“First nights are ghastly ordeals for actors. A recent study indicates that the stress endured is equivalent to being involved in a minor car crash, and that’s without the intervention of the utilities. Everybody there is willing you to succeed or fail, and the only reaction from the darkness of the auditorium is the forced laughter of friends and family or the equally deafening silence from critics and bitter rivals.”
Tag: 03.27.08
National Gallery’s New Chief Talks Straight About Museums
Nicholas Penny: “The increasing importance of exhibitions within museums and galleries is beginning to change the fundamental purpose of those institutions. Even if I were against all temporary exhibitions, which I’m certainly not, it’s now a question of to what extent you control it. We won’t put on exhibitions just because they will be popular, and we’ll do them with consideration of the needs of the permanent collection.”
Iraq National Symphony Plays On Despite Odds
“That the symphony has kept playing appears nothing less than heroic to the outsider. Aside from location, Karim Wasfi has to worry about the audience, orchestra members, instruments and sheet music, funding, punctuality, electricity, bathrooms, air supply — every aspect of the job. He is also the orchestra’s solo cellist. Many essential professionals have fled the country, from musicians to technicians.”
Boston Ballet Moving To New Home
“After more than 30 years performing at the city’s biggest and most opulent theater, on Tremont Street, Boston Ballet has signed a long-term deal to move its season into the recently restored Opera House, beginning in 2009. The move ends a sometimes contentious relationship between the ballet and the Citi Performing Arts Center, which oversees the 3,600-seat Wang Theatre, where the ballet has appeared for decades.”
Austrian Minister Demands Cooperation On Looted Art
“Austria’s culture minister said Wednesday she was seeking ‘clarity’ regarding an art collection that allegedly contains works stolen by the Nazis… Culture Minister Claudia Schmied said she expected the [Leopold Museum Private Foundation] to ‘open up’ by early April and approve an independent examination of its collection by two researchers paid by the federal government.”
Toronto Equity Theatre Shuts Down
“A cash flow crisis has forced the closure of [Toronto’s] Equity Showcase Theatre after 47 years of serving the theatre community. Founded in 1960… it was created to keep actors in the game when performing jobs were hard to come by.”
ROM’s Controversial Crystal A New “Wonder”
“Many a critical stone has been cast since it opened last year, but this week the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal at the Royal Ontario Museum got a very big boost when Condé Nast Traveler magazine named architect Daniel Libeskind’s controversial creation one of the ‘new seven wonders of the world.'”
Standing Up (Loudly) For The Music Consumer
“Bloviating about the [music] industry’s shortcomings is Bob Lefsetz’s shtick. It’s made him famous, and infamous, as the sharply opinionated author of the widely read Lefsetz Letter, which has become a viral sensation… Yet his acumen draws readers who include some of the most powerful figures in the music business.”
Jetty Features In Spiraling Debate On Art & Commerce
Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty” on Utah’s Great Salt Lake is one of the best-known pieces of public art in America. But “a fierce debate, with equal parts art, environmentalism and economics, has erupted over a plan by the state to allow oil drilling about five miles across the lake.”
A Classic Hollywood Breakup In The Offing?
DreamWorks and Paramount, which merged in 2005, may be on the verge of splitting again. But it could be a seriously messy divorce…