“You need a big block of time, and space, to say goodbye to Norman Mailer. More than 2,000 mourners filled Carnegie Hall to near capacity Wednesday for a two-hour-plus memorial, concert, literary tribute, family therapy session and Friars Club roast for the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of The Armies of the Night and The Executioner’s Song.“
Tag: 04.10.08
D.C. Company Sets Ambitious Pace
Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage is boosting its season from eight productions to ten next year. “The company is seeking to prepare audiences for the magnitude of work it will generate come 2010. That’s when Arena will return to its Southwest Washington campus, which is undergoing a $125 million renovation.”
History Museum Reopening Pushed Back To Late Fall
“The National Museum of American History, closed for an extensive renovation since September 2006, will reopen in November.” The museum was originally supposed to reopen by this summer, but construction was complicated by the need to remove asbestos and lead paint from the 40-year-old building.
NY Could Move Arts Center Away From Ground Zero
“New York State’s top economic-development official has proposed moving the performing arts center planned for the former World Trade Center site and building it atop a vast subway station planned for downtown at Fulton Street and Broadway.”
HBO Names New Director Of Programming
In the wake of hits like “The Sopranos” and “Six Feet Under,” running HBO is one of the tougher jobs in the TV industry. How to keep the pay-TV network on its pedestal, when the next big Sopranos-like hit has yet to materialize? A new exec will take a stab at the job beginning this week.
Met Opera Hits A Sour Note With Ring Fans
“The Metropolitan Opera has ended its informal policy of giving previous subscribers to “Der Ring des Nibelungen” first crack at tickets for the next round of the four operas, which is scheduled for the spring of 2009. Instead preference will now go only to subscribers to the regular Met season and to patrons, in effect, imposing what the irked “Ring” fans view as a surcharge on the tickets they had a right to buy in the past.”
Online Shows To Find A Home On TV
MYSpace has signed a deal to distribute the TV shows it “airs” online to an array of overseas broadcasters. “The deal covers DVDs and merchandise but MySpace retains all net rights to its programmes.”
Rowling, McEwan Honored At Galaxy Awards
“Harry Potter author JK Rowling has received an outstanding achievement prize at the 2008 Galaxy British Book Awards in London. The writer was one of several honoured at the event, which also saw awards go to Ian McEwan, Afghan novelist Khaled Hosseini and actor Ewan McGregor.”
The New Proms: Evolution, Not Revolution
The BBC Proms is changing, that much can be said with confidence. But in its first year under a new director, the backbone of the festival remains the symphony orchestra, and the addition of Doctor Who and his TARDIS won’t change that. “It’s a basic test of this 150-odd page brochure if you find yourself suddenly wanting to go to a lot of concerts. And I do.”
Guggenheim Vegas To Close
“After nearly seven years on the Strip, the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in the Venetian will close its doors May 11… With the closure — and Steve Wynn’s dismantling of his own fine arts gallery — the only remaining Strip art gallery is at the Bellagio, where the effort to bring fine art to the Las Vegas masses began in 1998.”