Blog

Lasting Memories – What’s It Take?

“As we move into the final stages of the World Trade Center memorial competition, it’s worth recalling this city’s forgetfulness about tragedy. Perhaps if we make the monument sufficiently majestic – and devote enough resources to change the light bulbs, clean the pumps and scrub the glass – we can prolong the event’s resonance, but we must also build for the future ebbing of emotions.”

My Family, The Wagners

Gottfried Wagner, great grandson of composer Richard Wagner, has a complicated family. “As Gottfried continues to speak, it becomes apparent that Richard Wagner (who died in 1883) isn’t really the source of his angst. Although he firmly believes that his operatic great-grandfather was a raving anti-Semite who harmfully influenced German thought, what Gottfried is most concerned about is his more recent relatives’ involvement in 20th-century Nazi politics, and their subsequent efforts to sanitize the family name. He contends that the family was left in charge of the Bayreuth Festival after the Second World War because they successfully hoodwinked the occupying forces.”

Beethoven Quartet Sells For $2 Million

Beethoven’s Opus 127 String Quartet has sold at auction for just over $2 million. “The scherzo manuscript of the quartet is clearly a working document, with smudges, parts crossed out and late alterations added. Prince Galitzin of Russia, who played cello, commissioned Beethoven to write three quartets in 1822, but the composer was inspired to produce five.”

MTM Quits Neil Simon Play

Mary Tyler Moore has quit Neil Simon’s new play while still in rehearsals. “Ms. Moore was seen storming out the backstage door minutes before the 2 p.m. curtain on Wednesday. Several sources close to the production said she had just received a brusque letter written by Mr. Simon and delivered by his wife, the actress Elaine Joyce, reproaching her for not knowing her lines. Ms. Moore had received prompting through a microphone in her ear, the sources said.”

Cuban Ballet’s Defecting Dancers

This fall, five dancers from the Ballet Nacional de Cuba leftr the company during an American tour to seek asylum “Since November of last year, they said, a total of 20 dancers have defected in Mexico, Spain, the Dominican Republic and, now, the United States. The troupe had about 90 dancers before the defections. The company and the government have taken steps to stop the exodus. The dancers described a summer meeting in which Abel Prieto, the culture minister, announced that the ministry was considering allowing some dancers to work with foreign companies, which would give them international exposure.”

The Royal’s Bits And Pieces

London’s Royal Ballet has to sell tickets. So it produces mostly programs of full-length ballets. “Since the death of Kenneth MacMillan, the company has not had a resident choreographer, nor a candidate fit for the role, in itself a failing. Instead, bought-in goods, some wonderful, some frightful, papered over the chasms in artistic policy.” This month the company shows off some shorter works…

Dario Fo’s Natural Target

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has an unpleasant habit of burying dissent in the media (of which he controls a fair amount). So who’s ready to skewer him? Playwright Dario Fo, of course. “Thus the time is clearly ripe for Fo to write and perform a commedia dell’arte based on Berlusconi. Fo and, involuntarily, Berlusconi have been building up to the moment for more than 40 years.”

A Screener Issue That Threatens To Engulf The Industry

The Motion Picture Association of America’s new policy of not providing screeners to those voting on various awards is pissing off many in the industry. “The question producers might consider now: How bad a taste will the screener issue leave in the mouths of the Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild? Why? Because both these unions are currently in the process of organizing the positions and recommendations they’ll carry into next year’s negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on their feature-film and TV contracts.”