Michigan Opera Theatre has issued a Request For Proposals to developers for a tower up to 480 feet high that “may include mixed use, corporate, residential, restaurants, retail, etc.” – Crain’s Detroit Business
Tag: 05.23.19
Broadway Adaptation Of ‘Magic Mike’ Suspended Following Exodus Of Show’s Writers
“The musical has canceled its [preview] engagement at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre, which was supposed to start this November. … Magic Mike: The Musical‘s writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, composer Tom Kitt, and lyricist Brian Yorkey recently left the production over ‘creative differences’ just before a developmental workshop that was supposed to take place earlier this month.” – Vulture
Utah Symphony Music Director Thierry Fischer To Depart In 2022
When the Swiss conductor, now 61, steps down, he’ll have been at the orchestra’s helm for 13 years. The end of his contract term coincides with that of the musicians’ labor agreement. – The Salt Lake Tribune
Should Rio De Janeiro Commemorate Its History Of Slavery Or Move On From It? No One Seems To Be Able To Decide
“For some, commemorating slavery is a vital part of addressing contemporary injustices. For others, it is a distraction [from those injustices]” and other pressing problems. The debate is playing out (again) over the remains of the wharf where slave ships arrived. – The Economist
Trying To Combat Trolls, Rotten Tomatoes Changes Its Audience Rating Scoring
The site’s standard user rating will now reflect only moviegoers who can prove they’ve bought a ticket to see it in a theater. – Variety
Philanthropy Fail: How Museums Got Hammered at the Major Spring Auctions
“The evening Impressionist/Modern and Contemporary sales at Christie’s this month felt like a bit of a throwback to the old days when more museum-quality works graced the sale catalogues.” – Lee Rosenbaum
A Few Recent Releases
The staff gauged the rate at which the postwoman is depositing new releases in the Rifftides mailbox and decided that we should pick up the pace of telling you about some of them. – Doug Ramsey
Hollywood Has Spent Lots Of Money Setting Up Production Facilities In Georgia. With Controversy Over Abortion Laws, Will The Studios Back Away?
“Georgia’s recent passage of a highly restrictive abortion law has turned its once cozy relationship with Tinsel Town into a fraught one, and put Hollywood’s liberal politics on a collision course with its own economic interests in the state. … But the industry’s response to the law has been far from unified. There have been pledges to boycott Georgia and promises to stay. Most strikingly, there has been near total silence from top studio brass.” – The New York Times
Actor Geoffrey Rush Wins Largest Defamation Payout Ever Awarded In Australia
A federal court in Sydney ordered that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. must pay the Oscar winner A$1.98 million (US$1.36 million) compensation for economic loss on top of the A$850,000 (US$584,000) in punitive damages awarded in April for a Sydney Daily Telegraph story accusing Rush of “inappropriate behaviour” towards the actress playing Cordelia to his King Lear at the Sydney Theatre Co. in 2015. (Rush had earlier offered to settle for A$50,000; News Corp. rejected the offer.) – Reuters