Why is it so fashionable to dump on Sundance (yes, it’s that time of year again)? “Sundance has triumphed because it changes its public face at a moment’s notice—from pointy-headed and grave when indie film needs rejuvenation, to glamorous and cheerleading when indie film needs marketing brio. To wail about Sundance renouncing its founding mission is to assume the festival had a profound mission to begin with.”
Tag: 01.19.05
Is Eddins A Harbinger Of Change In Edmonton?
The last few years haven’t been the best of times for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. Low pay, budget problems, and a lingering resentment from some musicians over the way the ESO dismissed former music director Grzegorz Nowak had some observers wondering if the orchestra could ever right itself. But the palpable enthusiasm emanating from all sides of the organization this week after the announcement that Bill Eddins would become the ESO’s new music director seems to be having a restorative effect on a troubled institution. The musicians were so sure he was their man that they asked the orchestra board to suspend the search process after Eddins’ last visit.
Checking Out Broadway’s 2004 Numbers
“Overall, according to the report, the past season generated the third-highest attendance in Main Stem history, rising to 11.6 million tickets purchased from 11.4 million during the prior season and nearing the all-time record of 11.9 million achieved during the 2000-01 season. The numbers can be analyzed another way, however: In a sign of just how difficult it has become to mount plays on Broadway, 10.02 million people saw a musical last season, a new record, versus the 1.57 million who saw a play, the lowest figure in almost a decade.”
How Did Shakespeare Die?
“A study conducted by an infectious diseases specialist concludes that the bard likely had syphilis and that mercury, used to treat the disease, could have poisoned the playwright and contributed to his death.”
Savion Conquers Classical
“When it comes to God-given talent that can mesmerize an audience today, Savion Glover is some kind of miracle. He tells us, among much, about sheer aliveness onstage, the joy of performing, the gift of speed and dazzling improvisation, the exactness of rhythm, the ability to listen, the emotion of sound and music beyond all words. There are times when performers are so scintillating at what they do, all you can do is shake your head in disbelief. They’re too good; they’re so good, it’s laughable. “Astonish me!” was Diaghilev’s mantra and artistic prayer. Mr. Glover astonishes us every time.”
Shouldn’t Some Arts Institutions Be Allowed To Die?
So some Seattle arts groups find themselves financially imperiled. Again. Who says, asks Roger Downey, that failing arts groups ought to be bailed out just because they’re arts groups? “Even individual artists are expected to live by the economic rules that govern all the rest of us. Somehow only arts organizations are allowed to claim immunity from the laws of financial gravity; for them, there’s no connection between supply and demand, balanced budgets are for profiteers and sissies, and water runs uphill when we tell it to.”
Trump’s Apprentice As A Musical?
“Reality superproducer Mark Burnett and Donald Trump, executive producers of NBC’s reality hit, are developing “The Apprentice: The Musical.” Burnett is writing the book for the musical, which is under way, with several songs already written.”
Well, You Know How Hard It Is To Find Unionized Blue Men
The popular and quirky Blue Man Group show is headed to Toronto this week, and the Canadian Actors Equity union isn’t happy about it, and is organizing a picket lin to protest the group’s lack of union participation. Blue Man Group’s non-union status has never run afoul of the American version of Actors Equity, because “their show doesn’t have a book (script) and consequently wouldn’t fall under our jurisdiction.” Blue Man’s organizers are reportedly stunned at the objections of the Canadian union.
So It’s Not A Good Show, Then?
Dodger Theatricals has a history of mounting some of the worst flops on Broadway, and Michael Riedel says that Good Vibrations, the company’s latest baby-boomer-magnet of a show is headed down the same path. ” Two telltale signs of trouble emerged last week. The director David Warren was brought onboard to help bail out his friend, John Carrafa, the ‘official’ director and choreographer of the show; and the opening night has been pushed back a week… Poor Carrafa is already getting most of the blame what one Broadway insider calls ‘the worst show ever booked in a theater.'”
A Most Ghostly Post-Poe Toast
“[Last night], for the 56th year, a man stole into a locked graveyard early on Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday and placed three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac on the writer’s grave… No one knows the identity of the so-called ‘Poe Toaster.’ The visit was first documented in 1949, a century after Poe’s death. This year, the visitor arrived at 1:10 a.m. in a heavy coat and obscured his face with a black pullover.” Dozens of spectators traditionally gather to watch the anonymous dropoff, and the current toaster is believed to be at least the second man to play the role.