Tag: 02.12.06

The Value Of An Oscar (Really)

“An Oscar has always been as much about commerce as about art; it ups an actor’s asking price and box office appeal. These days the trophy itself can mean cold cash as a collectible, worth up to $50,000 for a “common Oscar,” as experts call the technical and tangential awards, and from several hundred thousand dollars to $1.5 million for those bestowed upon famous films and actors. The trade in vintage Oscars through publicized auctions and an underground market has become a parallel universe as competitive and bitter as the annual acting derby itself.”

Missouri School Bans “Crucible” After “Grease” Fire

A high school in Missouri stages the musical “Grease.” But the high school gets complaints, writers “complaining that scenes of drinking, smoking and a couple kissing went too far, and glorified conduct that the community tries to discourage. One letter, from someone who had not seen the show but only heard about it, criticized “immoral behavior veiled behind the excuse of acting out a play.” The school superintendent “watched a video of the play, ultimately agreeing that ‘Grease’ was unsuitable for the high school, despite his having approved it beforehand, without looking at the script. Hoping to avoid similar complaints in the future, he decided to ban the scheduled spring play, ‘The Crucible’ by Arthur Miller.”

Placing Products Takes Off

The 30-second TV commercial is old news. Now product placement rules. Over “the last three years, the number of placements, including the new integration, jumped 30% to 108,261 last year. NBC ranked highest with 7,470 instances of a product being shown on its reality show The Contender alone and an additional 3,009 placement shots on The Apprentice.”

Aggressive Skin

Dance has always been focused on the body, of course, but the latest trend in modern dance is taking things to a whole new level, with an increasing number of dancers appearing completely naked onstage. “The upsurge isn’t rooted in sexual liberation, as it was when nude bodies appeared onstage in the 1960’s, or in political defiance, as when they re-emerged in the 80’s. Instead… nudity is a way to force the audience into some form of discomfort.”

Success Breeds New Challenges

Oakland Ballet may be gone, but California’s Bay Area remains one of the most vibrant dance scenes in the U.S. That’s a good thing, of course, but with literally hundreds of companies of all sizes and shapes competing for attention (and audience,) staying solvent can be a day-to-day proposition. Some companies look for a cultural niche to fill, while others seek a unique geographic location that will allow them to put down neighborhood roots. Donor fatigue is a real concern, as is duplication – too much of the same thing in a single area.

Does Hollywood Blackball Gay Actors?

One of the great mysteries of modern Hollywood is why so many gay actors continue to maintain sham marriages and insist that they are heterosexual in what may be the most devoutly liberal enclave in the U.S. Now, one openly gay actor is publicly accusing the film industry of being unwilling to cast gays in leading roles. Ian McKellen, who is best known for his role in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, says that “It is very, very, very difficult for an American actor who wants a film career to be open about his sexuality. And even more difficult for a woman if she’s lesbian.”