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ABT – Road To Recovery?

American Ballet Theatre’s artistic director Kevin McKenzie says ABT’s financial worries aren’t serious. He “insists any financial shortfall is strictly a routine cash-flow crunch. “We have no long-term debt. We do have an operating deficit of around $1 million, but that’s the same as it has been for several years. We don’t owe vendors; we raised more money last year than ever before, and it’s a far cry from when I took over. Then, you’d call, tell people you were with ABT and they’d hang up.”

Iraq As A Soap Opera

Iraq TV is getting its first post-American invasion soap opera. “During Saddam’s reign, show business was under tight state control and all actors were employed by a government ministry. Television and feature films were heavily censored. Since the fall of Saddam last year, independent film-makers have enjoyed unprecedented freedom. Ironically, as the plots of Love and War indicate, much of this new-found artistic energy is being used to criticise, subtly or not, the American and British forces who brought the freedom.”

Toronto Film Industry Bounces Back

Last year was an awful year for the Toronto film industry. “This year, the industry, weary but determined, slept with one eye open as it watched the Canadian dollar buoy to its highest level in decades. The players had to wonder, would American producers choose to make their big-money movies at home? Was this the end for Hollywood North? Hardly.”

The Man Inside The Actors Studio

James Lipton is the popular host of “Inside the Actors Studio.” “He’s a figure both revered and mocked for his highly researched, forelock-tugging, truth-inducing encounters with some of the most famous members of the acting profession. In real life, Lipton is an intriguing contrast to his TV persona. To begin with, he’s shorter than his imposing air might lead you to believe. (He’s always sitting down on the program.) But he’s also surprisingly shy, self-effacing and the possessor of a little-boy-lost charm that’s at odds with his actual age of 77.”

Why Advertisers Like Youth

Why do advertisers value younger consumers over older, even though older buyers have more money? “It’s complicated. First, advertisers believe that by the time you reach a certain age, you have pretty much decided which brand of dishwashing detergent you like and you’re going to stick with it. Younger viewers, on the other hand, are still trying to figure out whether they prefer Excedrin to Bufferin and whether they look better with hair dyed by L’Oreal or Clairol. Second, advertisers believe that by the time you reach a certain age, you are much less likely to buy a product just because Michael Jordan is wearing it.”

Feckless At The Royal Academy

“Nowadays London’s Royal Academy, for all its clever rebranding as friend to the Hirst generation, is a silly place: its summer show a trite exercise, its courting of the rich and famous (the newly restored rooms at its home, Burlington House, have been named after the man who gave the most money) a little crass, its style always tending to the posh and the phony. Yet the opening display from its art collection in the Fine Rooms is a powerful reminder that the Royal Academy once mattered, that it was once revolutionary.”

A Museum-Quality Thomas Kinkade?

A show of Thomas Kinkade at a real art museum? Really? Fullerton’s Main Art Gallery at California State University is hosting a show of the self-proclaimed “Painter of Light.” “Having Kinkade at Grand Central is kind of like having McDonald’s pitch its Big Macs on PBS, or having Pepsi and Coors Light throw a rock concert on Washington, D.C.’s Mall. ‘There’s no financial motivation for us to do this. It’s for the sake of stirring things up, creating dialogue.’ Apparently, the strategy has worked. CSUF students and faculty have been buzzing about the upcoming show, and many are furious.”