Reviews for Katharina Wagner’s Meistersinger were mixed at best. “It was definitely not the stuff embraced by traditional Wagnerites. But if Wagner was concerned, she did not show it Thursday. ‘They didn’t understand it,’ she told The Associated Press of the negative voices. She said she was relieved and insisted that — no matter what the final judgment of Wednesday’s premiere was — she was ready to take over from her father ‘if the conditions were right’.”
Tag: 07.26.07
The Economics Behind A Broadway Stagehand Strike
“Nothing happens in a Broadway theater without one or more of the industry’s 350 union stagehands getting paid. That won’t change. This makes Broadway producers crazy. Every time a contract comes up for renegotiation, they complain that IATSE’s work rules are responsible for skyrocketing production costs. The result, they say, is fewer shows produced, a higher failure rate of the ones that are produced, and inevitably, higher ticket prices. And they’re right, sort of. The stagehands have a pretty good deal.” But there are other factors…
Just Why Did National Gallery Chief Resign?
Charles Saumarez Smith resigned abruptly as director of Britain’s National Gallery of Art. “Since his resignation after just five years as director he has maintained a dignified silence. But rumours have abounded that his departure came after a period of behind the scenes tension which he felt made it difficult for him to continue.”
Youth Orchestra Sues Oprah’s Oxygen Network
“Co-founder Oprah Winfrey’s Oxygen network is being sued by American Youth Symphony, the producer of ‘America’s Hot Musician,’ for $100 million. AYS claims the cable network frustrated its attempts to air the paid program to the point where its production was canceled by the producer.”
In China: Pirate The Book, Pirate the Movie
“Bootleg English-language copies of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,’ J.K. Rowling’s latest and last novel in her super-selling series, have been appearing on the streets of Beijing — testimony to local pirates’ ability to churn out copies of any in-demand entertainment in the blink of an eye.”
Major Shift Of Leadership At Big Arts Management Co.
“Edna Landau, Senior VP and Managing Director of IMG Artists, among the Big Three arts management firms (with CAMI and ICM), is to leave her position in the fall after 23 years.”
Bookstores Offloading Those Comfy Couches
“Just a decade ago, the trend in the bookstore industry was to fit nooks and crannies with big chairs for browsing, which, it was hoped, would spur buying. The idea was to recast the bookstore as a community place or an extension of the home. But now the availability of so-called ‘soft’ seating – overstuffed chairs and sofas – is on the decline at some bookstores, done in by various complications: homeless squatters, overly enthusiastic young lovers, food trash left behind.”
Art Loses In Iraq
“Many of Iraq’s artists have joined the flight that has decimated the country’s intellectual reserves. For those who remain, it is a constant struggle to keep producing work that few will ever see and most cannot afford.”
New York Public Library Reconfigures
“What is clear now is that the library is moving toward a nimbler, more democratic model, focused somewhat less on what have traditionally been the library’s prestigious real estate — the research libraries — and more on the institution’s online and local presence.”
The Evolution Of The Movie Trailer
Movie previews are so last decade. Sure, a few people might watch your trailer and remember your movie months later when it hits theaters, but wouldn’t it be more effective to create an entire online universe in which your movie is secretly the center of the action, and challenge gamers and hackers and lurkers to discover the truth behind the ominous mystery you’ve placed before them, and to do it all with a veneer of seriousness that makes the participants feel like they’re actually part of something? Well, wouldn’t it?