Tag: 12.20.00

ARCHER HEADS FOR AN EARLY SHOWER

Jeffrey Archer’s play in London has been a big bomb – so much so that it’s closing early. But Lord Archer, whose legal woes didn’t slow down his work on the production has been the subject of some creatively vicious reviews: “This leaden and incompetent play leaves you little option but to find its hero innocent and to find everything else (dialogue, legal acumen, structure, and so on) as culpable as all hell … The author’s self-belief is breathtaking and farcical.” – The Independent (UK)

NOTORIETY DIDN’T SAVE THE DAY: “The cliché-ridden play’s most dramatic moment came off-stage on its very first night in the regions, when it opened in Windsor. By a remarkable coincidence, the first performance was also the day that Archer was charged with committing perjury.” – The Independent (UK)

WHAT WILL MUSICAL THEATRE LOOK LIKE?

“We’ve come to the end of the road for one style of musical, the giant pseudo-Romantic pop-rock sludge pile. I never liked these things; now nobody likes them. As far as I’m concerned, Cats (closed) and Miss Saigon (expiring next month) have been flops all along—the public simply didn’t take my reviews to heart until now.” But what comes next? – Village Voice

A BRANDING THING

The Australian Art Orchestra has made a deal with the Sydney Opera House. “The partnership means that, over the next three years, the Sydney Opera House will produce a series of events and opportunities for the Art Orchestra. The Australian Art Orchestra will retain its name, but will be known as `The Sydney Opera House presents the Australian Art Orchestra’.” – The Age (Melbourne)

REACHING OUT: Sydney Opera House’s “branding opportunity” with the Melbourne orchestra is an attempt by the Opera House to further establish itself as a fully functional performing arts centre.” – Sydney Morning Herald

BACKING OUT ON BACH

Deutsche Grammophon and its parent company, Universal, take the prize for chutzpah after finking out on John Eliot Gardiner in the middle of his massive cantata cycle – the Bach Pilgrimage, as it was called. The British conductor and his musicians have been spending the year dragging themselves through Europe and the United States, trying to perform all 198 of Bach’s surviving cantatas, each one on the particular day of the liturgical year for which it was written – some 90 concerts in 15 countries, all in ‘interesting’ churches. The plan was that DGG would record them all and release one a week. But last July the record company decided it was all a tad pricey and pulled out, leaving the already cash-strapped Gardiner and his merry band of musicians scrambling for funds.” – National Post (Canada)

DON’T FORGET THE LITTLE GUYS

Just when it looked like MP3.com had settled its legal woes with recording companies, independent labels have taken the company to court. “Although MP3.com has entered into settlement agreements with the five major record labels, they have chosen to ignore their infringing actions with respect to independent labels.” – Wired