The Paul Taylor Company opens its new season in New York, and the company looks reborn, writes Tobi Tobias. They are “dancing as if an ardent, intensified study of echt Taylor style had reanimated it.”
Blog
Five New NY Theatres
Five new theatres are opening in manhattan. “All are in Midtown. Combined, they represent the continuation of one of the city’s broadest theatrical building booms in decades, perhaps the most active period since the landmark Broadway venues were erected back in the 1910s and 1920s.”
Should Critics Canvas The Audience?
This winter an actor wrote to the Washington Post, complaining about negative reviews and suggesting that critics ought to pay more attention to the reactions of audiences to a play. So “what is the critic’s role in relationship to the reader? Isn’t he, at least in part, a consumer advocate and, as such, shouldn’t he acknowledge audience response and, by extension, the fact that his aesthetics might not be in sync with popular sensibilities (if that is indeed the case)?”
In The Theatre – Brand Loyalty?
Product placement is rampant in the movies and getting more blatant all the time. But inserting brands into plays as advertising endorsement has been rare. But that could be changing…
The Case Of the Stolen Ballet
Akiva Talmi claims that the press agent he trained has stolen the ballet company in tiny Pittsfield, Mass that he spent 30 years building. Now there’s the matter of the 75-city tour and the presenters that are confused…
UC Davis PAC – And Where Are The Students?
The Mondavi performing arts center at the University of California at Davis has a been a success with audiences. But there’s one thing – in its first season, the Mondavi center sold only 13 percent of its tickets to students. And why are students saying away?
Iraq Exploration Will Rewrite The History Books
There are so many archaeological sites in Iraq, and the technology for exploring them has progressed so much that if they are researched in the next decade, they will rewrite what we know about the history of the region. “A decade of research in Iraq could rewrite the books of archaeology, no question. There is just a phenomenal amount of history in this country and much of it is yet to be discovered. But over time it will be and we’ll have to totally rethink what we know.”
Boring? Well, We Asked For It.
The Oscars hadn’t even ended on Sunday night when the cries of “BO-ring!” began to be heard ringing from every armchair in North America. And yes, Hollywood has been a pretty yawn-inducing place of late, says Tina Brown. But what do we expect of the film industry when our culture has become so paranoid, so easily offended, and so willing to pounce on anyone deemed controversial, or worse, un-American? Add in the self-appointed fashionistas who make every star’s life hell at every new awards show, and it’s no wonder that Hollywood seems ready to retreat into ultra-safe territory.
The Top Mouse Takes A Hit
“In a remarkable vote of defiance against a once unassailable executive, shareholders owning an estimated 43 percent of the Walt Disney Company declined on Wednesday to support the re-election of Michael D. Eisner, the chairman and chief executive, to the board. The mounting shareholder dissent prodded the board to strip Mr. Eisner of the chairman’s title Wednesday night and give it to George J. Mitchell, Disney’s presiding director and a former senator. Disney board members hope the split of the chairman and chief executive titles will pacify investors disgruntled about an underperforming stock price and Mr. Eisner’s autocratic management style.”
Women’s Philharmonic Folds
The San Francisco-based Women’s Philharmonic, which had promoted the role of women in the classical music industry for nearly a quarter-century, officially closed its doors on Sunday, nearly three years after having to suspend its regular concerts due to a lack of funding. Some of the WP’s programs will be folded into the American Symphony Orchestra League, and much of the work in which the organization had been involved will continue in other forums, but the demise of such an important organization is still sad to see, says Joshua Kosman.