“As we mourn the passing of one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, let’s not forget that the field of human rights has also lost a great defender of freedom of expression. During my time at PEN, Harold Pinter proved indispensable in helping to raise the profile of numerous, lesser well-known, writers in trouble for their work. He never let them down.”
Tag: 12.29.08
MOCA’s New Chief Exec On Righting The Ship
Charles E. Young, UCLA’s chancellor emeritus and now MOCA’s first chief executive, “said he does not consider himself an ‘arts person,'” but he also doesn’t expect to have the job more than 18 months. “His goal at MOCA, he said, is to set about correcting financial and management problems that have plagued the museum. ‘We need to get it back into a position where you can go out and recruit a really top-flight director,’ he said.”
Jazz Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard Dies At 70
“Freddie Hubbard, the Grammy-winning jazz musician whose style influenced a generation of trumpet players and who collaborated with such greats as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, died Monday, a month after suffering a heart attack.”
At 89, Matisse And Maillol’s Model Reminisces
“Henri Matisse made drawings of her, with spare, pure lines. Aristide Maillol sculpted her in bronze. And these days, in France, the muse of those 20th-century artists — Dina Vierny — speaks of them with affection and clarity. Vierny was Maillol’s last model, and has opened a museum named for him in Paris.”
Boston-Area Theatre Lays Off 57, May Shutter
“A half-century old theater still recovering from a devastating fire three years ago announced Monday that without increased ticket sales and donations it may shut its doors. Officials at the Beverly-based North Shore Music Theatre said the theater has been hit with lower-than-expected philanthropic support and slow ticket sales from its current production of ‘Disney High School Musical 2.'”
Hollywood Has A Flat Year (But No One’s Complaining)
“Through New Year’s Eve, 2008 domestic revenues are expected to come in just shy of 2007’s record of $9.7 billion, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers. Factoring in inflation, the actual number of tickets sold in 2008 is running 5 percent behind last year’s, when admissions totaled 1.4 billion.”
Sequel For Phantom Announced
Entitled Phantom: Love Never Dies it will receive its premiere at the end of next year and will make theatrical history if, as Lloyd Webber intends, it opens in London, Broadway and an Asian city, possibly Shanghai, at the same time.
Most Influential In British Theatre?
It’s time for the annual Stage ranking. But Lyn Gardner takes issue with the list’s bias. “The Stage list clearly emphasises those who produce commercial theatre, or who own real estate or a stake in reality TV shows.”
Verdict’s In: A Big Thumbs-Down For Film Critic Ben Lyons
“In the four months since the fresh-faced 27-year-old ‘movie dude’ for the E! Entertainment Network was installed to co-host a revamped version of the venerable movie review program “At the Movies,” he has gotten a resounding thumbs down from an angry mob of film bloggers, columnists, professional movie critics and fans of the show.”
Why British Art Owners Need Tax Incentives
“The campaign to save the Titians has exposed the fatal flaw in Britain’s system for saving works of art. There are tax breaks for giving money to public institutions, and once the collector is safely dead, works of art may be accepted in lieu of inheritance tax. But a living collector will have to be moved by pure philanthropy to give a work of art.”