Last month’s departure of Deborah Gribbon as director of the Getty Museum has led to swirling rumors about the inner workings of the Getty. Some of the most popular theories about dissention in the Getty don’t add up, writes Jason Kaufman.
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Failing Angels
There’s a big problem trying to turn something as sprawlingly theatrical as “Angels in America” into an opera. “It isn’t enough simply to reflect what is already there, or to enhance the mood like a film score,” writes Rupert Christiansen. “Music must be the driving force, the medium of revelation. This is the hurdle at which the composer Peter Eötvös and his librettist wife Mari Mezei fall flat on their faces. Their adaptation of Angels in America, Tony Kushner’s apocalyptic epic of Aids and the spiritual turmoil of the Reagan era, condenses rather than expands the theatrical original, squeezing a gallon of drama into a pint-pot of opera.”
Seattle Opera, PNB Caught In Funding Fight
Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet are on the hook to pay for a shortfall in funding for their new home. The companies agreed two years ago that the city might finance the shortfall with their rent. Now the bill is due, and both the opera and ballet companies say paying would be a big hardship.
Afghanistan On Stage
Three years ago theatre was banned in Afghanistan. Now there’s a national theatre festival – and even a play written by a woman, “The current revival is taking place in a climate of creative freedom. Many plays at the national festival have themes that are daring in Afghanistan – star-crossed lovers, hypocritical mullahs, corrupt provincial governors, smugglers of ancient cultural artifacts, and drug lords. But Afghans have not forgotten how to laugh – several plays take digs at doctors, policemen, and busybodies.”
Disney’s Wal-Mart Gambit
Disney is rehearsing a new theatrical venture, and it’s decidedly different from the usual Disney fare. “On the Record represents an entirely different kind of project for Disney Theatricals — it’s cheap to do. And it relies utterly and completely on the public’s love for existing Disney songs such as “Under the Sea” or “A Spoonful of Sugar.” That affection — and familiarity — is both global and also widely found in smaller and midsize American cities that might never get to see “The Lion King” in all its glory. It’s a growing market for Disney Theatricals, which had tended to stay concentrated in the major theatrical centers. But that’s not how Wal-Mart made its money — ubiquity is profitable.”
Broadway’s Crosscultural Experiment
It’s only fitting that with “Pacific Overtures,” which opens Thursday at Studio 54, Amon Miyamoto becomes the first Japanese citizen ever to direct a Broadway production. Like him, the show is an unusual and rather startling crosscultural experiment…
A Portrait Of Chicago Arts
Chicago is a city of the arts. But what does the arts community look like? A new survey takes the measure of what the arts in Chicago look like.
CBC Success… But At What?
From the outside, CBC TV seems to be on the rebound (at least no one seems to be calling for its demise of late). But. “As often with CBC, it’s hard to match the visionary rhetoric with the pedestrian prime-time reality. In a world where viewer votes set CBC’s values, perhaps Mary Walsh sweating to the oldies really does represent the broadcaster’s best definition of greatness. If you can’t do insight, settle for incitement and see if anyone can tell the difference.”
Maybe Competition Is Good For Nutcracker?
So the traveling Rockettes booted Boston Ballet from its traditional home for the Nutcracker. But maybe that isn’t so bad. “Bring on the Rockettes. Competition makes everyone stronger. If the ballet has to retool its show to draw audiences, isn’t it likely to make it fresher and better? Beyond that, having to go up against everything from the Rockettes to ”The Lion King” to a hundred local ”Christmas Carol” productions may force the Ballet to think more deeply, more precisely, more artistically about just what its mission is.”
Arts Community Protests NYT Ax Of Sunday Listings
Waves of protest have greeted the New York Times’ decision this fall to discontinue the comprehensive Sunday arts event listings that had been featured for decades. The Times’ public editor takes up the case: “Editors reacted to the petition, I soon learned, the way editors almost always react when readers rise against a long-planned, well-intended innovation: a little dumbfounded, a little defensive, a little dismissive…”