Jason Zinoman: “Legally Blonde ran for 595 performances and never recouped before closing on Broadway (though it continues to tour the country and make money on the road.) Race, however, ran for only 320 performances and did recoup. So is it fair to call David Mamet’s intimate play a hit and Legally Blonde a flop? Of course not. However, that’s exactly what happens.”
Tag: 08.26.10
The Ballerina Who Betrayed Norway to the Nazis
“A Russian ballerina who became a Nazi spy was responsible for one of the earliest allied defeats in the second world war after getting hold of the British campaign plan for Norway, according to historic security services files released today.”
Is the Future of Movies All Orange and Teal?
“Colour grading, in which a film’s palette is altered in post-production, has become more prevalent over the last decade, as digital technology has erased the limits on what can be done.”
‘So Much for Controlling the Media’: Heeb Magazine Gives Up on Print
“This morning, Heeb publisher and editor-in-chief Josh Neuman announced on the magazine’s website that the snarky Jewish publication has ceased production of its print edition.” (The Heeb website will snark on.)
Philadelphia Gets a Third Oldenburg Sculpture
“Claes Oldenburg’s Giant Three-Way Plug, Scale A, a nearly 10-foot-long electric plug, a cube tap grown to monstrous proportions, [is] now protruding from a grassy knob outside the [Philadelphia Museum of Art’s] west entrance.”
Opera Australia Plans First Ring Cycle for 2013
The national company, in a co-production with Houston Grand Opera, will present three complete cycles of the tetralogy in late 2013, with a possible repeat in 2016. Because the Sydney Opera House cannot accomodate a production of this size, the Ring will be presented only in Melbourne.
Here’s Crazy Talk: ‘Let’s Start a Ballet Company. In Metro Detroit. Now.’
“But ballet dancers’ work is about creating a fantasy world, so it’s not so surprising Sergei and Jessica Rayevskiy harbor a dream of building a professional ballet troupe in our gritty, hard-times town.”
Are the Arts a Living or a Hobby? Online Debate No. 4,653
The starting point: “When people observe that teachers have a lot of trouble making ends meet, it’s a social justice problem. We don’t consider ‘teaching’ a hobby … On the other hand, if we were to find out that futures traders have trouble making ends meet it would not be a social justice problem. They would just go do something else, and we’d probably be thrilled.”
Where Tony Bennett Got His Style
“I was told not to imitate singers; then you’ll only be part of the chorus. You have to imitate musicians. Find out how they’re phrasing. I like Art Tatum. He was the most unbelievable piano player. Stan Getz had this honeyed sound. I put those two together and got my own style.”
Battling Nostalgia: A Writer Fights the Proust Impulse
“L.P. Hartley famously wrote, ‘The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.’ Like an immigrant from that country I am eager to describe its landscape to people who have never been there, to draw maps of its fantastic geography, to recount its strange vocabulary and customs. … [But] I can’t write like Marcel Proust. Or even like Alice Munro.”