Time was, movie musicals were big business. Now, every one has to reinvent the form. Like the new Dreamgirls.”By embracing the theatricality I help people relax into the idea that singing is a natural extension of drama – that it just has to come out when the characters’ feelings reach a fever pitch.”
Tag: 12.27.06
Who’ll Win Oscars? Look To Texas
“If you really are interested in who has their fingers on the pulse of Oscar voters, you need to travel to north Texas, and canvas the 35 members of the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association. In the past five years, they correctly foretold the best picture winner four times — missing only “Crash,” a movie everybody underestimated.”
Anniversary Fatique?
“If you think the Mozart Effect is over, however, think again. So huge was the return on Austria’s 30 million Euro investment in the Salzburg kid that repeat performances are being planned for the years ahead. Not for 2007, with its northern contemplations, nor for 2008 which has only Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Olivier Messiaen in the anniversary book, but for every blessed year thereafter until 2014 – by which time the world will either have rekindled its passion for classical music, or switched off altogether.”
Exercise Your Mind
“From ‘brain gyms’ on the Internet to ‘brain-healthy’ foods and activities at assisted living centers, the programs are aimed at baby boomers anxious about entering their golden years and at their parents trying to stave off memory loss or dementia.”
Miss Manners Weighs In On Audiences
“Concert halls and opera houses are packed with belligerent people who disdain complaining politely (with a regretful and sympathetic look) and get right down to insult and violence. Is there something about classical music that inspires this?”
HD Means Rethink For On-Air Talent
People look different on high definition TV. “The grain structure of film allows a softness that HD video tends not to have, posing more challenges, especially when it comes to capturing female faces. We seem not to care about seeing men in a rougher, more edgier way,” he explains, “whereas females, we’re used to seeing them in a softer, more appealing way. So there’s a little more filtration needed, and you have to approach it from a different standpoint.”
Opera’s Boistrous Rebuke – Signs Of Life?
Two recent demonstrations of booing at the opera point up how docile and undemonstrative today’s audiences have become. “Does today’s rather rational response signal the diminished importance of opera and ballet in today’s culture? Or is it a sign of well-adjusted enthusiasts having taken the place of rabid fans? It’s difficult to say.”
What Will Opera For The Big Screen Look Like?
“We’re entering a new era of opera when the Metropolitan Opera starts simulcasting to movie theatres. “It’s hard to predict what this high-tech, hybrid experience will look and feel like. Met productions have appeared often on small-screen PBS telecasts, but not on the big screen. Do you buy tickets in advance? Can you eat popcorn while the fat lady sings? What elements of the opera will be underscored or minimized by the medium? Nobody can say.”
The Year’s Top-Selling “Classical” Album?
It was by Sting. “The former punk rocker’s first classical album, ‘Songs From the Labyrinth,’ was this year’s October surprise. It ranked as the No. 1 title on Billboard’s classical albums chart for 2006, and Sting led the classical artists tally. Featuring music written by 16th-century composer John Dowland, the album benefited from Sting’s sizable fan base and high-profile promotional appearances.”