Tobi Tobias continues her survey of New York City Ballet’s Balanchine birthday celebration: “The current production delivers many of the images, but, as has become NYCB custom, without rubato and without their essential perfume. The corps de ballet is neat and lively, practicing exactitude adorned, in the women’s case, with empty smiles. I had been looking forward to my favorite Scotch Symphony moment. Two of the kilts lift the Sylphide high—she seems to be standing on air—and toss her, still vertical, into her ardent suitor’s arms. I recall the exquisitely gentle Diana Adams in that moment. For two unforgettable seconds, she seemed to be not falling but floating—softly, lazily, serenely, swept crosswise by an idle breeze. It didn’t happen last night. They didn’t even attempt it. I wonder if whoever is setting the ballet even knows that moment existed. Or cares.”
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Tetreault Named To Lead Ford’s Theatre
Paul Tetreault, a veteran manager of regional theater companies, was named the new producing director at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC yesterday, succeeding the late Frankie Hewitt, who held the post for 30 years.
Small Screen Clutter
TV screens have become cluttered with information. “Multiple screens have moved quickly into the arts and entertainment. Film and television screens crammed with text and images are everywhere from the Museum of Modern Art to “Access Hollywood.” Once we were couch potatoes, but we are all active viewers now, flipping the remote through channels, flipping our eyes around the screen. Even deciding to ignore the crawl requires an active choice.”
Performing Arts For Sale!
The American Association of Performing Arts Presenters holds its annual meeting in New York. “The conference functions as something of a freewheeling art marketplace where those who program (buyers) and those who perform (sellers) can get to know one another’s work. The principal conduit for all that creative networking is more than 1,000 performances around the city, continuing through Tuesday, when the association’s members scurry back to their artistic homes to program the 2004-5 season and beyond.”
$9 Million To Protect Sydney Opera House
About $9 million in new security measures are being installed at the Sydney Opera House, to protect against terrorism. “NSW premier Bob Carr rejected suggestions the Opera House was the country’s prime terrorism target but added: ‘We live in an era where anything can be considered a target.’ About four million visitors entered the Opera House every year, making it difficult to protect.”
Portrait Of A West End Flop
Les Liaisons Dangereuses was a hit in London back in the 80s. This time around though, the show closed in the West End after dismal reviews and only a few weeks. “The critics said the star delivered his lines like the speaking clock, the cast seemed to have been picked because of their more famous relatives and the theatre was half full. Looking back, it seems no surprise that Les Liaisons Dangereuses was cancelled after three weeks.”
Over-50s – Now There’s A Market For You (Really!)
For advertisers, “neglect of the 40 per cent of adult population over 50 – sometimes known as the grey market – is nothing new.” But why? “Eighty per cent of the country’s wealth is controlled by the over-50s but 95 per cent of adspend targets people under-50; 86 per cent of over-50s say they don’t relate to most current advertising yet, for example, 66 per cent of new cars are bought by people over-45. The over-50s in employment outspend their under-50 counterparts by 20 per cent. And over the next 20 years the over-50s market in the UK will grow by 30 per cent, while the under-50s market will shrink by 5 per cent.”
Brilliance From Autism
“Historical figures including Socrates, Charles Darwin, and Andy Warhol probably had a form of autism, says a leading specialist. Professor Michael Fitzgerald, of Dublin’s Trinity College believes they showed signs of Asperger’s syndrome.
Yes, But Is It The RIGHT Edition?
Charles Rosen, responding to a reader of one of his earlier articles, writes that the internet is not the panacea of free-flowing information that many suggest it is. “I believe that the literary and musical tradition of a culture ought to be easily available in the best form as a matter of course, like street lighting or public transport. This is not such a radical notion: making it available is often given tax-exempt status as if it were a public service, but in the present economy this is no longer good enough. Record stores, above all the big chains, no longer offer the full range of classical records but have cut back; in most bookstores only the cheapest editions of works of the past are to be found on the shelves; and publishers and record companies no longer believe that keeping their products available for any stretch of time is economically justifiable.”
The Death Of The Blockbuster?
The costs of making big blockbuster movies is getting unsustainable. “Typically, the music will be almost incessant and costs several million dollars. The norm for a blockbuster is $US100 million and going up every year. The studios can no longer afford them but must go on making them. More and more they swallow their pride and split costs with a rival studio. Massive German tax shelter money has kept them afloat for the past several years, but is running out.”