It’s been a banner year in Minneapolis for both the Guthrie Theater, which is preparing to open a huge new riverfront home, and the Minnesota Orchestra, which has been getting rave reviews for its new Beethoven CD and recent European tour. So arts observers in the Twin Cities were stunned recently when State Representative Marty Seifert (a Republican from rural western Minnesota) proposed a bill which would cap the salaries of Guthrie director Joe Dowling and orchestra music director Osmo Vänskä at $115,000, effectively turning both organizations into non-entities on the national and international arts scene. Seifert’s bill died in committee, but he’s vowed to try again.
Tag: 02.24.05
Radio Comedies Making Noise On London Stage
“Good radio drama, and especially good radio comedy, liberates the listener in the same way as Shakespeare intended his theatre to ‘piece out’ a play’s ‘imperfections’ with our thoughts.” Classic radio comedy is experiencing a bit of a boom in London, and it’s happening not on the airwaves but in Shakespeare’s territory: the theater.
Evangelicals Threaten British Tour Of ‘Jerry Springer’
Ticket sales went up when a militant evangelical group, Christian Voice, started protesting outside performances of “Jerry Springer — The Opera” in London, but its tactics may derail plans for a British tour of the musical. Christian Voice, which this month convinced a cancer charity to refuse a donation from the show, is vowing to picket any theaters on a tour. “The group gained notoriety after it circulated the home addresses and telephone numbers of senior BBC figures when Jerry Springer — The Opera was screened on BBC Two last month. Some people on the list received calls threatening them with ‘bloodshed’.”
La Scala Fires Its Top Exec
“Milan’s La Scala fired its top executive on Thursday as the world-famous opera house battles to plug a growing budget hole. … The theater’s board sacked superintendent Carlo Fontana, citing ‘differences’ with temperamental conductor Riccardo Muti.”
Howard Stern, Latter-Day Pilgrim?
Howard Stern has long cast himself as a take-no-prisoners rebel, but he’s had some real targets for his anger since last April, when the Federal Communications Commission fined him $495,000 for indecency as broadcasters around the country cowered in fear that they’d be next. “Now Howard Stern is taking on not just one establishment but two: the FCC indecency cops and the terrestrial radio conglomerates. That makes him not just a vulgarian, but a renegade.” As he pulls up stakes for Sirius Satellite Radio, will his quest for freedom of expression — and his huge fan base — fuel a revolution?
On The Waterfront, An Ephemeral Museum
Like “The Gates” in Central Park, an exhibition of large-scale photographs on Pier 54 in Manhattan is not aimed at procrastinators — and neither is the new museum built to house it. After a three-month run, the show and the museum, designed by Shigeru Ban, will head for California. “The entire museum is to be packed in 37 of the 148 cargo containers that form its checkerboard walls. The temporary structure is composed largely of recyclable materials: the roof and columns are made of paper tubes, the steel containers stacked 34 feet high are used, and a handmade curtain to be suspended from the ceiling is made of one million pressed paper tea bags (used, with the tea leaves removed).”
Labor Board: St. Louis Strike Is Illegal
Following the collapse of mediated negotiations to end an 8-week-old work stoppage by its musicians, the St. Louis Symphony has obtained a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board declaring that the musicians are engaged in an illegal strike. The charge stems from the failure of the musicians’ attorney to file the correct paperwork with the NLRB before the expiration of their last contract. The musicians, for their part, admit that they never filed the necessary papers (the attorney claims that he did it on purpose,) but have held fast to the view that they are not on strike at all, and that the SLSO management has locked them out.
The Dance Is In The Details
The choreography of Christopher Wheeldon has turned a lot of heads in recent years, but it isn’t necessarily the grand scope of his vision that separates him from the pack. “What Wheeldon tunes in to, rather, are the little mysteries of human expression. How a series of steps colored by the right inflection of feeling can change the temperature of a ballet. How wistfulness, trepidation and heartache are communicated with a look and a gesture and, perhaps, a particularly expressive arch of the foot.”
Can An African Daily Show Be Far Behind?
They may not have the AIDS drugs they need, they may not have potable water in many small villages, and they may be beset by dictators, wars, and economic blight, but all is not so bleak in Africa. As of this month, Africa has its very own MTV.
Tell-All Book Riles Mormon Church
“The daughter of one of Mormonism’s most prominent religious scholars has accused her father of sexually abusing her as a child in a forthcoming memoir that is shining an unwelcome spotlight on the practices and beliefs of the much-scrutinized but protectively private Mormon religious community… The Mormon Church issued a statement condemning the book, calling it ‘seriously flawed in the way it depicts the church, its members and teachings.’ [The author] and her publisher have said she has received e-mail messages containing death threats. In addition, Mormons around the country have participated in an e-mail campaign against the book.”