Udderbelly, a new Underbelly venue shaped like an upside-down cow, is not a hit with Lyn Gardner. “People often assume that because I’m a theatre critic I must be in favour of new theatres. Wrong. Contemporary drama really doesn’t need – and on the whole is ill-suited – to the playhouse, and it certainly isn’t going to be shown off to best advantage inside a giant purple plastic cow. It just makes everyone involved look ridiculous.”
Tag: 08.08.06
Emmy Nomination Under Fire
The Emmys are facing questions about nomination procedures “after Ellen Burstyn was nominated for a best supporting actress Emmy for a 14-second performance. Burstyn appeared briefly in the HBO movie Mrs. Harris, playing a former lover in a flashback scene reminiscing about Scarsdale diet doctor Herman Tarnower. She spoke two lines, totalling 38 words, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which measured her on-screen time.”
Will Monet’s London Paintings Teach Us About Smog?
“Although we know that smog was a problem at that time, we don’t know much about it. Now we can potentially get real air quality information from a time when scientific instruments weren’t around.”
Gimme That Old Time Fringe
We think of fringe theatre as being a young person’s pursuit. This year’s Edinburgh Fringe has attracted many older performers. “But why? Most acts will tell you that the Fringe is an outrageously difficult place to make a profit. So are these performers trying to revive flagging careers with shows that, profitable or not, will give them a higher profile than a sold-out seaside show in the West Country? Or should we be less cynical and accept that the anything-goes spirit of the Fringe is just as appealing to the winner of Opportunity Knocks 1975 as it is to young stand-ups playing their first solo shows?”
The Actors? We Got ‘Em On TV
Producers of a new production of “Grease” on Broadway will cast leads through a TV reality show. “NBC said on Tuesday it will broadcast a talent show titled ‘You’re the One That We Want’ — a play on a hit song from the show — in which viewers can vote for singers to play the roles of the naive new girl in town, Sandy Dumbrowski, and Danny”
Is The Web The Future Of Art?
“This awesome information technology that we are rapidly taking for granted is an arena that is apparently attracting artists who want to push the boundaries of what art can be. I thought the boundaries in art had all been crossed in the Sixties, or was it a century ago? Maybe I was wrong.”
Has Bayreuth’s Time Passed?
“There are signs that the festival organisers, and its audiences, are becoming entirely cut off from the concerns of ordinary concert-goers and Wagner-lovers. Amazingly, the festival is still run by Wolfgang Wagner, Richard’s grandson, who is 86, and a stubbornly efficient administrator rather than a great artist (unlike his brother, Wieland, who died in 1966). Wolfgang’s productions have been, on the whole, unremarkable.”
Scoop: Chihuly Protects His Work
The Seattle Times reports in the third part of its investigation of glass artist Dale Chihuly that the artist protects his work by trying to prevent other artists from copying it.
The Author’s Quixotic Task: Catching Oprah’s Eye
“Oprah Winfrey changed Michele Weldon’s literary life. But it took a little doing. The Chicago author and Medill School of Journalism prof’s first book, ‘I Closed My Eyes: Revelations of a Battered Woman,’ a 1999 memoir, had just been published and she thought it perfect ‘Oprah’ material — so perfect that four times annually over the next three years, she rang up one of the show’s producers to gently pitch its worthiness.” The odds of succeeding as Weldon did are extremely slim. “But Oprah’s track record is too stunning, the stuff of lore, rife with publishing industry success stories. So authors keep doing what Weldon did: storming the compound — literally and figuratively — to gain notice.”
When A County Arts Program Gets Crowded
Having grown accustomed to the county government providing their performance and rehearsal spaces, some arts groups in Arlington County, Virginia, are suddenly seeing the downside of a successful public program: uncertainty about where they’ll be in the near future. “Under the umbrella of its Arts Incubator, the county is working with 55 arts groups and nine arts spaces (compared with 10 groups in 1990). As the program has grown, so has competition for new locations. Theater groups are feeling the squeeze because the county can’t accommodate them all. And the real estate boom has sent rents for other spaces out of reach for many who might rent commercial venues.”