Cast members in the Broadway production of Gypsy are out on the streets around the TKTS booth in Times Square drumming up business for the show. “Most people have no idea what they want to see. So if you give them a reason to come, like ‘I’m in the show,’ they’ll usually come. It is a grass-roots effort that might be working. Since March 10, the cast’s first day on the TKTS line, the show has been averaging sales of more than 300 half-price tickets a day. Prior to the campaign the show rarely broke 200 at the booth.”
Tag: 04.01.04
Lincoln Center Redo To Commence (at least the first part)
Finally – an agreement. Now the first phase of Lincoln Center’s badly-needed redevelopment can get started. “The first phase of this grand effort is to improve West 65th Street. Now it feels less like a thoroughfare and more like an oversize back alley. A hulking overhang crosses the street, throwing much of it into perpetual shadow, and the walls of Lincoln Center on either side loom large and forbidding. Early redesigns featured bright marquees, a transparent bridge and a wide staircase leading up into Lincoln Center on the south side of the street.”
The Audience Problem (Yes, We Mean You!)
Audience behavior has got worse and worse in recent years. “Why is this sort of behaviour so common in theatres nowadays? Presumably because we live in a restless channel-flicking culture, where concentration is no longer a virtue. Epidemics of coughing and chatting can, of course, serve as a valid critical response to a tedious spectacle. Yet they are mostly just a manifestation of inattention, laziness, and sheer selfish rudeness. And I’m convinced that people don’t switch off their mobile phones because sub-consciously they crave the distraction.”
A Shocker: Australians Say Commercials Would Be Fine On ABC
The state-owned Australian Broadcasting Corporation has been doing some polling of its viewers. “The results have been startling. According to the research, the ABC’s adoption of commercial advertising would receive majority support from viewers. One December 2003 focus poll showed that 72 per cent of viewers approve of introducing advertising to the ABC. Of that percentage, 54 per cent stated a strong preference for the ABC to take greater responsibility for generating its own funding.”
Back To The ‘Burbs
After a period when the suburbs seemed to have disappeared from American novels, they seem to be coming back, reimagined by a new generation of writers. The books “suggest that there are important stories still to be found in the land of the split-level and the McMansion, the land where many pollsters, as it happens, believe the next election will be won or lost. These novels and others like them may even tell us a few things the pollsters cannot. They’re also a reminder that the American vision of suburbia has been created by novels and stories at least as much as it has been described by them. The suburbs aren’t just a place anymore; they’re a state of mind.”
Today’s Art – What A Peculiar Lot
Where is contemporary art going? Martin Gayford is confused: “Is there a trend in contemporary art? At the moment, it just seems to be getting more and more peculiar. This year’s Turner Prize – won, you may recall, by a transvestite potter – might have seemed slightly outre. But, in comparison with the Beck’s Futures Prize, currently on show at the ICA, the tame old Turner looks positively mainstream.”
Rehang This! (What’s The Point?)
Why do museums think it’s a good idea to rehang the art in its collections? “I cannot believe that public understanding of art is increased by the endless shakings-up of displays, to which museums have become addicted. The curators are doing it for themselves: staging convulsions of taste and knowledge that impress their peers. No one nowadays wants to think their job is dull, but looking after a museum collection was, traditionally, one of the staider professions. Not any more. Now everyone is interested in museology, curating is an art form, history is widely recognised as a fiction and new displays have become as integral to public galleries as couture shows to the fashion industry.”
McEwan Delayed At US Border On Way To Speaking Tour
Writer Ian McEwan – winner of the prestigious Booker Prize and author of the best-selling “Atonement” – was refused entry into the US and delayed for 24 hours at the start of a speaking tour of the US Tuesday. One of Britain’s most popular and acclaimed authors, McEwan “almost missed his appearance before Seattle Arts & Lectures after he was refused entry to the United States by American authorities at the Vancouver, B.C., airport and spent more than 24 hours in enforced limbo.”