“The American intelligentsia is anxious these days… Anyone who watches television for more than five minutes can be forgiven for worrying about dumbing down, but the past year has seen a lively renewal of debate on this perennial topic.” From Terry Teachout’s blog post (here on ArtsJournal) calling for a re-embrace of 1950s-style “middlebrow” culture, to Curtis White’s disgust with a new breed of self-important intellectual wannabes which “wants to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and has bought an SUV with the intent of visiting it,” America’s thinkers are unanimous that we need more old-fashioned thinking in our lives, but Canadian Kate Taylor feels they may be missing the point.
Tag: 12.31.03
The Curtain Falls On Boston’s Nutcracker
The struggles of ballet companies across the country are well-documented, but you’ll pardon the Boston Ballet for feeling specially cursed this year. Last night, the curtain fell on the company’s last performance of the Nutcracker for 2003, and possibly forever. Having been informed that the Wang Theatre, the company’s Nutcracker home for 35 years, would be replacing the classic ballet with a traveling show next December, Boston Ballet is desperately searching for a new home in a city famously lacking in performance space. With Nutcracker typically bringing in as much as 50%-60% of a ballet company’s annual revenues, no one even wants to think of what could happen if Boston Ballet can’t mount the holiday show.
Another Failure In South Florida
When the Florida Philharmonic folded last summer, many expected its audience to find a home with other local classical groups such as the New World Symphony, or the Miami Chamber Symphony. But the MCS hasn’t performed since February, due to a cash shortage, and this week, the chamber ensemble officially cancelled the 2003-04 season. As in the case of the Florida Phil, donors to the MCS have been reluctant to throw good money after bad, and the group has not been able to stabilize its finances in the 11 months since its troubles became public knowledge.
2003 – A Good Year For Women Directors
It is because women directors usually have such a difficult time getting movies made that it is worth noting that 2003 has been a good year for women directors…
Fo: Taking On The Prime Minister
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s biggest critic these days comes from the stage, where Dario Fo unleashes his criticisms. “For all its grave accusations, “The Two-Headed Anomaly” is an almost vaudevillian romp. The show consists largely of short, fat and bald jokes about the prime minister and his councilors. It stages bawdy attacks not only on Mr. Berlusconi’s politics but also on his personal life and his ethics. But that is exactly what Mr. Fo’s fans expect and want.”
Did CBS Pay Michael Jackson $1 Million For Interview?
CBS denies it paid Jackson for his 60 Minutes interview Sunday. But a Michael Jackson associate said that “in renewed negotiations, CBS agreed to pay another $1 million to the star to grant the interview so that the network could finally broadcast its entertainment special. It is now scheduled to be broadcast on Friday evening. ‘In essence they paid him, but they didn’t pay him out of the `60 Minutes’ budget; they paid him from the entertainment budget, and CBS just shifts around the money internally. That way `60 Minutes’ can say `60 Minutes’ didn’t pay for the interview’.”