The American Music Theatre Project is a $2 million, multiyear endeavor designed to turn Northwestern University into the “leading collegiate incubator of new works of musical theater. If all goes according to the long-range plan, future summers in Evanston will feature a variety of music-theater professionals working with students on new musicals in a developmental atmosphere somewhat akin to the Sundance Theatre Institute or a musical version of the Williamstown Theatre Festival or the Iowa Writers Workshop.”
Tag: 05.19.05
A New Plan For New Musicals
“The American Music Theatre Project, which has a $2 million budget for its initial three-year trial period, will bring top artists in the field to the Northwestern Unigversity campus to collaborate with the school’s students, and with a faculty that already includes professional artists — among them Frank Galati and Mary Zimmerman — who have national and international reputations. During this period, four new shows, each in various stages of completion, will receive high-level public productions in one of the school’s many theaters.”
Penguin At 70
Penguin Paberbacks are 70 years old this year. “Nowadays, there are some 5,000 different titles in print at any time, translated into up to 62 languages. But what makes Penguin one of the world’s most enduring publishers?”
A Matter Of Reputations (How Does It Work?)
“No problem in literature, perhaps, is less instantly soluble than the question of reputations: the bewildering process by which, in the years after their deaths, one writer’s stock soars while another’s sinks into bankruptcy. The only real judge of a book, Martin Amis once remarked, is posterity.”
Kudelka – More Time For Choreography
National Ballet of Canada sources say James Kudelka was not forced out of the artistic director job this week. Kudelka wanted more time to spend on his choreography. “You’ve got to ask yourself a question, if you are James Kudelka: ‘How many great years of choreography do I have in me? And do I take my salad years and spend them doing performance appraisals or joining in funding calls or all the other ancillary things you have to do as artistic director?'”
Bill T – Still Speaking His Mind
More than 10 years after a controversial essay trashing his work appeared in the New Yorker, Bill T. Jones still finds himself having to defend himself. “An articulate and forceful advocate for his work and his company, Jones is keenly analytical and self-aware. In conversation, he spools off tightly argued paragraphs aglint with references to John Cage, Euripides, Merce Cunningham, high modernism, Marcel Proust, avant-garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage and Krishna consciousness. His programs invite viewers to trace references, make comparisons and find patterns.”
Who Buys This…Stuff?
Auction season in Manhattan is a two-week spending spree of paddle-waving rich people and art dealers in Prada suits, all of them vying for highbrow booty at Christie’s and its archrival, Sotheby’s. The regulars were asking questions like “How much will the Hopper fetch?” and “Which house will gross more?” But if you’d never visited Planet Expensive Art, you didn’t care about that, not after you spotted those Friedmans. After that, all you could wonder is: How does an artist peddle his doody, not to mention his doodle? And here’s another stumper: Who would buy it?
Klimt Paintings Dispute Goes To Arbitration In Austria
A dispute about ownership of six Gustav Klimt paintings looted by Nazis was settled out of court Wednesday when both sides agreed to put the matter before a three-member arbitration panel in Austria. “They’ll decide two questions. How did Austria gain title to the paintings? And have the conditions for restitution under the 1998 law been met?”
Banksy Strikes Again (This Time It’s The British Museum)
A rock was hung on a wall in the British Musuem. It had a caveman-like picture of a man pushing a shopping cart. “The rock was put there by art prankster Banksy, who has previously put works in galleries in London and New York. A British Museum spokeswoman said they were ‘seeing the lighter side of it’. She said it went unnoticed for one or two days but Banksy said three days.”
Even On Sale, Tourists Avoiding The US
“At the start of what should be a booming summer season, with the entire country virtually on sale because of the falling value of the dollar, an international pall has settled over the US travel industry. More foreign tourists are coming to the US but not in the numbers expected. The problem is not economic, but political, travel and international-relations experts agree. A poor US image abroad, coupled with overblown concerns about visa and security hassles, is keeping international visitors away.”