“Robert Wise, a conscientious craftsman in many movie genres who twice received Academy Awards as best director, died yesterday at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 91… His career soared with West Side Story, the 1961 filming of the landmark Broadway musical, for which he shared an Oscar as best director with the choreographer Jerome Robbins. He received a second Academy Award as producer when the film was voted best picture. He gained his third and fourth Oscars with The Sound of Music, the lavish 1965 adaptation of the musical stage hit, in which he was again cited as best director and as producer of the best film.”
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Clear Channel To Get Out Of The Theatre Biz
When media giant Clear Channel got into the live theatre business several years back, many in the business feared that the corporate monolith would shortly rule Broadway. But it hasn’t worked out that way – Clear Channel’s stock has been plummeting as its name has become synonymous with bullying tactics and monopolistic business practices – and this week, the company will announce plans to spin off its live entertainment unit. “The general view is that while the spinoff company (as yet unamed) will still have plenty of clout in the touring business (it still controls all those theaters), its presence and influence on Broadway will be greatly diminished.”
What If They Gave Out The Emmys And Nobody Watched?
The Emmy Awards telecast is coming up this weekend, and from all reports it ought to be one entertaining evening, with the multiple stars of Desperate Housewives battling each other in the same category. But in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and with Americans demonstrating a decided fatigue with the culture of self-congratulatory celebrity, will anyone be watching? “Last fall, the Emmy telecast suffered the second-lowest ratings in history. Then the Golden Globe Awards, the People’s Choice Awards and the Grammy Awards were all clobbered in the ratings by original episodes of Housewives, which aired opposite each of the ceremonies.”
Daytime Emmys Moving West
The Daytime Emmy Awards are moving to L.A. for 2006, marking the first time the telecast will originate from a city other than New York. Another change: the nominees for the awards, which honor game shows, soap operas, and other tripe, will now be announced on ABC’s The View, which is, of course, eligible for Daytime Emmys itself.
Stolen Rembrandt Recovered
“A self-portrait by Rembrandt has been recovered by Danish police, nearly five years after it was stolen in a daring raid on Sweden’s National Museum. It was retrieved on Thursday during an operation at a Copenhagen hotel that resulted in the arrest of four people… The artwork – which was reportedly undamaged and still in its original frame – is worth an estimated £34m.”
Rich New Deal For L.A. Phil
The Los Angeles Philharmonic has a new contract with its musicians which will make it the highest-paying orchestra in the U.S. in the deal’s final year. The ensemble, which currently has a minimum salary of $2025 per week, will get a better than 20% raise by 2009, eventually reaching an annual salary in excess of $127,000. “Among other provisions, the contract includes measures to streamline the Philharmonic’s auditioning, hiring and vesting processes; allows for free local radio broadcasts; reduces the orchestra by two players (through attrition); redesigns the musicians’ healthcare plan; and calls for the members to donate three concerts to help finance pension costs and raise money for the orchestra’s endowment fund.”
Kahane In Colorado
Jeffrey Kahane debuts this week as the Colorado Symphony’s new music director, succeeding Marin Alsop, and he has big plans for the ensemble. “He envisions the orchestra in four or more years playing in New York’s Carnegie Hall and perhaps even touring to Europe or South America.” Kahane is also promoting a “chamber music style” of music-making in which he and the musicians work as colleagues, rather than a conductor simply barking orders from on high. In that vein, he will conduct several concerts this season while seated at a piano keyboard, playing a concerto while leading the orchestra.
Apparently, It’s True: There Are No Good Conductors
The prestigious International Sibelius Conductors’ Competition, held every five years in Helsinki, has ended with the jury declining to award a prize to any of the three finalists. Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, speaking for the judges, declared the level of competition to be “disappointing,” and further announced to the audience that “not one finalist conducted the symphony by Sibelius in a way that would entitle him to any of the first three prizes.” The jury awarded each of the finalists a lesser prize instead, but the competition’s chairman was clearly displeased by the decision.
Scottish Arts Overhaul May Be DOA
“The Scottish Executive is likely to turn its back on ‘Culture Scotland’, the arts super-quango proposed in its £600,000 policy review, according to those who recommended its creation… A leading member of the Cultural Commission, believes there is little appetite for the sweeping changes it recommended earlier this year. It proposed abolishing the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen in favour of two new agencies, Culture Scotland to handle policy and the Culture Fund to manage the cash.”
Sheffield’s Man On A Mission
London’s Sheffield Theatres has a new artistic director, and while Samuel West is best known for his boyish good looks and serious acting chops, but it may be his fierce commitment to cutting-edge interpretation of classic theatre, as well as his leftist politics, that speak the loudest in his new career. “Even if we’re unlikely to see West in the pages of Hello magazine, he is self-evidently a man with a mission: a Botticelli cherub with balls.”