“[He] brought his chiseled physique to stardom in many gay sex films (and some straight ones), then met and later married the singer Margaret Whiting, leading to a career as a writer and cabaret and theater producer.”
Tag: 04.08.09
The Most Famous Musician In The World
“A decade ago it would have been Luciano Pavarotti, before him Maria Callas. The storm-tossed diva was preceded by Arturo Toscanini, who had 40 percent name-check recognition among adult Americans, and before him there was Enrico Caruso, the first best-seller on record. These four dominated the first century in human history when music was industrialised and reputation manufactured.”
Coming Back From Tourette’s After An Onstage Disaster
In 1994, pianist Nic Van Bloss was playing in the international Chopin Competition when he began exhibiting the tics of his Tourette’s Syndrome mid-performance and had to leave the stage. On April 28 he performs in public for the first time since, with a concert at the Cadogan Hall in London. “It will be wonderful to say ‘yes, I can do this, finally’.”
ASCAP Chief Marilyn Bergman Stepping Down
The three-time Oscar-winning songwriter and composer led ASCAP for 15 years, during which time “she helped lead ASCAP to several major legislative victories, including the Supreme Court’s decision in 2003 to uphold the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 … [and] the passage and signing of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998.”
Like The Joy Of Cooking, But For Sorcery
A British scholar who specializes in the history of witchcraft and magic offers his list of the ten best grimoires, collections of “spells, conjurations, natural secrets and ancient wisdom [whose] origins date back to the dawn of writing” and whose history is closely tied to that of religion and the development of science.
Philanthropist Dorothy Cullman Dies At 91
“Dorothy Cullman, who, with her husband, Lewis B. Cullman, donated about $250 million to a host of arts, science and educational institutions in New York, among them the Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of Natural History and the New York Public Library, died on Monday at her home in Manhattan.”
Cleveland Play House Is Moving Downtown
“In a blockbuster arts and real-estate deal, the Cleveland Play House will sell its longtime home in Midtown and move downtown to PlayhouseSquare’s Allen Theatre along with Cleveland State University’s drama program. … Play House managing director Kevin Moore said Tuesday that renovating the 2,500-seat Allen into a 550-seat theater and a 350-seat theater – and adding state-of-the-art scenery and costume shops and a third, 175-seat theater alongside the Allen – would cost about $30 million.”
Anna Deavere Smith Performing In NYC Again (Finally!)
The actress-journalist, “who transformed the art of solo performance in the 1990s by embodying dozens of characters in her plays Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, is returning to the New York stage this fall for the first time in nine years with a new production about medicine and health care, Let Me Down Easy.“
Utah Symphony & Opera Slashes $1 Million From Budget
“Melia Tourangeau, president and CEO, and music director Keith Lockhart volunteered to take a 10 percent salary cut, while the musicians of the Utah Symphony on March 26 voted to give back 11.5 percent of their salaries and benefits for this fiscal year.” Eight administrative staff positions have been eliminated; all remaining employees have accepted pay cuts.
Rolando Villazón Pulls Out Of Remainder Of Met Run
The popular Mexican tenor, whose vocal troubles in the past few years have led to considerable speculation and worry (and a bit of sniping), has canceled all his appearances in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore at the Metropolitan Opera. (He withdrew from his first two dates in the opera last month.) The reason given is “acute laryngitis.”