets are recorded reading their own work for future generations. The free archive has been created by UK Poet Laureate Andrew Motion and recording producer Richard Carrington.”
Troubled Times For Tate?
“These are troubled times for the Tate. Behind the scenes, the critically-acclaimed series of 13 paintings, said to be Ofili’s take on the Last Supper, is at the centre of a row that has engulfed some of the biggest names in Britain’s artistic establishment. At the heart of the affair is the fact that, when The Upper Room was purchased from him for £705,000 earlier this year, Ofili was himself a Tate trustee. This, critics say, represents a major conflict of interest. The matter is so serious that, last week, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it will investigate.”
Pinter Pulls Out Of Nobel Ceremony
Playwright Harold Pinter has pulled out of giving a speech at his Nobel ceremony. “The Nobel Foundation said a lecture pre-recorded by Pinter will be shown on a big screen at their Stockholm academy on 7 December. The British playwright, 75, has been treated for cancer in recent years.”