The platinum-haired Russian baritone has “always been scared of physical heights – even on stage sets.” So he jumped out of a plane over Florida last December. “I’m so used to adrenaline, in everything I do.”
Tag: 03.03.10
A Book Junkie Goes Cold Turkey For A Week
“Going to the loo without a book! It is a profound shock. Instead of reading, I stare at the walls and notice that there are still two empty nails on which I meant – a year ago – to hang pictures. Also, I notice the dust on the floor and the cobwebs on the ceiling.”
Tribeca Film Fest Spawns Distributor, Online Initiative
“The dual strategy, disclosed by Tribeca executives this week, puts this Manhattan-based festival and its corporate parent, Tribeca Enterprises, in the thick of a fight to revive the faltering independent film world with new distribution schemes.”
Acting Challenge: Let The Audience See You Think
“[A]cting is active, while thinking — at least from the outside — is passive. Unless one resorts to tricks, tics, gimmicks and shortcuts — shrugging, scratching the head, arching an eyebrow, crinkling the forehead, stroking the chin — it is dauntingly difficult to put across the illusion that the synapses are firing away.”
Banksy-Robbo Battle Highlights Art-World Rift
“On one side are old-school graffiti writers who ‘tag’ or ‘bomb’ their names in as many places as possible and seldom, if ever, seek compensation for their work. On the other are street artists, who aim for a political or cultural resonance and also create portable pieces they can exhibit and sell.”
UK Halves National Heritage Memorial Fund Budget
“The cut will happen immediately: the government grant for 2010/11 will fall from £10m to £5m,” hobbling a fund “which helped to save an eclectic list, including … the medieval Mappa Mundi, Canova’s sculpture of the Three Graces, the archive of the second world war poet Siegfried Sassoon and an island, Skokholm in Pembrokeshire.”
Off-B’way Musicals’ Mood Darkens To Match The Age
“Certainly sober subjects have found their way into musicals before — from Broadway shows like ‘Carousel’ (domestic violence, class prejudice) in 1945 to ‘Next to Normal’ (bipolar disorder) last year — but the Off Broadway offerings this winter and spring stretch the possibilities of the form and seem particularly fitting for our troubled times….”
How One Theatre Was Revived: A Thousand Tiny Cuts
The Regency-era Theatre Royal in Bury St. Edmunds, England, “was running a deficit of 180,000 pounds ($269,100) on annual turnover of 1 million pounds” when Artistic Director Colin Blumenau took over in 1996. By “2009 the theater’s turnover doubled to 2 million pounds, and it’s still breaking even.” His secret? “I treated it like a business,” he says.
Bank Backs London Fest To Boost Latin American Business
“Concerts by Gilberto Gil and Maria Bethania and a talk by soccer-player-turned-activist Socrates are highlights of the Festival Brazil” this summer at London’s Southbank Centre. “HSBC, which wouldn’t disclose the cost of the sponsorship, is looking to boost business in Asia and Latin America.”
Kennedy Center Plans Season-Long Celebration Of Its Namesake
To observe the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, the Kennedy Center will present a new Peter Lieberson score for the National Symphony based on the late President’s speeches; a program of First Lady Jackie’s favorite ballets, danced by ABT; recreations of the legendary White House concerts by Casals and Bumbry; and a three-week festival of arts from India, scene of one of the Kennedys’ most famous state visits.