“A 1989 Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd at Circle in the Square that used just 14 actors and a synthesizer band of three was wittily re-dubbed “Teeny Todd.” Now a new cut-price West End version of this tale of throat cutting employs only nine actors and no band — the actors double as musicians — to become Teeny-Tiny Todd.”
Tag: 09.07.04
Expert: David’s Bad Posture
“For centuries, Michelangelo’s statue of David has been regarded as the epitome of male beauty and perfection, but now it is claimed he is more an example of human frailty, a physical wreck whose poor posture would result in a bad back, a weak hip and ankles and poor flexibility.”
Court: Rappers Must Pay For Samples
“An American federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that rap artists should pay for every musical sample included in their work — even minor, unrecognizable snippets of music. Lower courts had already ruled that artists must pay when they sample another artists’ work. But it has been legal to use musical snippets — a note here, a chord there — as long as it wasn’t identifiable.”
Edinburgh Museums See Big Attendance Increase
Edinburgh’s museums saw a huge increase in visitors this summer – a 24 percent increase…
Mummy Of The Scream?
“An Inca mummy kept in a Florentine museum might have been a source of inspiration for Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream,” an Italian anthropologist claims.”
Spielberg Gets Legion Of Honour
Filmmaker Steven Spielberg has been awarded France’s highest civilian honor. “He was made a knight of the French Legion of Honour to recognise his work fighting hatred and intolerance. President Jacques Chirac said Spielberg’s holocaust film Schindler’s List ensured that past atrocities were remembered along with heroic deeds.”
Chicago Jazz Chooses Faddis
“In a bold move, the Chicago Jazz Ensemble — one of the nation’s leading jazz repertory bands — is expected to engage the brilliant trumpeter and widely admired bandleader Jon Faddis as its artistic director, replacing the late CJE founder William Russo.”
Disney Could Lose Mickey Mouse In South Africa
If Disney loses a case in South Africa contesting rights to the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight it might have to give up numerous trademarks in South Africa.”Relatives of the song’s original composer, Solomon Linda, say they are entitled to $1.6m in royalties from the track, used in The Lion King. If Disney loses the case, it may have to sell over 240 trademarks, including Mickey Mouse, to pay the family.”
Building Support For The NEA, One Vote At A Time
National Endowment for the Arts chairman Dana Gioia has spent the last year building political support for his agency, one politician at a time. “Conservative support for the agency is among the little-noticed political developments of this election year. In January President Bush asked Congress to increase the endowment’s budget by $18 million for the 2005 fiscal year, the highest percentage increase in a quarter-century.”
Chilean Theatre Awakes After A Long Sleep
“No one can underestimate the havoc wrought in Chile by the Pinochet military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990. ‘Culture,’ in the words of my dramatist friend Benjamin Galemiri, ‘was seen by Pinochet as an act of terrorism.’ Under the dual threat of state censorship and physical intimidation, many artists were silenced.” But now, Chilean theatre is reawakening…