Two years ago, Cleveland’s tiny Verb Ballet was on the rocks – broke and artistically adrift. Today, the company has “changed its name, achieved national recognition and expanded its personnel to 15 dancers who perform mainstream modern-dance classics, original choreography and chamber ballets for growing audiences of enthusiastic patrons. The company continues its education and outreach activities, but also takes its concert programs on tour. The budget has mushroomed to $340,000. The deficit has diminished to $5,000. How did it happen?”
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Fans Pack Times Square For Free Broadway Preview
Fifty thousand fans pack Times Square for a free preview of the new theatre season. “The 13th annual “Broadway on Broadway” concert featured musical performances from 16 shows, including “Mamma Mia!,” “Avenue Q” and the new musical “Little Women.” The outdoor show prompted some to line up as early as 8 a.m. for the chance to catch a glimpse of their favorite performers.”
Where Is The Right Hollywood?
A TV documentary goes in search of political bias in Hollywood. “There is no studio ban on Republicans, of course, but certain conservatives have been dining out for decades on what they describe as a Hollywood witch hunt.”
Rattle Attacks Berlin Arts Funding Cuts
The city of Berlin has a huge budget deficit and proposes to slash arts funding. Berlin Philharmonic music director Simon Rattle protests, describing the situation as “catastrophic” and “cultural dismantling” in an interview with the weekly Der Spiegel magazine. Sir Simon, who took over the orchestra two years ago, told the magazine: “I can see the hopeless situation of the city, but on the other hand, this cultural dismantling is an incredible shame for Berlin.”
Italian Protest Over Venice FF Awards
Italy’s press is complaining that Italian films were shut out of the awards at this year’s Venice Film Festival. “Mike Leigh’s film Vera Drake took the Golden Lion for best film and Briton Imelda Staunton won best actress. But Italy’s newspapers voiced their disappointment that Le Chiavi di Casa (The House Keys) by Gianni Amelio was missing from the award winners.”
The Impossibility That is The Toronto Film Festival
“By the time this year’s Toronto International Film Festival ends on Saturday, 328 films will have been screened. Spread over the 10 days of the festival, which began on Thursday, that comes to more than 30 movies a day, which means, according to my bleary-eyed calculations, that to see one movie is to miss about seven others, and that the statistical accuracy of any single critic’s impressions of the festival as a whole will be roughly 12.5 percent. What this suggests is that the Toronto festival, which has become, during the last decade or so, the most important such event in North America, is really 8 or 12 or 35 festivals gathered under one roof.”
Urban Guerilla Artists Claim Ownership Of Underground Paris Cinema
A clandestine group of “urban explorers” calling themselves La Mexicaine de la Perforation and which claims its mission is to “reclaim and transform disused city spaces for the creation of zones of expression for free and independent art” has claimed ownership of a cinema located in a cave under Paris. The place was discovered by puzzled police last week. “They (the police) freaked out completely. They called in the bomb squad, the sniffer dogs, army security, the anti-terrorist squad, the serious crimes unit. They said it was skinheads or subversives. They got it on to national TV news. They hadn’t a clue.”
Shakespeare – The Man Behind The Myth
“How did Shakespeare become Shakespeare? Apart from the poems and plays themselves, the surviving traces of Shakespeare’s life are abundant but thin. The known facts have been rehearsed again and again for several centuries.” But the issue has never been settled. Will it ever be?
Cleveland Theatre Turning Point
This fall marks a turning point for Cleveland theatre. “One of the most important such dramatic dialogues in Cleveland this fall isn’t at one particular theater, it’s at all our theaters. It’s about the theater. What kind of theater are we willing to support? To what degree do we value our theatrical institutions and artists? Enough to keep them around and performing at the same level?”
In Pittsburgh – The 95 Percent Solution
The Pittsburgh Symphony finished this past season with its budget balanced. But its ability to do that in the future will depend in part on new contracts negotiated this year at Big Five orchestras. As of next season, Pittsburgh musicians are guaranteed a contract tied to 95 percent of the average wage paid at Big Five orchestras.