London’s Globe Theatre is producing Shakespeare with an all-woman cast. “The Globe’s audiences have proved ready to accept all-male productions. Will they feel the same about all-female casts? In our modern culture, one might as well ask whether it is more difficult to accept a woman as chief executive or as wooing partner. Statistics might suggest that it is, but many men and women do accept, and indeed flourish within, these reversals of traditional roleplay.”
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Moscow Play Closes, Can’t Shake Hostage Stigma
Russia’s first home-grown musical “Nord-Ost” was a huge success in Moscow until rebel Chechens took over the theatre and killed 100 people. The show reopened earlier this year in the same theatre, but the stigma of the hostage drama finally shut down the show. “The organisers kept the seats full in part by offering places to the disadvantaged, who would not otherwise have been able to see the show. The modest operational profits made before the crisis were wiped out. Nord-Ost remains a musical and theatrical success, and an innovation in Russia.”
Vatican To Name Internet Saint
The Vatican is apparently ready to name Saint Isidore of Seville as patron saint of the internet. The Pope alone may name a patron saint, but St Isidore is receiving stiff opposition from Archangel Gabriel and Saint Alfonso Maa de Liguori, an 18th century poet.” So just who is St. Isadore?…
Serious Art Won’t Hurt You?
Time was, people aspired to consuming high art. Now they apologise for it. Or at least feel like they need to defend it. Peter Plagens says the turnaround is no mystery. “As for high art’s problem, it’s simple, but with complex fallout. High art is elitist. Only a relatively few people have the educated taste for it, the patience to enjoy it and, frankly, the ability to get it. We live, however, in a passionately egalitarian society, most of whose members absolutely resent the idea that Mr. Fairfax Van Richbuckets has, when he goes to the opera, a better esthetic experience than Mr. Harry Twelvepack does when he springs for a couple of Bon Jovi tickets. (Of course, Harry doesn’t have much regard for his kid sister’s taste for Justin Timberlake, and she can’t understand her younger cousin’s jones for that new Hilary Duff movie. Hierarchies are everywhere.) Connoisseurship on any but a micro level (‘Man, that’s a great Clint Black T-shirt—must be six colors in the silkscreen for it) is practically a dirty word these days, and I’d be surprised if the word ‘vulgar’ is uttered pejoratively more than twice a year in the United States outside of a Tipper Gore tea party.”
Pittsburgh Symphony Tries To Sell Concert Hall
Strapped for cash, the Pittsburgh Symphony is trying to sell its home – Heiz Hall – for $40 million. “That amount would erase the symphony’s pending deficit and revive its falling endowment, which has dropped from $132 million in 2000 to $90 million. The plunge is due to the stock market and a 6.5 percent annual draw that goes into the symphony’s budget. The symphony, which has owned Heinz Hall for 32 years, wants the new owner to lease the structure back to it at a very nominal rate. Sources said that token gesture called for $1 annual rent. The problem is finding a buyer.”
Ashcroft Pledges US Will Find Iraqi Artifacts
American Attorney General John Ashcroft tells an international audience that his country will recover artwork looted from Iraq’s National Museum. “Regardless of how sophisticated these criminals are or how hard they work to avoid detection, United States law enforcement and our colleagues at Interpol will not rest until the stolen Iraqi artefacts are returned to their rightful place; the public museums and libraries of Iraq.”
Let’s Dance Wid Dubya
Several musicians have fallen in love with Dubya’s voice and have sampled his words into dance music. “Bush’s speeches to the American people, particularly those concerning the Iraq war and September 11, have proved a popular source of material for a number of dance music producers and a host of releases featuring the voice of George W are now available.”
Ailing Sawallisch Will Skip Final Tour
Wolfgang Sawallisch, 79, who is in his last week of performances as the Philadelphia Orchestra’s music director, will finish out this week’s concerts with the orchestra in Philadelphia, but will not accompany the orchestra on a three-week tour of North and South America. Sawallisch “has felt dizzy and tired, and has been experiencing blood pressure problems.”
Country Station Suspends DJs For Playing Dixie Chicks
A Colorado Springs country music station has suspended two DJs for playing the Dixie Chicks’ music, violating a station ban. “We pulled their music two months ago, and it’s been a difficult decision because how can you ignore the hottest group in country music,” station manager Jerry Grant said. “I gave them an alternative: stop it now and they’ll be on suspension, or they can continue playing them and when they come out of the studio they won’t have a job.”
“Hairspray” Takes Outer Critics Circle Awards
“Hairspray” picks up five Outer Critics Circle Awards, adding to its awards at last week’s Drama Desk Awards. “The writers who cover Broadway and off-Broadway theater for out-of-town media crowned “Hairspray” king with five awards in all, including outstanding musical, director (Jack O’Brien), actress (Marissa Jaret Winokur), featured actor (Dick Latessa) and costume design (William Ivey Long).”