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Royal Opera Takes Vilar’s Name Down

London’s Royal Opera has stripped Alberto Vilar’s name from its young artists program. “The Vilar Young Artists Programme has been renamed the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme in honour of the chair of the Oak Foundation, a philanthropic organisation set up by Alan M Parker, one of Britain’s richest self-made millionaires. The Covent Garden opera house decided to remove Mr Vilar’s name after he stopped paying for the programme in March 2002.”

A Bournonville Triumph

Tobi Tobias is back from Danish Ballet’s Bournonville Festival in Copenhagen. “Whatever quibbles one might have over some of the artistic choices (and I have several fairly serious ones), this Festival was a triumph simply as an event, and [director Frank] Andersen, though he has continually given ample credit to the stagers, dancers, coaches, teachers, and staff “without whom,” was the leading force in bringing it about.”

Senators Call For Removal Of CPB Chief

Sixteen Democratic senators have appealed to President Bush to remove Kenneth Tomlinson as head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “We urge you to immediately replace Mr. Tomlinson with an executive who takes his or her responsibility to the public television system seriously, not one who so seriously undermines the credibility and mission of public television,” wrote the senators.

Baywatch On The Boards

Catherine Tate has an unlikely new project. “I’ve been approached by a man who wants to know if I’d be interested in writing Baywatch: the musical. The idea is so off the wall that I agree to meet him to discuss it further. Presuming that if the show were to happen it would be a camp extravaganza, I fully expect to find an equally camp extravaganza waiting for me at a bar in Soho. But the man looked surprisingly like a supply teacher. He talked about his vision with such confidence that Baywatch: the musical didn’t seem like such a ridiculous idea after all. I left feeling quite buoyant.”

How Theatre Killed Spamalot

“The original Python was a creative force that chewed up whatever medium tried to contain it—a Broadway show in that spirit could only exist off-off-off-Broadway, under an awning somewhere and would probably never find its way to the main stage. As a Python fan, I wanted to love Spamalot, but it wouldn’t let me. It is choreographed, safe Broadway subversion, decked out in gaudy makeup, camping it up for the folks in the balcony. It replaces Python’s subtlety with glitter and shouting. Even when it’s making fun of Broadway, it’s still only Broadway.”

The Babble-izer

Too noisy where you work? Office mates talk too loud? Now there’s a gadget that scrambles voices and makes noise easier to take. “It works by electronically listening, then repeating back random bits of what it hears. The resulting sound is blurred — as if familiar voices were speaking in a foreign language I can’t quite make out. We’re hard-wired to like the way the human voice sounds. The problem isn’t sound — the problem is that the search for meaning demands attention. Noise that settles into the background can be very pleasant.”

Writers Want To Unionize “Reality” Shows

The Writers Guild of America wants to unionize workers who create TV reality shows. “Unlike a sitcom or drama, a reality show doesn’t often employ ‘writers.’ Instead, people with titles such a ‘field producer’ or ‘story producer’ make sure each episode follows a script that’s often conceived in advance. In other cases, editors have the job of finding dramatic story lines in hundreds of hours of tape. Producers might boil down 400 hours of footage to create a single 44-minute episode of a show.”

NPR Ombudsman On CPB Ombudsmen

NPR ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin says its regrettable that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting thinks it needs two ombudsmen to watchdog politics. “The appointment of the CPB ombudsmen has, indeed, accomplished something: It has sown doubts (or reinforced existing ones) among many listeners (and viewers) that there is something fundamentally wrong at NPR and PBS. But these doubts are based on impressions, innuendo and hearsay evidence. Questioning the practices of journalism is always a good thing. But declaring a priori that there is bias, as Mr. Tomlinson has, contradicts the high standards of public broadcast stewardship that CPB has always advocated.”