The popular broadcasts of opera performances in movie theatres have attracted a following. “Five of the Met’s eight live high-definition movie-theater broadcasts next season will be released on DVD by EMI Classics, the companies said Wednesday. The releases include Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” with Karita Mattila, Marcello Giordani and conductor James Levine; and Verdi’s “Macbeth” with Levine conducting Lado Ataneli.”
Tag: 07.18.07
A Spec Tower For $2 Billion
JPMorgan will build a $2 billion tower at the World Trade Center site. But “it is utterly mystifying that a sophisticated bank with $1.35 trillion in assets would house its valuable traders in the kind of spec box that companies dump call centers into. WTC 5 could have expressed the entrepreneurial energy of the bank by making an evocative statement of those trading floors or by highlighting the gutsy engineering that will be needed to hang them in the air. The bank could have thrillingly engaged the cityscape that has nurtured its success.”
Seattle Art Museum – Moving Up
“With wealthy art aficionados and community pride on its side, SAM has the potential, over time, to move up in the museum ranks as it scales the heights of its new building. For now, it has come a long way in a short time.”
Tenor Jerry Hadley, 55
“The 55-year-old singer died Wednesday, two days after doctors at St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie took him off life support. Hadley, who had been battling personal problems, shot himself with an air rifle July 10 at his home in Clinton Corners, 80 miles north of New York City. State police said he was found unconscious on his bedroom floor.”
Critics Baffled By Network Value Judgments
America’s TV critics are bracing for what might be the worst collection of prime time programming ever. “This year the shows are so hellishly bad that it makes you think that they’re almost trying to make them that way.”
Clueless Producers Blamed For Broadway Debacle
The aborted run of Tony-winning musical Grey Gardens on Broadway has some of the show’s stars fuming, and the husband-and-wife team of producers are taking the brunt of the anger. “Production sources describe them as dilettantes who spent lavishly on parties and gifts but were clueless about marketing and advertising. Sources say they ignored the advice of theater professionals (some of whom were fired during the run of the show) and alienated not only their leading lady but also most of the creative team.”
But Seriously, Take Your Time
The Chicago Symphony hopes to name its next music director by the end of the 2007-08 season, and its CEO says that a shortlist of “between three and seven” conductors is already in place. “Those generating the biggest buzz within the orchestra as likely candidates for Daniel Barenboim’s former post are the Italian maestros Riccardo Muti and Riccardo Chailly.”
Welcoming Harry With Plenty Of Fanfare
New York will be one big Harry Potter party when the new book is released Friday night. “The front of the Time Warner Center will be bathed in orange light, and the lobby in front of the Borders bookstore at the center will be draped in curtains and decorated with ice sculptures. Magicians and balloon artists will be on hand, and a fortuneteller will look into the future at a ‘divination station.’ Then, shortly before midnight, a horse and carriage will pull up…”
Harry Potter And The Ultimate Fan Fiction
Speculation has run rampant concerning what will be revealed when the final installment of the Harry Potter series is released later this week. But rather than guessing at the denouement, one newspaper commissioned a collection of local authors to pen alternate endings to the hugely successful franchise.
Hollywood Embraces The One-Week Wonder
Summer blockbuster movies traditionally do their best business in the first week after their release, so a falloff in ticket sales usually isn’t anything to get exercised about. But “this summer is proving the apotheosis of the one-week blockbuster… The blockbuster onslaught has been driven partly by a shift in the way studios and theater chains divide up box office receipts.”