Tag: 05.02.00

MUSICAL COMEBACK

A flood of new musicals is hitting London’s West End, including a new “King and I” which currently boasts “the all-time record for advance box office takings.” Why the resurgence of tried-and-true, innocuous old favorites? Some observers point to the consolidation of London’s theaters into fewer hands, the need to fill huge-capacity houses with shows that have mass appeal, and the simple fact that money talks and thus “producers are playing safe, being unwilling to experiment or take chances.” – The Age (Melbourne)

BITTER RIDE

  • Patrick Stewart stunned everyone Saturday after his performance in Arthur Miller’s “The Ride Down Mt. Morgan” on Broadway when he made a curtain speech saying he had lost confidence in the producers of the play to properly promote and advertise it. [first item] – Los Angeles Times

FIRST AID

The National Dance Program gets a $6 million grant from the Doris Duke Foundation to support dance. “To date, the National Dance Project has reached approximately 820,000 people in 41 states, and provided production grants to 65 dance projects and touring grants to 271 presenters.” – Boston Globe

HARD SELL

Some 75,000 actors represented by the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists walked off their jobs, rejecting advertisers’ attempts to pay a flat fee instead of residual compensation every time commercials run. The actors dramatized their dispute in rallies Monday in Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. – Chicago Tribune 05/02/00

ARTFUL BUYBACK

Failing to convince Christie’s auction house not to sell what they consider to be looted cultural treasures, Beijingers bid on the items in Hong Kong auctions to keep the artwork in China.  “We spent half an hour calling our group leaders in Europe to report the feelings of Hong Kong’s people, the attitude of Christie’s and the statement of the State Bureau of Cultural Relics. Our leaders’ decision was that if Christie’s insisted on going ahead to sell the looted treasures, we would grab them . . . and the only way was to join the bidding.” – South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)

PUTTING ON AIRS

A government report released today by UK Arts Minster Alan Howarth concludes that “snobbery and discrimination” by museum staffs may prevent the poor and socially disenfranchised from visiting. The report urges cultural institutions to combat social exclusion by urging staff to be less intimidating and by taking steps, like putting catalogs on the internet to reach broader, more diverse audiences. – The Independent (UK)