Steve Wynn is out to make Las Vegas a theatre capital. He says he can envision a not-too-distant future in which Broadway-type musicals are nurtured in Vegas. “I see money and creativity gravitating here because of our importance and the possibility of a payoff. For a show to open here and then go to Broadway will someday seem like the most natural thing in the world.”
Tag: 09.11.05
800 Years Of Russia In The House
How do you describe the art of a sprawling country like Russia in a single exhibition. The Guggenheim attempts to negotiate the premise…
ABC Goes Spanish In Prime Time
Reflecting the growing Hispanic influence in America, “starting Sept. 19, ABC will offer its entire primetime entertainment lineup in Spanish — saying that it’s the first English-language broadcast network to do so on such a large scale — through a combination of closed-captioning and dubbing.”
Reflecting On 9/11 Art
What’s the art coming after 9/11 look like? “Artists are apt to weigh in early and often on great national traumas, of course, but at times the most memorable works — the ones that last past the generation that actually experienced the catastrophe — come along some years after the event. It’s as if painters and poets and filmmakers need time to let it all sink in, to let the meaning of a great national tragedy slowly push its way past the sentimental cliches and the creaking platitudes, like a patient commuter at a rusty turnstile.”
Disaster Relief – The Fall TV Season
A river of anxiety runs through this fall’s American TV lineup. “A dominant theme of the fall season is that of invasion – and survival. In many, though by no means all, of the new shows, the nation is under attack, but is fighting back, led by its best and brightest.”
British/China Art Deal – Does It Harm Tibet?
Does Britain’s major deal with China to trade archaeological treasures damage Tibet’s culture? “By lending their prestigious names to the Chinese government, the British Museum and others implicitly sanction Beijing’s cultural policy and, with it, the ongoing artistic, linguistic and religious genocide in Tibet. Over the past 10 years, mainland China has rediscovered its pre-communist past. The iconoclastic modernism of the Great Leap Forward has been replaced by official respect for China’s ancient civilisation. But this admiration for heritage has come too late for the people of Tibet.”
“Day In the Life” Tops Greatest Song Poll
The Beatles song “A Day in the Life has been named in a poll as the best British song ever. “The song, which featured on the classic Beatles album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, topped a survey of music experts by Q magazine. The magazine called the track ‘the ultimate sonic rendition of what it means to be British’.”
Ang Lee Wins Venice
Ang Lee’s gay cowboy film Brokeback Mountain wins the top prize at the Venice Film Festival. “George Clooney’s film Good Night, and Good Luck had been the hot favourite among film critics to take the Golden Lion on the last night of the annual 11-day festival.”
Indies Score A Bigger Share
Independently-produced recordings are getting a greater share of the music market in the UK. “Almost a third of UK albums that went silver, gold or platinum in 2004 came from independent labels, according to figures next week from the Association of Independent Music (AIM).”
Spacey Stamps The Vic
Kevin Spacey had a rough reception in his first year running London’s Old Vic Theatre. “Spacey, 46, is committed to a plan to re-establish the Old Vic as the leading popular theatre in London. ‘My commitment here is for 10 years. It will take five to establish myself and build up the audience who come and see the work. I will have been on stage here this year for 36 weeks in three plays. I took six weeks out to shoot the new Superman movie. That to me is the right balance. The movies are not my first priority – the theatre is’.”