Six London plays have closed less than a month after opening this season. Two ‘blockbuster’ musicals are also about to “expire.” All of which has West End producers fretting about the state of their business.
Tag: 06.13.04
Baryshnikov’s New Art Commune?
Mikhail Baryshnikov has worn many hats over the years, but these days, all his energy is going into the development of the new Baryshnikov Arts Center in midtown Manhattan. The center, for which he is hoping to raise $25 million, is designed to encourage collaboration between artists, and its namesake is clearly excited about the possibilities: “Musicians, artists, costume designers, lighting designers, playwrights, choreographers, actors will meet to work on the same projects. It will be a private place with no pressure from outside, where people can exchange their ideas. It’s a bit of a socialist idea, but what the hell!”
Scottish Opera: Is The Music Director the Problem?
The chorus members of Scottish Opera, who may lose their jobs as part of the proposed restructuring of the troubled organization, are publicly attacking music director Sir Richard Armstrong for his “inappropriate and elitist programming,” “prima donna tantrums,” and “systematic exclusion” of the chorus from programs. Staffers at the company are also voicing complaints about Armstrong’s extravagant spending on such seemingly unnecessary elements of staging as £270 Versace shoes, £700 mannequins, and top-of-the-line plasma screen monitors.
At The Movies (Politically Yours)
The hot new thing in movies this summer? Political films, and they popping up in festivals and in movie houses all over America.
Was Philadelphia Orchestra’s Reputation Hurt On Europe Tour?
The Philadelphia Inquirer sends not one, but two music critics to follow the Philadelphia Orchestra’s first European tour with music music director Christophe Eschenbach. The tour had mixed success, they report: “it’s unfortunate that in the orchestra’s cycle of touring, Europe coincided with Eschenbach’s first season. Europe is key to the orchestra’s international reputation. Too bad the relationship between Eschenbach and the orchestra hadn’t evolved over several seasons before they faced Vienna, London and Amsterdam. If what I heard in Madrid is what we’ll be hearing in the future, critics as well as audiences would have been more enthusiastic. As it is, the orchestra’s reputation has been somewhat damaged. How bad is it? How difficult is this damage to undo?”
Move On – Channeling Martha Graham
Richard Move is back with his Martha Graham show in which he plays the great dance diva. “Barring the occasional benefit, it has been more than three years since Mr. Move’s poignant, meticulously researched and hilarious interpretation of Ms. Graham has graced a New York stage.”
Why Avenue Q Cleaned Up At The Tonys
Why did “Avenue Q” win at last week’s Tony Awards? Lots of reasons, really, writes Frank Rizzo. But perhaps the main one was that the show calculatingly positioned itself as a worthy underdog…
Vid Games Attracting The Stars
Increasingly, big Hollywood stars are starring in… video games. “Now that games have matured into a $11 billion business, topping movie box-office sales and siphoning television viewers, the lucrative and increasingly influential genre has attracted more star power than ever.”
FCC: Schools Can’t Sell Their Airwaves
In Washington, the Federal Communications Commission says it won’t allow schools to sell the radio spectrums they own. “In adopting the new rules, the FCC said it was promoting more efficient, shared use of a valuable public resource for both commercial and public-interest purposes.”
Will Rules Changes Make The Pulitzer All-American?
The rules changes governing the eligibility of various types of music for the Pulitzer Prize may be controversial among academics and classical purists, but Howard Reich says that the change is nothing more than a long-overdue acknowledgement that American music is more than Europe-Lite. “More than six decades after the Pulitzer Board began giving prizes for music, in other words, it has come to recognize that American music is not simply European symphonic art penned by American composers in its thrall. On the contrary… the folkloric roots of jazz, blues, gospel and the like born of oral tradition and originated not in the salons of Vienna and Paris but in the fields of Africa and the islands of the Caribbean.”