Andrew Lloyd-Webber has paid £6 million – a record for a piece of Victorian art – for a Pre-Raphaelite painting of a sleeping St Cecilia. Lloyd-Webber paid nearly twice the pre-sale estimates for the auction at Christie’s. – The Independent (UK)
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ARCHITECTURE ON TV
A new Australian television show proves that architecture can be done on TV. “In the Mind of an Architect,” the ABC’s first major arts production to be sold overseas, explains “the vision and content behind modern spaces…and architectural concepts to the masses.” – The Age (Melbourne)
HOMAGE TO A CLASSIC
The Kirov Ballet has meticulously restored “Sleeping Beauty” to as near to the original as possible. “In an age when the old ballets are mugged, de-natured, crippled, how wonderful to see a company which believes that the past, albeit another country, is worth visiting and respecting rather than guying and abusing.” – Financial Times
- TAKEN TO A MAGIC LAND: “What must surely be the most sumptuous ballet production seen in modern times.” The Telegraph (London) 06/14/00
ALL THE CHOREOGRAPHY IN ONE PLACE
Every two years the Canadian Dance Festival gathers up the best in Canadian dance and puts it on display in once place. – Toronto Globe and Mail
THE DVD DANCE
Are DVD’s a threat to the movie industry because of piracy? The movie industry has certainly said so. But Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America wouldn’t say anything against them during a deposition in a DVD piracy case. During his testimony, Valenti said “I don’t know” 62 times, “I don’t recall” 29 times, and “I’m not aware” 16 times, according to a transcript of the deposition. – Wired 06/14/00
HOPING FOR HOMEGROWN
Australia’s public broadcaster needs to improve its ratings, says the ABC’s new managing director. But the highest rated shows are imports. “We’re all for building audience for Australian content, but the fact is we haven’t got the money to do it,” say the critics. – The Age (Melbourne) 06/14/00
TOO OLD TO ACT?
- A new study says that actors -particularly women – over the age of 40 don’t get many roles on stage. “Do we have to wait until we’re a hundred years old and Willard Scott shows our picture on the “Today Show” to [be recognized]?” – Backstage
THE 100 FUNNIEST AMERICAN MOVIES
A list, as chosen by American Film Institute voters. “Annie Hall”? Really? – Dallas Morning News 06/14/00
- DECIDING WHAT’S FUNNY: “Voters considered the ’80s the funniest decade, with a total of 22 films. The ’20s, the heyday of slapstick, were deemed the least funny, with only five films.” – Philadelphia Inquirer 06/14/00
MOYERS CHALLENGES PBS
Bill Moyers tells the PBS annual meeting: “What we do is good. It’s just not enough. We need to respond more to the needs of America as a democratic society, not just a consumer market. We need more hard-hitting public affairs programming on controversial issues. We’re good, but we’re bland.” – Los Angeles Times 06/14/00
REINVENTING THEATRE
“If theatre began the 20th century as the dominant art form and the major source of entertainment for most people, it begins the 21st in a much less happy position. Some claim that the new digital technologies will sound the death knell for theatre. This seems as absurd as the idea that the replacement of candlelight with gaslight would destroy all the magic of the stage. After all, old technologies were once new technologies. There was a time when the stage revolve was considered a thing of wonder.” – The Guardian