Monster Mash: breaking arts news and headlines
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• Despite hostile reviews and less-than-spectacular box office, Broadway’s ‘Young Frankenstein’ will launch a national tour in fall 2009. No dates or cities have been announced for the Mel Brooks musical.
• Art dealer Anna Helwing is reportedly shuttering her Culver City gallery next month. Helwing said the decision comes from the pressures of single motherhood, not economic concerns.
• MySpace will launch its free music service today. The service gives users free access to hundreds of thousands of songs from major recording labels, including EMI, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. Songs can be played only on computers with Internet connections.
• Damian Hirst is set to open a London shop next door to Sotheby’s, where the artist recently completed a $206-million auction of his work. The new shop will be run by the retail arm of Other Criteria, Hirst’s publishing and merchandising company.
• The Las Vegas arts community may sound like an oxymoron to outsiders, but anticipation is building in Sin City for the $475-million Smith Center for the Performing Arts, which is scheduled to break ground in January.
• It’s back to sunny L.A. for Elle Woods and her chihuahua. ‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’ announced it will end its Broadway run Oct. 19. The Tony-nominated musical based on the 2001 feature film will have played 595 regular performances by the time it closes.
• Russia’s August offensive into Georgia has left significant damage to some of the former Soviet republic’s most prized cultural sites. Among the buildings reporting damage are the Museum of Prince Matchabelli, which housed the personal belongings of the Georgian royal family and the church of St. George in Sveri, a rare 19th century wooden structure.
• Esa-Pekka Salonen began his tenure as principal conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra in a concert that included Stravinsky’s ‘Oedipus Rex’ and Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto. Next week, Salonen will kick off his final season as music director of the L.A. Philharmonic with a gala concert featuring singers Dawn Upshaw, Audra McDonald and Barbara Hannigan.
• Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe makes his Broadway debut tonight when the revival of Peter Shaffer’s ‘Equus’ officially opens at the Broadhurst Theatre.
• The recently deposed classical music critic of Cleveland’s Plain Dealer is apparently refusing to go quietly. Donald Rosenberg, who has been replaced by a former intern who worked for him, explains why his editor removed him from the Cleveland Orchestra beat.
— David Ng
Ari Mintz / Newsday
