STILL STANDING

Arthur Miller is about to open another play on Broadway. And he’s about to turn 85. “Over the years, the critics have been all over the lot when it comes to judging Miller’s work. But in 1984, the critics and the public began re-examining Miller. And most of them liked what they found. So when he accepted the Tony for ‘Death of a Salesman’ last year, it wasn’t without a sense of well-earned, well-honed, irony – a sense that he’s been one of the victims in ‘The Crucible’ who finally got the chance to put his torturers on trial.” – Boston Globe

REVIVING NEA SUPPORT

Since taking the helm of the National Endowment for the Arts in 1998, chairman Bill Ivey has been largely responsible for the NEA’s renewed support in Washington. The Senate approved a $7 million budget increase this year in part due to Ivey’s promise to spread NEA dollars around the country and increase access to the arts in rural areas. – Nando Times (AP) 11/26/00

CONSIDER THE ARTIST MANAGER

  • Artists have no problem with paying managers commission when they [the artists] aren’t earning money but as soon as they do, some of them become resentful, forgetting the blood, sweat and tears you have put in over the formative years. Every manager dreams of discovering and nurturing that talent, not out of vanity but through entrepreneurial ambition. They have careers to pursue, but people seem to think they are doing it for fun.” – The Observer (UK) 11/26/00

THE SHOW THAT NEVER DIED

When Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” opened in London’s West End, Churchill was still Prime Minister. “Meat, sugar, butter and margarine were still being rationed. Stalin was lording it in Russia. Nobody had climbed Everest, or run a four-minute mile. It was another world.” Now the show is ambling on to its 20,000th performance. – The Sunday Times (UK)

THE REVIEWER-PROOF SCROOGE

It’s “Christmas Carol” time of year again. “Oh, please, Father Christmas, put a stake in its heart! Put it on a boat to Hong Kong! Give those annoyingly noble Cratchits a winning lottery ticket and let them have all the oranges they want! Cook their geese, flame their puddings, and please, burn their chestnuts into ashes.” – Washington Post

STILL STANDING

Arthur Miller is about to open another play on Broadway. And he’s about to turn 85. “Over the years, the critics have been all over the lot when it comes to judging Miller’s work. But in 1984, the critics and the public began re-examining Miller. And most of them liked what they found. So when he accepted the Tony for ‘Death of a Salesman’ last year, it wasn’t without a sense of well-earned, well-honed, irony – a sense that he’s been one of the victims in ‘The Crucible’ who finally got the chance to put his torturers on trial.” – Boston Globe

HOPING FOR A REPEAT:

John Corigliano’s First Symphony, composed ten years ago, and written in commemoration of those with AIDS, has become the most-performed symphony written in the second half of the 20th Century. More than 125 orchestras have performed it. Now Corigliano writes a second symphony. – Boston Globe