It has been more than 3-1/2 years since the 9/11 attacks, which apparently is long enough for Hollywood to start making movies about one of the worst tragedies in American history. “Are Americans ready yet to watch, let alone pay to watch, a re-enactment of some of the most searing events in their lives? When will enough time have passed? How do you make use of the stories of the victims and survivors without being seen as exploiting them? Then there is perhaps the most basic creative dilemma: Do you show the airplanes crashing into the twin towers? On this, there is unanimous reluctance.”
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Tony Unlikely To Reward Denzel
“As the Tony Award races start to come into focus, it looks as if the biggest star on Broadway this spring may find himself shut out of the nominees’ circle. Critics and theater insiders have greeted Denzel Washington’s turn as ‘Brutus’ in the wrong-headed revival of Julius Caesar at the Belasco with, at best, indifference and, at worst, disappointment… [Still,] the competition for the five slots for Best Actor in a Play is fierce — and there is no shortage of big names to spice up the category.”
Getty Trust Gets Stark Sculptures
“The late Hollywood power broker and producer Ray Stark and his wife have donated 28 masterpiece sculptures to the J. Paul Getty Trust to establish a sculpture garden at the Getty Center. The 20th-century sculptures include the works of Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Barbara Hepworth, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Aristide Maillol, Joan Miro, Henry Moore and Isamu Noguchi.”
Government Seeks BioTerror Charges Against Kurtz
“A colleague of an artist whose possession of bacteria sparked a terrorism investigation was questioned Tuesday before a federal grand jury and said the government seems intent on expanding its criminal case against Steven Kurtz.” Kurtz was arrested last year on suspicion of bioterrorism.
Orchestras Can Switch Cities?
It’s a heck of a way to leave town: the departing principal conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra made waves this week wen he suggested that the RSNO should move from Glasgow to Edinburgh, so as to take advantage of what he called “the best venue in Scotland.” As a national orchestra, the RSNO performs regularly in both cities, but has always been officially based in Glasgow. Orchestra management says it has no plans to move.
Da Vinci Code Named British Book Of The Year
The Da Vinci Code has been named book of the year at the British Book Awards. “Former US president Bill Clinton won best biography for his memoirs, and actress Hancock was named author of the year for The Two Of Us: My Life With John Thaw. “
A Too-Polished Orchestra?
A documentary showing the notoriously fractured Philadelphia Orchestra from the inside ought to be one of the most exciting and controversial entries in the city’s film festival. But the documentary you want to get made isn’t always the one that gets made, and Music From The Inside Out, which purports to be such an insider’s look at one of the country’s great orchestras, is in fact nothing more than a big wet sloppy public relations kiss. “This is the Philadelphia Orchestra’s polished but not slick valentine to itself. Not that what’s on screen is false – it’s just a very narrow view of the personalities concerned. And for close observers of the orchestra, that specificity is painful to watch, because you want reality to be entirely this way.”
Conlon On Detroit’s Radar Screen
American conductor James Conlon, who made his reputation in Europe and has recently become a big name in the U.S. as well, may be near the top of the Detroit Symphony’s music director wish list to succeed the outgoing Neeme Jarvi. Unfortunately, Conlon is so busy that he won’t have time to conduct in Detroit until June 2006, and he is also about to start two new jobs in America (as director of the Los Angeles Opera and of the Chicago Symphony’s summer festival at Ravinia.) Still, the DSO has invited Conlon to conduct its 2005-06 season finale.
Muti Not On Chicago’s Shortlist
The Chicago Symphony says that it has not offered Riccardo Muti the position of music director, despite cryptic statements from the conductor published in the Italian press this week. Muti said he was “considering an offer” from the CSO, but would not elaborate. The orchestra says that it has invited Muti to guest conduct for the first time in a quarter-century, but that is all.
Or Is He?
“Deborah Card, president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, confirmed that she and others from the CSO met with Muti last weekend in New York while he was conducting the New York Philharmonic… Card declined to say whether she had extended a firm offer to Muti to become CSO music director when Barenboim steps down at the end of the 2005-06 season.”