The Golden Globe Awards will be handed out Sunday night, and you can be sure that the organizers will do their usual bit of proclaiming the ceremony to be the precursor to (and predicter of) the Oscars. But in reality, the Globes are handed out by a collection of fawning entertainment “reporters” from random countries who care more about sucking up to studio chiefs than honoring serious film. As Hollywood honors go, the Golden Globes should be closer in prestige to the People’s Choice Awards than to the Academy Awards. So why does everyone continue to buy into the hype? Because the Golden Globes people are smart enough to put together an entertaining show, that’s why.
Tag: 01.23.04
Reassuring The Arts Crowd. Or Not.
Hélène Chalifour Scherrer fears that she may have gotten off on the wrong foot with Canada’s arts community, and she wants to make amends. The newly appointed Heritage Minister, who (apparently unintentionally) terrified arts leaders when she told a reporter that sports was the part of Canadian culture that interested her the most, is taking great pains to point out that she also loves opera and theater. She also wants everyone to know that her lack of experience in the arts won’t affect her ability to run the ministry: “Culture is a tool. And you need a vision to be the guardian of the Canadian identity. You don’t necessarily have to know what books were published last week.”
Grand Opera, Tinseltown-Style
Now that the Los Angeles Opera has its performance space all to itself, the company is determined to set about revitalizing the genre for a new generation of Angelenos. “While opera may be a tough sell in the shadow of the international movie factory, tapping the city’s entertainment industry is an obvious move,” and artistic director Placido Domingo hasn’t been shy about his desire to give LA Opera’s productions a touch of Hollywood glitz if it will bring in the crowds.
Carmen, In Her Natural Habitat
This fall, the Spanish city of Seville will stage an outdoor production of Bizet’s Carmen. You opera buffs already see where this is going: the famous opera is set in Seville, and the city plans to stage it in the actual locations called for in the libretto, with the entire production (and the audience, naturally) picking itself up and changing locations between acts. The ambitious project is the feature attraction of the First Seville International Music Festival, which will also boast appearances by cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and the New York Philharmonic.
Ann Miller, 84
“Ann Miller, the long-legged actress and dancer whose machinegun taps won her stardom during the golden age of movie musicals, died Thursday of lung cancer. She was 84.”
Is Self-Producing The Future Of Classical Recording?
With the major record labels continuing to downsize or eliminate their classical imprints, an ever-increasing number of orchestras have been taking their recording business in-house. Now, violinist Gil Shaham, dumped two years ago by Deutsche Grammophon in favor of the more photogenic Hilary Hahn, has started releasing independent albums as well, and the movement towards classical independence very likely represents the future of classical recording. As Shaham puts it, “I think of a chef opening his own restaurant. You may take on the risk, but with risk comes an unbelieveable freedom — you can put as much garlic in the hummus as you like.”
Turnbull To Stay On At Harlem
The New York City Department of Education has reached an agreement with Harlem Boys’ Choir founder Walter J. Turnbull, under which Turnbull will be allowed to continue as artistic director with the ensemble, despite charges that he covered up an incident of child molestation by an employee. Turnbull will resign as the choir’s chief executive, but his presence at the helm of the choir’s artistic operations “was deemed essential for the survival of the world-renowned singing group.”
Wings, Rails, and Light: Ground Zero’s Train Station
“Where there was darkness on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, the architect Santiago Calatrava would bring a flood of light in the form of a winged railway station, draped in glass, suffused with natural illumination and, on occasion, open to the clear skies above. Mr. Calatrava’s design for the permanent World Trade Center PATH terminal, which was unveiled yesterday, is a soaring, sculptural, steel-and-glass shell covering a cathedral-like concourse.”
PATH to Recovery
The new plan unveiled for the PATH station at Ground Zero seems to have dazzled the New Yorkers who saw it to the point that many are wondering why the design for the skyscraper and memorial at the same site could not have been as grand. “In place of a wedge (in reality, an inglorious traffic intersection), there will arise what Mr. Calatrava envisions as a bird, most likely a dove, released from the hands of a child. No more second-hand Statues of Liberty here, in other words. Rather, a prayer for peace.”
Writers’ Guild Nominees Announced
“Five movies about culture clashes and strangers in strange lands collected nominations on Thursday for best original movie script from the Writers Guild of America. Among the contenders for best original screenplay were Bend It Like Beckham, about the daughter of a traditionalist Indian Sikh family in Britain who dreams of playing soccer; Lost in Translation, with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson as lonely Americans in a Tokyo hotel; and Dirty Pretty Things, about a Nigerian immigrant who uncovers grim dealings in the underbelly of London. The other nominees were The Station Agent, about a dwarf who makes friends despite trying to isolate himself, and In America, the director Jim Sheridan’s semiautobiographical tale of an Irish family struggling to survive in New York.”