More and more orchestras are dangling “extras” to entice people to come to concerts. “Spicing up concerts with bells and whistles may very well engage the short-attention-span set, but those folks may then expect the extras every time they enter a concert hall. And this could keep them essentially stuck in one kind of experience, patronizing only one kind of orchestral product. That wouldn’t matter as long as all the other products are doing well. But orchestras have been suffering mostly from lagging sales for the traditional, just-the-notes-ma’am subscription series, which play to an orchestra’s base and usually do the most to shore up the finances.”
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Vancouver Goes Bollywood
British Columbia has been luring Hollywood films to shoot in the province for years. Now the Canadians are going after Bollywood movies. The attraction? Same as for Hollywood. Great tax breaks and beautiful scenery. One of the first films is directed at Indian audiences, and probably not suited to the tastes of mainstream Western moviegoers. “This is not really a satire of Indians living abroad. I wanted there to be a certain reality to the film, which will set it apart from many Bollywood films. But I didn’t want it to be an ethnic comedy in the same way that ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ or ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ are.”
Baryshnikov Center – Building To An Opening
Mikhail Baryshnikov is getting close to opening his new arts center on Manhattan’s West Side. “I did not want something designed purely for dance. While we were planning, we went to almost every theater and studio space built in New York over the last 60 years and saw what worked and what didn’t. The specifics of the spaces, the adaptable walls, the height of the ceilings, the technical possibilities all had to make opera, cabaret or plays feasible, too.”
Sample This, Buy That?
Sampler programs at low ticket cost have become a popular way of showcasing dance seasons. They’re “part of a national and international effort to attract new audiences for dance and other commercially fragile art forms. Some of these gimmicks cheapen their art; it’s hard to argue that samplers do that.” But do they create more excitement (and audiences) for the rest of the season, or do they steal those audiences (and funding) from the main courses?
Do We Care About Who Sings What?
“Today many well-known rock bands are pursuing second acts with new lead singers, raising questions not only about just how far the trend can go, but about where a band’s identity truly lies. Music executives say a band’s ability to outlive its singer usually depends on which was more influential: the songs or the cult of personality. In the case of Motown ensembles on the oldies circuit, the songs win out every time.”
Thinking Right In Hollywood
“The notion that the American film industry is a hotbed of left-wing propaganda is a venerable one, and some determined demagogues will cling to it no matter what the studios do. But the studios themselves, especially after the stunning success of Mel Gibson’s independently financed “The Passion of the Christ,” have tried to strengthen their connection with religious and social conservatives, who represent not only a political constituency but a large and powerful segment of the market.”
Declining To Cross Over
Soprano Aprile Millo cancels a Carnegie Hall concert after the promoter wants her to sing “crossover” music. “I said, ‘My crossover is to Handel,’ It’s one profession trying to get another profession to modern up. And it’s not going to work, not with this girl.”
BSO: Excellence Costs
James Levine costs the Boston Symphony. And he makes the musicians work hard. “The BSO players knew what they were getting into. That’s why they negotiated what’s called the ‘Levine Premium’ before the maestro’s first season. They get an extra $220 for each of the music director’s 12 weeks. With about 100 players in the BSO and including other expenses, the total adds up to roughly $278,000 for the season. And there are other costs…”
Act Of “Vandalism” To Be Reversed 35 Years Later
“Celebrated German abstract artist Blinky Palermo caused confusion and consternation at Edinburgh College of Art when he painted his lines in the entrance hall. The Scottish arts establishment regarded the ‘work’ as anti-art and concealed it behind a thick coat of emulsion. Now the lost work is regarded as a masterpiece with a theoretical value of £300,000. Sadly, removing the paint without destroying the original is cost-prohibitive, so the lines will be recreated on top of the originals.”
What Sells? Celebs…
Circulation for celebrity magazines is soaring. “Over the past year, Us Weekly and its competitors have soared in popularity even as the circulations of newspapers, business weeklies and practically every other print publication have been falling. The September cover of Conde Nast Publications Inc.’s Vanity Fair, featuring an exclusive interview with a tearful Aniston, was its highest selling issue ever. With Americans confronting grim news every day about war and natural disasters, “celebrities have become a sort of national distraction. They are hired entertainers, and the public demands to be entertained almost constantly.