The potent force in American culture? “An estimated 70 million Americans call themselves evangelicals, and their beliefs have already reshaped American politics. In the last election, 40 percent of the votes for George W. Bush came from their ranks, and now those beliefs are beginning to reshape the culture as well – thanks to a group of best-selling novels known as the ‘Left Behind’ series.”
Tag: 02.08.04
Manhattan Theatre Club’s Terrible Season
This was supposed to be a great year for the Manhattan Theatre Club. “The respected off-Broadway company was planning to have a year of celebration as it opened a second front, on Broadway. It had purchased and was restoring the long-abandoned Biltmore Theater. That project turned out brilliantly – the reopened theater is a small gem: intimate, comfortable, and a pleasure to behold. But everywhere else, the season has seemed to fall apart, as one actor after another left MTC productions.”
Shreveport Times Ditches Arts Reviews In Drive To “Improve” Arts Coverage
The editor of the Shreveport Times has some interesting ideas on how to “improve” his paper’s arts coverage: Starting immediately, “the Times will no longer do reviews of plays, symphonies, ballets and art shows. The Times will expand and improve its arts coverage during the coming year. These last two sentences are not mutually exclusive. Not running reviews does not mean The Times is cutting back on its arts coverage. We want to improve it.”
It’s Cable Vs. Broadcast In Jackson Flap
The furor over the Janet Jackson Superbowl incident contrasts differences between how broadcast and cable networks are treated by the FCC. “What you’re seeing now is an effect of intense competition from cable. Because of the fact that there isn’t a regulatory regime that impacts their content, they have these award-winning shows that are very — let’s call them `edgy.’ And what it’s done is force networks to try to have edgier programming, but up to a line, and I think that tension is increasing very rapidly. The inequitable regulatory regime is causing that to happen. There’s concern that if you’re trying to get at the four broadcast networks, you have to get at the 104 other channels too. Because they’re all just clicks on a clicker right now for the vast majority of the public.”
Where Are The Black Women Directors?
This is the year of the woman director in Hollywood. But where are the black women directors?
Really? An Increase For The NEA?
Linda Winer was, like many arts lovers, stunned that George Bush wants to increase the National Endowment for the Arts’ budget by $18 million. “So why, when important segments of the GOP are complaining about Bush’s election-year spending spree, would the president dare to wave millions of NEA dollars at Congress? Sorry, but I cannot keep from fearing that the new elevated visibility of the NEA will put artists right back in the crosshairs…”
Hamburg Ballet Comes To America
“This company, revered in Europe, ruled by Wisconsin-born John Neumeier since 1973, is virtually unknown to us on the West Coast, where it has never performed. And it’s not just the troupe that’s unknown; Neumeier’s ballets are in the repertories of companies throughout the globe … except in the United States.”
Medicis-As-Mafia Schtick
A new PBS movie about the Medicis plays out like a cheap mafia yarn. “This is reenactment history, with a soundtrack of ominous and sinister music, and a voice-over (by Massimo Marinoni) that tells, in rasping and tremulous tones, a story of epic clashes of personality and temperament. Hyperbole wins the day. Everything is always a first, or unprecedented, or without equal. The Medici, who were very much of the Renaissance, are essentially given credit for the Renaissance. The actual stuff of history, the complex wars that kept the military forces of France, Spain, the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in endless, internecine conflict, are compressed into unintelligibility.”
Media Companies – Follow The Porn?
Mainstream media companies are battling digital piracy. But perhaps they would do well to look at the pornography industry, which has “always been among the first to exploit new technologies, including the VCR, the World Wide Web and online payment systems, is finding novel ways to deal with the threat of online piracy as well. The mainstream entertainment industry, some experts say, would do well to pay attention.”
Holmes Puts Atheneum Back On Track
Last year, Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum was having a dreadful year. But then, Willard Holmes arrived as the museum’s new director. “A sharp, thoughtful, well-spoken guy, Holmes appears to have steadied everyone’s nerves in the months that he has been around, and he’s done this while quietly embarking on an audacious series of new exhibits.”