Instant news response has always been one of radio’s greatest strengths. However, with consolidation of ownership in the radio industry, many radio stations are automated, programmed from miles away. So when big news happens, it’s often impossible for “local” radio stations to report on it. “This debate is particularly acute now, because the FCC is considering whether to let companies own even more stations.”
Tag: 02.11.03
End Of The National’s Musicals
So Nicholas Hytner decrees London’s National Theatre won’t be producing the big flashy musicals anymore. “This seems, at first blush, somewhat dog-in-the-mangerish of him. As a guest director, he was responsible a few years ago for a production of ‘Carousel’ that ranks as one of the National’s most successful and enlightening musical revivals. It’s as if, having had his fun, he’s all set to stop other directors – not to mention other audiences – having theirs. He has a point or two, though.” These big musical revivals – do they really work artistically?
More Title Squeamishness
Producers of a production of “The Vagina Monologues” in Moncton, New Brunswick are finding a chilly reception there. “People get all giggly and squeamish when they hear the word. But worse, we’ve had companies very reluctant to support us, people who wouldn’t return our phone calls. One person I spoke to wouldn’t send out our e-mail poster to their 700 employees because he didn’t think his boss would think it is a good idea.”
“Chicago” Leads Oscar Nominations
“Chicago,” the musical, leads Oscar nominations with 13. “Other best-picture nominees for the 75th annual Oscars were the 1860s vengeance epic `Gangs of New York’; the Virginia Woolf-related drama `The Hours’; the fantasy adventure `The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’; and the Holocaust saga ‘The Pianist’. Nominations were announced Tuesday morning
New Harry To Get 6.8 Million First Printing
At more than 1000 pages, the new Harry Potter – due to hit stores in June – is already big. And it sports a big price too – $29 for a children’s book. The first print run will also be huge – 6.8 million copies are being printed. “J.K. Rowling’s previous Potter novel, ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,’ came out in July 2000 with a first printing of 3.8 million. It sold out within 48 hours and now has over l6 million copies in print.”
Chicago Art Institute Shrinks Plans
The Chicago Art Institute is shrinking its plans for an addition designed by Renzo Piano. “When museum officials announced plans for the wing in 2001, they envisioned a five-level structure of about 290,000 square feet, with 75,000 square feet of galleries. But the latest plans, approved Monday, foresee a slimmed-down structure of 220,000 square feet, with 60,000 square feet of galleries. Museum officials said they have raised $100 million. The project’s construction cost is now placed at $198 million.”
Economy Cuts Into Manhattan Arts
In New York, a down economy and cuts in arts funding are starting to make a visible impact on the city’s arts institutions. “Museums, theaters, concert halls, opera companies, public gardens and zoos throughout the five boroughs are cutting performances, exhibitions, days of operation and staff members. This is only the beginning, arts executives say. ‘It’s like a patient whose health is slipping. The strong will reduce what they do and the weak will have to take more drastic measures’.”
Hitler Film Too Hot For Berlin Film Fest
The film “Max,” which portrays Adolph Hitler as a struggling artist in Munich after the First World War has been controversial in Europe. “Hundreds of films are being shown at this week’s Berlin Film Festival, but Max was rejected, despite that fact that it has been hailed as a brave, thought-provoking picture with one of the sharpest scripts and some of the best acting you are likely to see this year.”
One Work Wonder
Gilbert Kaplan is a former economist who conducts one symphony. Ane he does it very well. His second career “has to be one of the strangest acts of wish fulfillment in musical history, not quite on a par in historical importance with Gustav Mahler’s becoming conductor of the Vienna State Opera in 1897, but possessing its own odd grandeur. Mr. Kaplan is doing what he regards as the definitive “Resurrection” Symphony with the orchestra that Mahler conducted when the work was first performed 108 years ago. But the Vienna Philharmonic is one of about 50 orchestras that Mr. Kaplan, who is not a professional musician, has conducted in the Mahler Second Symphony.”
Poetic Justice – American Poets Speak Out Against War
American poets are becoming an unexpectedly vocal opponent of a war with Iraq. “On Wednesday, in the kind of coordinated grass-roots action unseen since the Vietnam era, poets and writers will stage more than 50 readings in bookstores, libraries, churches and meeting houses across the country, inspired by poet and Copper Canyon Press publisher Sam Hamill, who in an e-mail late last month asked 50 friends and colleagues to dedicate the day to ‘Poetry Against the War.’ How did one e-mail launch a nationwide protest movement that will stage events through the month and beyond?