“Museum directors have long since realised that the overall aesthetic experience of visiting a museum is vital to a full appreciation of the art it held, and now theatre directors are catching up, as Bennetts Associates’ new Hampstead Theatre demonstrates. The theatre, at Swiss Cottage in London, opens on February 14, when it will be the first new stand-alone producing theatre in London since the National Theatre in 1976.”
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Thoroughly Practical Theatre
“The Hampstead Theatre is a great achievement, and the more so for having seen off the enemies of promise that are the rules and restrictions that come with Lottery funding. The Arts Council, for example, having binged on earlier projects, set a severe limit of £10 million on their grant to this one. Compared with the hasty, ramshackle architecture of Sadler’s Wells, Hampstead stands out. It also avoided the drastic cost overruns that afflicted the revamped Royal Court.”
No More Freebie Movie Tickets For LA Actors
During Oscar season, movie theatres in Los Angeles have traditionally given free admission to actors with SAG union cards. Not this year. “This year, though, actors are getting another tough break in a tough town, as theater owners apparently have cut off the freebies many of them have traditionally offered to card-carrying members of the Screen Actors Guild. The reasons for the cut-off are a bit murky.”
Is Indie Film Dead?
A question from the frontlines at the Sundance Film Festival: “Is independent cinema dead in the United States – or, is it just playing possum?”
Starving Scotland’s Culture
There’s a cultural crisis in Scotland. Funding for culture is down, and there seems to be little commitment on the part of the government to make culture a priority. “The Executive responds by arguing that it needs to concentrate on health and education. The urge to fund anything cultural has been sapped by the overspend on the parliament building, heralding in an almost Covenanter-like distrust of frivolity.” Scottish arts are healthy now. But does the Scottish Executive plan to “starve Scotland back into the cultural night that preceded the Act of Union – and what an irony that would be.”
Men Of Dance – Busting One Stereotype For Another
A documentary about four star male dancers at American Ballet Theatre tries hard to portray them as normal guys. Too hard. Obviously the documentary-maker wants to bust stereotypes of male dancers being sissies. But to hear everyone tell it in tonight’s broadcast, dancing is just a guy’s thing. For example, “Ethan Stiefel likes to ride a motorcycle and what chiefly attracted him to ballet, he says, is the opportunity to place his hands on women’s bodies. No, no, no. Believe it or not, men in tights are drawn to ballet by a calling, a compulsion toward artistic endeavor and yes, ambition.”
Local From Afar – A DJ Who Has No Idea What He’s Introducing
Clear Channel – the company that owns hundreds of radio stations in the US, is making use of sophisticated editing and mixing to splice together shows for local markets that sound local, but in actuality are recorded in studios often thousands of miles away. “With a lot of cutting and pasting, the engineers create 11 customized hourlong countdown shows for cities like New York, Philadelphia and Detroit, and two national pop and rhythm-and-blues countdowns for other markets…” Carson Daly, the host, doesn’t even know which songs he’s introducing on his shows.
Satellite Radio Makes A Push For Customers
Are Americans ready to pay $10 a month to listen to radio? Two satellite radio companies hope so. So what’s wrong with conventional radio? Just about everything, the companies say – annoyances like “advertising, the limited reach of AM and FM signals, and, most of all, playlists confined to a small number of heavily promoted singers and groups.” So what’s better about satellite radio? The “chance to hear unsigned bands, live music, seldom-heard cuts from well-known artists and genres of music that have no home today on the AM and FM radio dials, like the electronica that shows up only in clubs and car commercials.”
Making Toronto Sound Like New Yawk
Many American TV and movie projects shoot in Canada to save money. But the stories usually are set in American locations. That means that a city like Toronto often gets called to stand in for cities like New York. And how to pull off the illusion? Coaches who train the Canadian actors in how to sound New Yawk. “When casting agents in town get the character breakdowns for a movie, it’s stipulated in big bold type across each page that actors must sound American.”
Play About Suicide Bombing Canceled In Cincinnati
A 50-minute play about suicide bombers and the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis was supposed to tour Cincinnati area high schools beginning in March, but the tour has been canceled after a protest by local Muslims. That in turn has set off protests. “Cincinnati’s reputation as a community that tries to control the arts and allows bigots to dominate the discussion is accurate. Once again Cincinnati looks small, foolish and provincial.”