“Patches of the once-lush lawn have been trampled to dust. Half of the underground sprinkler system doesn’t work. The sea wall around the Jefferson Memorial is sinking, and lately, wildlife is dying in the unfiltered waterways.”
Tag: 01.08.09
Madoff Victim Has 12 Rothkos; Collectors Salivate
Financier J. Ezra Merkin’s investment funds reportedly lost more than $3 billion in Bernard Madoff’s gigantic Ponzi scheme. Now that Merkin might need some cash, there’s a great deal of interest in the dozen Mark Rothko canvases he’s collected. They’re not currently for sale, says Merkin’s art adviser, but “everything has a price.”
Custom Publisher Author Solutions Buys Xlibris
“Author Solutions, a publisher of print-on-demand books based in Bloomington, Ind., has acquired Xlibris, a rival self-publisher, expanding its footprint in one of the fastest-growing segments of publishing.”
PBS Censors Ian McKellen’s Nude Body
Trevor Nunn’s celebrated Royal Shakespeare Company staging of King Lear has been taped for public television. But the director and the network decided to only “suggest” McKellen’s nudity in the storm scene. “If it’s a distraction of that sort, it’s not worth the candle,” says the actor.
Is The West End Cheating The Solo Theatregoer?
“Internet forums have been up in arms for weeks now at a sneaky policy to shunt singletons into the circles where possible, leaving those lucrative stalls seats to tidy pairs.”
Whither The Tutu?
Sylvie Guillem says dancing in one is “like wearing a big plate.” They’re difficult and expensive to make. They can give partners a rash. And they positively reek of wispy 19th-century clichés; abstract modern ballet tends to avoid them. Are tutus over? Maybe not…
‘Harold, You’re The Bollocks.’
“A violent pacifist, a charming bruiser – and the greatest playwright of his generation. Five actors remember what it was like to be in a rehearsal room with Harold Pinter.”
Brooklyn Phil To Move To Former Firehouse
“Plans were unveiled Wednesday for what will eventually be the new home of the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Architectural firm HOK is redesigning the former firehouse at 299 Degraw St. in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill section to serve as the BP Music Center.”
Paris Etoile To Lead Vienna State Opera Ballet
“The Vienna State Opera announced Thursday that French star dancer Manuel Legris was chosen to direct its ballet from 2010. Legris, 44, will take over from the current ballet chief, the Hungarian Gyula Harangozó, at the same time that Dominique Meyer leaves the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris to head Austria’s leading opera house.”
Mervon Mehta Moves On From Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center
“Yesterday the Kimmel announced that Mehta’s eighth season of importing symphony orchestras, dance companies, jazz bands and world music groups, plus staging the center’s signature all-night Summer Solstice festivities, will be his last… [he] will be replaced by Tom Warner, who was among the Kimmel’s earliest hires, starting there in 1999, two years before the center opened.”