“The annual New York Musical Theater Festival, where Broadway productions such as Next to Normal and [title of show] received helpful developmental stagings, has formed a new production exchange program with the Daegu International Musical Festival in South Korea.”
Tag: 07.22.09
Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra Begins Long Process Of Rebuilding Itself
“The orchestra is fighting for its budget, only now beginning to solicit corporate sponsorship in a country where the state once controlled all (and still does, if chaotically). [INSO director Karim] Wasfi is lobbying to build an opera house in a country where electricity, clean water and garbage removal remain scarce services.”
Above The Fray, The High Line Develops Its Own Culture
“A little more than a month since its first stretch opened, the High Line is a hit, and not just with tourists but with New Yorkers who are openly relishing a place where they can reflect and relax enough to get a new perspective on Manhattan. Despite the complaints about noise, gentrification and tour buses spewing forth their cargo, many locals have fallen so hard and fast for the park that they are acting as impromptu tour guides, eager to show off their new love interest.”
Keats House Reopens Following Major Face-Lift
“It is a pilgrimage site for visitors from all over the world, now standing on a road renamed Keats Grove in his honour, and was voted the top poetry landmark in Britain by members of the Poetry Society. It reopens to the public on Friday after major restoration work backed by a £424,000 Heritage Lottery grant, which has recreated the rooms the poet knew – some charming, some hideous.”
Not Just Gates (Yes, US Still Needs To Talk About Race)
“A member of the cast of ‘Porgy and Bess’ stayed with a Pacific Heights friend during the opera’s run here. One night when the singer, an African American, was parking, a local woman emerged from her house, approached and demanded to know why she was there. … The next night, when the singer lingered in her car making a phone call, the woman apparently summoned police….”
SF’s Magic Theatre Pares Back From Two Stages To One
“The Magic Theatre is giving up one of its two performance spaces at Fort Mason Center,” and artistic director Loretta Greco is calling it “both an artistic decision and a fiscal one.” “Even before she was hired early last year, she said, she’d raised the question of whether the Magic needed two theaters for a six-play season. With only four plays in the 2009-10 season, it was time to take a step that ‘decreases our rent immensely.'”
In Italy, International Art Crime Gains Academic Cred
With classes on art history, criminology, international organized crime, museum security and forgery, a three-month master’s program in international art crime studies — billed as the world’s first — is “trying to capitalize on interest in a field that’s been gaining attention through news media reports about the restitution of looted art and through popular literature. Not to mention that police forces around the world have in recent years created special squads to combat the problem.”
Romance Writers Have The Sales, But Respect is Elusive
A “scent of frustration” was evident at the Romance Writers of America’s annual conference last week. “Despite all their success, despite accounting for one out of every four books sold, despite weathering this devastating recession better than any other segment of the publishing industry, this is still a group in need of some serious self-esteem building.”
Target, A Powerhouse Champion Of Unknown Authors
“[M]uch in the way it has cultivated its image as a counterintuitive purveyor of Isaac Mizrahi clothes or Michael Graves tea kettles, Target has been building itself into a tastemaker for books. Through its book club, as well as a program it calls Bookmarked Breakout, both started in 2005, the company has highlighted largely unknown writers, helping their books find their way into shopping carts filled with paper towels, cereal and shampoo.”
NYC Ballet’s Peter Martins Earned $699,000 In ’07-’08
“Ballet Master Peter Martins, who kept the New York City Ballet in front of audiences as its Lincoln Center home was being renovated, earned $699,000 in pay and benefits for the year ending in June 2008, according to the company’s tax return. The Danish-born dancer and choreographer took a 1 percent cut from the previous year’s $706,000.”