Tag: 05.23.04

On Broadway: What The Little People Earn

What does the average Broadway Joe make? “This season, the minimum salary for a Broadway performer is $1,354 a week, a figure dictated by the contract between the union and the League of American Theaters and Producers, the trade association for the commercial theater industry. The current four-year contract expires on June 27. The two organizations are negotiating a new one that could last until June 2008.”

What Does Muti Have Against Philadelphia?

This week, the Philadelphia Orchestra played Vienna’s famed Musikverein, and by coincidence, the ensemble’s old music director, Riccardo Muti, just happened to be staying at a hotel right across the street from the concert hall. Yet strangely, Muti didn’t attend either of the Philadelphians’ concerts, and other than a quick dinner with a violinist and a hastily scheduled meeting with orchestra president Joe Kluger, no one in the orchestra even caught a glimpse of him. In fact, since leaving Philadelphia in 1992, Muti has declined multiple invitations to return to the podium there. Orchestra officials insist that the maestro has a standing invitation.

Trying Anything To Get ‘Em In The Seats

Call it selling out an art form, giving the people what they want, or simply adapting to a changing world. But whatever you call the new strategy being employed by the Columbus, Ohio-based BalletMet, which includes joint appearances with the Ohio State marching band and dances choreographed to the music of techno icon Moby, the company insists that the steps are necessary for them to stay solvent in a world that seems increasingly resistant to traditional dance.

Why The Tonys Are Guaranteed To Suck

The fact that the Tony Awards exist to memorialize the best productions of the year of around a dozen New York theaters and absolutely no one else has always limited the appeal of the ceremony. But this year, the Broadway-only restriction could also prove embarrassing, after a season in which nearly every new production on the Great White Way was a disappointment, and the most innovative and engaging theatrical events in New York were occurring off-Broadway.

Do The Tonys Even Matter?

“Of the many odd aspects of the Tony Awards, one of the oddest is that the prizes rarely have any effect on a show’s box office. Of course, this is related to another Tony quirk: many of the nominated shows have closed by the time the awards come around (this year, two of the four nominees for best play are already gone). But even winners that are still being performed may not benefit much from their prizes.”

What Are They Paying For, Anyway?

Another art sales record was broken this month when a Picasso sold for over $100 million. But do such absurd sale prices actually tell us anything about the quality of art? “Such news always engenders in hearers the notion that something about the art has to justify the price in the way that the number of carats determines the value of diamonds. But it’s much more complicated than that, as the appeal of art objects depends on many factors apart from aesthetics.”

Hoping For A Building That Lets Its Contents Shine

Italian architect Renzo Piano will shortly be bringing his subtle, understated style to Chicago, as designer of the Art Institute of Chicago’s planned expansion. Critic Blair Kamen has visited Piano’s latest triumph – Dallas’s $70 million Nasher Sculpture Center – and says that, if the Nasher is any indication, Chicago can look forward to a classic building which actually seeks to serve the art it houses, rather than overwhelm it.

8,323rd Verse, Same as the First

The major American TV networks released their new fall schedules this week, and from all outward appearances, it’s business as usual. But the fact is, business as usual has been a disaster lately, and the networks are scrambling for viewership in a TV landscape now focused on cable networks and niche programming. So why do all the new programs look the same as the old ones that haven’t been working?