“Early this morning the union representing Broadway musicians announced it was on strike, but theater producers said talks would continue through the day.” This is the first Broadway musicians strike in 25 years.
Blog
A little Healthy Competition
The Kennedy Center’s International Ballet Festival presents the rare chance to see major companies daning side by side. “This first week of the festival, featuring the Royal Danish Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet and ABT performing at the Eisenhower Theater through Sunday, is not to be missed. The evening is buoyed by healthy competition; each company is trying to outdo the others with its best dancers and signature choreography. Does the festival offer a true representation of the performance styles that distinguish these troupes? Not exactly.”
Will Bollywood Conquer All?
Bollywood is not just an Indian, but a global, phenomenon. ‘Our films have reached half the world. The Middle East, all of Africa, all of Russia, the Far East, and the Indian diaspora everywhere — the half of the world that Hollywood has not yet recognized.’ The typical Indian commercial movie today is probably handsomer than it has been at any time since the 1950s, the so-called Golden Age of Bollywood — or, more precisely, the Expressionist Chiaroscuro heyday of noir-inflected auteur directors like Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt.” Now Bollywood is making its move on America.
Will Piracy End TV As We Know It?
Hollywood TV and movie execs told Congress Thursday that “without copy protection the threat of extensive piracy will force the industry to move its best programming to pay services such as cable and satellite TV. ‘Over-the-air television as we know it today will be a thing of the past’.”
Will Broadway Workers Cross Musicians’ Picket Lines If There’s A Strike?
If Broadway musicians go out on strike tomorrow, producers are planning to have synthetic music ready to go. But will the actors and others employed on Broadway cross picket lines? Actors Equity has called an emergency meeting for Friday to consider the matter. “The Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds (COBUG), representing 13 Broadway unions, on Wednesday issued a statement of support for Local 802 following an emergency meeting. The coalition represents all aspects of the Broadway theatre, from actors, musicians, playwrights, directors and choreographers, to set, costume and lighting designers, stagehands, ushers and ticket-takers, box office personnel, wardrobe, hairstylists, porters, press agents and company managers.”
Scottish Parliament – An Extraordinary Building Shouldn’t Be All About Money
Scotland’s new parliament building has been awash in controversy – almost all of it about the enormous cost. But this is missing the point, writes Duncan Macmillan. “We seem unable to lift our eyes from the cost of the building itself to see what we are getting for our money. But sheathed in scaffolding and polythene sheeting, our parliament is a chrysalis. In a month or two a marvellous butterfly is going to emerge to astonish us all. Or maybe not a butterfly. Really, it is a flower.”
This Year’s National Medal Of Arts Winners:
Country singer George Jones, Motown legend Smokey Robinson, Florence Knoll Bassett, the designer and architect; Trisha Brown, the dancer and choreographer; Philippe de Montebello, the art historian and director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Uta Hagen, the actor and teacher; Lawrence Halprin, the landscape architect; the late Al Hirschfeld, the artist and show business caricaturist; and Ming Cho Lee, the set designer and educator.
What To Do With Controversial Australia National Museum Review?
Officials are wondering what to do with a controversial review of the National Museum of Australia. One thing they’re not doing so far is making the findings public. “The review was set up against a background of debate about the presentation of indigenous history, which has pitted the celebratory ‘three cheers’ view of the impact of white settlement against the black-armband view so disapproved of by the Prime Minister, John Howard. It has been criticised by several historians as politically driven, a motive denied by the council’s chairman.”
Opera Australia’s New Boss
In taking on the top job at Opera Australia, conductor Roger Hickox committed to “moving to Sydney, fund-raising and programming one new Australian opera every two years.” Mr Hickox, 55, was the unanimous choice of the board and the advisory committee. He was among a four-person shortlist that included two Australians. Mr Hickox has been involved with the company since 1994 and has conducted five operas for it.”
Envisioning The City
No one wants their city to become a sprawling, ugly mess. So why do so many cities end up that way, and why is it so difficult to reverse the trend? A combination of economic and political factors make for a wall of resistance against “building smart,” and city zoning codes and neighborhood objections (also known as the Not-In-My-Backyard phenomenon) play a significant role in slowing responsible urban growth. As a result, only the most doggedly determined urban planners ever see their visions come to fruition in American cities.