Yes, yes, we’ve heard it over and over, many times before. But “today the crisis is real. Never in my lifetime has London’s West End theatre looked so narrow in its range of choices or so out of touch with contemporary reality. And it is high time the crisis was confronted and a debate launched about what we expect of commercial theatre.”
Tag: 08.02.07
Just Who Are You Calling Elitist?
Why is classical music always taking the rap when that dread word “elitism” rears its peculiarly ugly head? Julian Lloyd Webber writes that the racial makeup of audiences for classical music is no different than those for football or many of the big pop music festivals…
The Tragedy of Theresa Duncan And Jeremy Blake
“She was losing her grip on reality, and Jeremy was so devoted to her that he would go along with it . . . It became impossible to ignore…”
Writers Press Their Case In Hollywood
The Writers Guild of America wants something from Hollywood. “What do they want? Residuals. Specifically, they want a piece of the new-media pie. That’s online reruns and secondary content like webisodes, mobisodes, minisodes, and character blogs — all the goodies you can get on your laptop, cell phone, and iPod. When do they want it? By October 31, when the WGA’s current three-year contract with the studios expires.”
Potter Tops 11 Million, More Copies Ordered
Scholastic, Inc., the U.S. publisher of J.K. Rowling’s fantasy series, announced that the seventh and final Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” sold 11.5 million copies in its first 10 days and that an original printing of 12 million has been increased to 14 million.
Building A “Mini-Davos” For The Arts (And Arts Funding)
“In an era when billionaires such as Bill Gates and Richard Branson devote fortunes to fighting diseases and global warming, arts groups are struggling to keep up. They have an ally in Robert Redford. The Academy Award- winning actor and Americans for the Arts, an advocacy group that lobbies for more funding for the arts, have teamed up to urge corporations, foundations and individuals to think of the arts as a way to address educational, health and environmental problems rather than as a competing philanthropic cause.”
Italy Drops Some Charges Against Former Getty Curator
“Italy will drop civil suits against former J. Paul Getty Museum antiquities curator Marion True after the Los Angeles museum agreed yesterday to return 40 works Italy says were looted, Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli said today. True still faces criminal charges.”
A Big Day For Charles Simic
On the same day Charles Simic was named Poet Laureate of the United States, succeeding Donald Hall, he also received the $100,000 Wallace Stevens Award for “outstanding and proven mastery” of the art of poetry from the American Academy of Poets.
Baghdad Museum Unseals Its Doors
The Baghdad Museum is unblocking its doors again and allowing staff in. “Shortly before antiquities head Donny George went into exile last August, he had all the entrances to the building blocked, because of the deteriorating security situation in Baghdad. Dr George admitted that this could have created environmental problems, but he felt it was too dangerous to protect the museum with just locked doors.”
Smithsonian Fires Business Chief
“The Smithsonian Institution yesterday replaced Gary M. Beer as chief executive of the museum complex’s embattled business unit after an inspector general’s report found he had abused his institution-issued credit card and billed thousands of dollars in expenditures that were unauthorized or lacked evidence of a business purpose.” Beer has been told to reimburse the Smithsonian for $30,000 worth of charges.