Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu – who first made her name at Covent Garden in 1994 in La Traviata – has been winning over opera fans ever since. “At a time when opera houses are in thrall to cost-cutting initiatives, she offers a glimpse of a previous era when passion and glamour were written into a diva’s job description.” – The Telegraph (UK)
Tag: 05.25.00
A MATTER OF ATTITUDE?
- “What has hurt Latino and black efforts to pressure the industry is that these minority organizations have lost credibility. We hear about [television viewer] boycotts, and these boycotts aren’t even conducted during [ratings] sweeps week. Or we hear about a press conference where Latinos are going to boycott a show, and the Nielsen ratings don’t reflect a drop in viewership.” – Los Angeles Times
MUSCLE BEHIND SAG
The AFL-CIO’s national leaders have publicly backed the month-long actors strike being waged in New York and Los Angeles against the commercial production industry. – Backstage
TOO YOUNG TO KNOW BETTER
Many child actors who make it big in film at a young age – think Mark Hamill (the original Luke Skywalker) or “ET’s” Henry Thomas – soon face dwindling career choices and dead-ends. “It’s always miserable to be a child, but to become a child star in a big, big film must be like having the biggest party of your life and then never getting to leave your room again.” – The Age (Melbourne)
“CARDBOARD CUTOUTS BAWLING AT EACH OTHER”
London critics blasted the opening of “Notre Dame de Paris,” based on the 19th-century novel by Victor Hugo. “The story of the hunchback Quasimodo who falls for Esmeralda is set in 1482 but also has been updated with soldiers in riot gear, New Age travellers and refugees.” – Ottawa Citizen (CP)
NASA DE MEDICI
When you think of the US space agency, you think rockets, not art. But NASA has commissioned hundreds of artworks about space, and a number of them are currently touring the country. “Featured artists include Peter Max, Robert McCall, Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol and Jamie Wyeth. To give them creative fodder, NASA allows selected artists wide access to events, such as shuttle launches.” – Discover.com
LOOT AIN’T LEGIT
The International Council of Museums has condemned the Louvre’s recent decision to exhibit two 2,000-year-old terracotta figures which were looted from Nigeria and then illegally exported by a Brussels dealer. French president Jacques Chirac has intervened to plea with Nigeria’s president to legitimize the acquisition which he hopes will have a permanent home in the Louvre’s new non-European art gallery. – The Art Newspaper
A RIGHT TO BE NAKED?
A University of South Florida student labored on his art exhibition for much of the semester. He built a fiberglass cave in which he proposed to live in naked for the duration of the show. Uh-uh, said the gallery director – no one can stay overnight in the museum, and besides, we don’t like the nudity thing. The artist is crying censorship. – St. Petersburg Times