“City Center’s ever-shifting plans for renovation have started to take a toll on the schedules of New York dance institutions, forcing American Ballet Theater to decamp to Mexico and Avery Fisher Hall in fall 2009 and leaving the Paul Taylor Dance Company in uncertainty.”
Tag: 07.09.08
The Rebirth Of Italian Film?
“When two Italian films won the top runner-up prizes at the Cannes Film Festival in May, the reaction at home was akin to that usually reserved for victorious national soccer teams… Many critics and industry experts see the recent recognition at Cannes as a positive sign that after a protracted dark age, periodically brightened by hits that turned out to be flashes in the pan, Italian cinema is finally back on track.”
Batman, By Dawn’s Early Light
“In a frenzy, fans have bought so many late-night tickets for the July 18 opening of the next Batman movie that theaters in places like San Diego, Chicago, and even Eagan, Minn., are scheduling 6 a.m. screenings for those who can’t get in at midnight or 3 in the morning.”
Reimagining Rockwell
A new exhibition at the Wolfsonian museum at Florida International University titled “Thoughts on Democracy” is featuring 60 artists’ contemporary responses to Norman Rockwell’s wartime “Four Freedoms” series. “What all of this suggests is not just a reinterpretation of Rockwell but a meditation on an American crisis of self-confidence: the sense that trust in American ideals is giving way to fear and uncertainty about how they are exploited.”
Lost Goyas Fetch Millions
“Three drawings by Spain’s Francisco de Goya, presumed lost for 130 years, have fetched more than £4m at auction. The three sketches, drawn between 1812 and 1829, had not been seen since 1877.”
AFTRA Ratifies Deal; SAG Not Happy
“The smaller of Hollywood’s two acting unions has approved a new prime time TV contract with Hollywood studios… But the larger Screen Actors Guild (SAG) claimed the agreement undermined its own talks for a richer deal, which are ongoing. AFTRA’s deal won final approval despite an unusual all-out campaign by SAG urging some 40,000 actors who belong to both unions to vote against it.”
Readying For The Cultural Spotlight
Istanbul will become the official European Capital of Culture in 2010, and plans are well underway to showcase the city’s existing arts, and build new institutions as well. “World-renowned artists, men of letters, screen and stage directors and musicians will be invited to Ä°stanbul in 2010. Books, films and stage shows themed around the concept will be produced.”
Opera On The Cheap
New Jersey’s Metro Lyric Opera is celebrating a half century of producing opera on a shoestring budget. “The tight budget only allows… one day-long orchestral rehearsal at the Paramount and two for the chorus, plus sessions at a New York studio for the soloists.”
The Trouble With Contemporary Music
Author Joe Queenan has spent a lot of time listening to new music in his life, and he’s come to the conclusion that it’s nothing but pseudo-intellectual garbage. “Having spent most of the last century writing music few people were expected to understand, much less enjoy, the high priests of music [are] now portrayed as innocent victims of the public’s lack of imagination.”
Rebutting Queenan: Outdated And Illogical
Tom Service says that Joe Queenan’s rant against new music conveniently ignores what’s actually being written now in favor of tired attacks on compositional ideas that have long since gone out of fashion.Furthermore, “there is another story in all this, one that Queenan doesn’t even mention. The music of the 20th century now dominates most orchestral concerts you will ever hear.”