The company blames bad times for dance, critics claim bad management, but one critic says its myopia – the National’s out-of-touch with itself and its audience. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Blog
THE THIRD TENOR
Plácido Domingo will help reopen Covent Garden in December. The Sunday Times catches him in gusts of flattery for his “favorite” opera house. This and all things maestro. – The Sunday Times (UK)
THE GREATEST YEARS OF THEIR LIVES
Yes, another Millennium package. The Chicago Tribune asks its critics what was the best year of the century for each of their art forms. 1976 for dance…1954 for classical music…1910 for art…1982 for TV…1953 for theater… Chicago Tribune
THE WRITE STUFF
After publishers turned her down, she self-published on the internet. Now she’s got a major book contract. – Cleveland Plain Dealer
FIRING CURATORS –
– hiring an architect to expand without any public discussion. Boston Museum of Fine Arts director Malcolm Rogers is remaking one of America’s top cultural institutions. Many are asking – just what is he making it into? Boston Globe
ALSO: MFA’s School doesn’t escape controversy either. Boston Globe 9/26/99
ANCIENT MIAMI
Two primitive stone axes unearthed in downtown Miami were made hundreds of years ago by people who lived 530 miles away in central Georgia. The discovery suggests that ancient South Floridians were active traders and extensive travelers. Miami Herald
CULTURE CLUTCH
The US senate has ditched an idea for a full-blown Committee on American Culture in favor of a much less powerful panel – a task force – which the entertainment industry still fears will be a forum to scapegoat Hollywood for school violence. Variety
TO VOTE OR NOT TO VOTE
The League of American Theatres and Producers decides to take away the Tony-voting privileges from league members who had not been principals in Broadway shows, first-class tours or bus-and-truck productions in the previous four years. Not without a fight, say the affected members. – Variety
Taller, thinner, prettier
Staffers at the real White House comment on how the new series “West Wing” portrays their world. “Everything was more exciting than it is in real life,” says one former White House aide. Los Angeles Times
When we loved movies
Susan Sontag recently claimed that cinephilia is dead. With a mass culture awash in moving images, what happened to the ideal of cinema as Art? Jean Douchet’s sumptuous book about the French New Wave recalls the days of art. National Post