“Neither Shakespeare nor British director Peter Brook probably imagined the staging of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ like the setup at the Palms pool, which was redone on Saturday into a pirate’s ship with skulls, plunder and sexy pirate babes dressed in red.” Aside from the title, which has been amended with the subtitle “A Pirate’s Guilty Pleasure,” what’s “left from the Bard’s play is a love of the physically sensual and a celebration of a naughty imagination.”
Tag: 08.19.09
British Equity Campaigns To Protect Pole And Lap Dancers
“Equity is campaigning to prevent venues that host burlesque, pole and lap dancing from being classified as ‘sex encounter establishments’, warning that such a change will put dancers at risk of ‘physical danger’.”
Have The Blue Meanies Won? Disney Plans 3-D Remake Of Yellow Submarine (With Associated Merch)
Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, The Polar Express) is to direct the high-tech remake of the Beatles’ psychedelic cartoon feature – “with merchandising in tow and prospects for spinning off both a Broadway musical and a Cirque du Soleil stage production.”
When Times Got Tough, Sacramento Ballet Got Creative
“The Ballet cut three staff positions, immediately stopped advertising , and most dramatically, cancelled the remainder of its season in the huge and expensive Community Center Theatre. Then [co-artistic director Ron] Cunningham did something really radical, he added performances… dozens of smaller ones at the Mondavi Center, McClatchy high, in art galleries and mostly in the Ballet’s home studios. The revamped season was a gamble.”
Twilight‘s Bella As Oprah For Teens: Is That A Good Thing?
“What is Bella’s favourite book? If you said Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, then give yourself a point. I, too, will give myself a point for knowing this, although I confess I cheated: I haven’t read Twilight or any of its sequels, nor have I seen the film, and I don’t have the faintest clue who Bella is. I do know what her favourite read is, though, because a cover for a new edition of Wuthering Heights tells me so.”
Victory Gardens’ Old Home Goes On The Market
“Want to buy four famous, well-trafficked theaters in the heart of Lincoln Park? They’re yours for just $1.3 million. Owner financing available. There’s just one catch: You have to continue operating them as theaters for at least the next two decades. … It may not be a historic building in architectural terms, but it is in theatrical terms.”
Looted-Art Law Overturned, But Adam And Eve In Limbo
“A federal appeals court today struck down as unconstitutional a 2002 California law giving owners and heirs to artworks looted by the Nazis extra time — until the end of 2010 — to sue for their return.” Left undecided: “Does the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena really own one of the most prized works hanging in its galleries,” or should its Adam and Eve “be handed over to the daughter-in-law of a Jewish art dealer who left the panels in Holland when he fled the invading Germans in 1940?”
China Determined To Become An Opera Powerhouse
“Chinese culture officials point out that older Chinese were all raised on the Red Classics, and that the genre is closer to Western Opera than other traditional Chinese opera, such as Peking Opera, which include elements of acrobatics and martial arts. … Whatever people may think of the Red Classics, for now at least, China’s government is promoting them as the country’s official contribution to the body of world opera.”
Using Psychology To Fight Global Warming
“‘I’m not convinced it’s as bad as the experts make out… It’s everyone else’s fault… Even if I turn down my thermostat, it will make no difference.’ The list of reasons for not acting to combat global warming goes on and on. This month, an American Psychological Association (APA) task force released a report highlighting these and other psychological barriers standing in the way of action. But don’t despair. The report also points to strategies that could be used to convince us to play our part.”
Angry UCLA Faculty Fight To Save Arts Library
The news that “UCLA is considering closing down its arts library and merging the collection with an existing facility because of an overall budget shortfall … has provoked strong responses from local academics and now faculty members at UCLA have started an online campaign to save the library.”