Actor and playwright Sam Shepard is the latest in the ever-extending line of theater types who would like a piece of President Bush, and he’d like it before November 2, if possible. That’s awfully short notice in the New York theatre world, but Shepard’s new play found a willing short-order team at Manhattan’s New School University. Performances of The God of Hell, which Shepard describes as “a takeoff on Republican fascism, in a way,” begin four days before the presidential election.
Tag: 10.04.04
No Red Carpet For Some Foreign Filmmakers
Some of the best foreign-language films of the year will have no chance at winning the Academy Award for best foreign language film, due to industry politics and an outmoded set of rules regarding which films can be considered. “Every country designates a group that presents a single film to the Academy, which has special committees that winnow submissions down to the five nominees announced in January.” So what if your country actually managed to crank out more than one Oscar-worthy picture this year? Tough. And if you’re a director with an enemy or two on your country’s panel? Gee, that’s a shame. See you next year. Maybe.
Boulez, In Retrospect
Pierre Boulez, the iconoclastic composer/conductor who, in his youth, delighted in savaging his contemporaries and disdaining his predecessors, seems to be mellowing in his old age. How can you tell? Well, he recently admitted to being occasionally wrong.
Vermeer Mysteriously Appears In Philadelphia
“Johannes Vermeer’s Young woman seated at the virginals, was sold for £16.2 million ($30 million) to an unnamed bidder at Sotheby’s in London on 7 July. Now it has quietly appeared on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (until 30 March 2005)… A spokesman for the institution would not answer questions concerning the ownership of the painting, nor would he say whether the Philadelphia Museum expects to receive more works of art on loan from the same source.”
Kremlin Museum To Get Makeover
Russia’s State Kremlin Museum will be getting a major face lift over the next two years, with the federal government picking up the lion’s share of the tab. “The buildings to be restored include part of the 17th-century Patriarch’s Palace which is to open as a new exhibition hall, as well as the early 16th-century Belfry of Ivan the Great that is to get a new hall for a permanent exhibition on the history of the Kremlin’s architecture. The early 16th-century Archangel Cathedral, which currently functions as a royal crypt housing the remains of Muscovite leaders from the early 1300s until the end of the 1600s, will also be renovated.”
Dodging Tomatos Before The Overture
The English National Opera’s current revival of Calixto Bieito’s much-hated 2001 production of Don Giovanni is causing critics and opera devotees the world over to wonder whether those involved in the show have taken leave of their senses. Mark Stone, who has the lead in the revival, doesn’t quite see what all the fuss is about, but as he reveals in his online diary leading up to opening night, he’s more than a bit nervous about his decision to accept the role.
A Busy Fall Auction Season To Come
“Sensing that a heated market may soon reach its peak, collectors have consigned hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of artworks for the November sales at New York’s auction houses. Sotheby’s and Christie’s say the estimated sales totals are the highest in nearly 15 years. Usually it is the so-called 3-D’s – death, divorce and debt – that motivate people to sell at auction. But this fall, in addition to the many millions of dollars that the auction houses are estimating people will pay to get what some in the business call ‘wall power,’ many collectors have simply decided that now is the moment to cash in.”
Is Britain Ready For Gaudi?
“The surrealist architecture of Gaudi may have helped Barcelona turn itself into a magnet for tourists and one of Europe’s most admired cities. But the emergence of a shop-front in north London in the anarchic style the Catalan pioneered has divided locals and led officials to order its removal. This may be a battle about architecture and commerce in one north London area, but it also reflects a concern that shopping streets across Britain are increasingly looking the same. It is also a test of how adventurous English taste has become. While Antonio Gaudi’s buildings, such as the Sagrada Familia church and his other multi-coloured offerings, perk up Barcelona’s streets, some say they are too radical for Britain.”
Is Berlin’s Art World Finally Back On Track?
Sales have been unexpectedly brisk at this fall’s Art Forum Berlin, suggesting that the German collecting world may be coming out of a 3-year malaise touched off by the brutal recession that hit the country in 2001. The controversy surrounding the Frick collection and the decision of many vendors at the Art Forum to showcase a new generation of younger artists may also be contributing to the uptick in sales.
What, No Naming Rights?
Michigan’s Henry Ford Museum, which specializes in U.S. history, has announced a major partnership with America Online which will give the museum access to AOL’s 30 million subscribers. “[The deal] comes a week after Walt Disney Imagineering of Glendale, Calif., agreed to give the Henry Ford unlimited access to artifacts from its theme parks to design a first-ever museum exhibit that examines the invention and legacy of Disneyland as a U.S. pop-cultural phenomenon.” It may all sound fairly, um, corporate, but the museum is hoping that its willingness to aggressively market itself through synergy will pay off in long-term financial security.