A surge of energy for recuperating Royal Ballet:
Australian Ross Stretton had been in his new post as director of the Royal Ballet for little more than a month when his first production, Rudolf Nureyev's "Don Quixote," brought forth dark warnings from British dance critics. International Herald Tribune 29 December 2001
All about Steve:
It's been seven years since the NIDA-trained Bisley last worked in a theatre Sydney Morning Herald 29 December 2001
New death for the tragic diva:
As if Maria Callas's life weren't dramatic enough, Franco Zeffirelli is now filming a fictionalised version of the singer's final days Telegraph (London) 28 December 2001
Arts in the aftermath:
After 11th September, artists reexamine why they work, and express themselves in new ways
Christian Science Monitor 28 December 2001
'I am an impostor, a lie teller':
Steven Spielberg says Pete Postlethwaite is the best actor in the world Daily Telegraph (London) 27 December 2001
Parting is such sweet sorrow:
It's all change at some of our top companies, but the leavers are all determined to go out on a high. Our critic looks forward to a year of exciting new work and venerable classics The Times 27 December 2001
The cost of parts and hard labour:
There are certain operatic roles that young singers should not tackle too early in their careers The Times 19 December 2001
The drama off-stage:
The incandescent diaries of a deeply complex man fizz with celebrity, brilliance and contradiction The Age 18 December 2001
A sweeter Nutcracker
The Royal Ballet's Nutcracker is the aristocrat of productions Telegraph (London) 17 December 2001
Audiences shun nude Elle and Wendy:
Theatre-goers would rather see free nudity at the beach than spend $100 on a ticket for an unknown play promising a brief glimpse of Elle Macpherson's rear end Sydney Morning Herald 17 December 2001
A standing ovation for a bravura act:
A standing ovation for a theatrical performance is not an everyday event in Melbourne, but that's what Amanda Muggleton received at the end of her stunning performance as Maria Callas in Masterclass The Age 17 December 2001
The witch-hunt:
Why is composer John Adams being accused of romanticising terrorism? The Guardian 15 December 2001
Creative surge for the golden west:
Many arts groups and performers in SYdney's neglected suburbs are finally winning the respect they deserve Sydney Morning Herald 17 December 2001
Counting the words reveals some classic secrets:
Computers have made it even easier to compile concordances. Mark Ragg explores what they reveal about literature. Sydney Morning Herald 17 December 2001
Critic costs Mirror £170,000 :
Critic costs Mirror £170,000 for review of the worst play he'd never seen The Guardian 13 December 2001
We can handle more than Messiahs:
Beset by financial woes and repetitive repertoires, our crisis-stricken amateur choruses need to be respected, stretched and challenged. Telegraph (London) 13 December 2001
New vitality for the arts:
The good news for the country's 29 major performing arts companies is that last year saw a "significant" improvement in their artistic output. The Age 11 December 2001
Time to shut the trap:
Nothing has managed to shut down Dame Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap since it was launched in London 49 years ago. But September 11 might finally do it. The Age 10 December 2001
He made 'em laugh, he made 'em cry:
Straight-talking Richard Wherrett, who gave us the delightful Shout! and Superstar, was not afraid to speak his mind Sydney Morning Herald 8 December 2001
Richard Wherrett dies :
One of Australia's most acclaimed theatre directors died peacefully in the arms of loved ones at his Sydney home today Sydney Morning Herald 7 December 2001
Masters of the new musical:
It is sometimes said that nobody can approve of both Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber. If you are a thoughtful person, you go for the former; if you wear your heart on your sleeve, you prefer the latter. The Economist 6 December 2001
Curtain call for the props with no stage:
Two weeks ago, thieves exited the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum on the Gold Coast with a vampire-killing kit valued at $5,000 Sydney Morning Herald 6 December 2001
Lovers of theatre all rushing to get a view:
Who could resist the chance to see international stars such as Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce and Rachel Griffiths treading the boards — in the flesh? The Age 6 December 2001
It's beneath you!
If panto is really naff, camp and just plain silly, why does it still pack them in? The Guardian 5 December 2001
Graceful exit for GM:
The general manager of the Australian Ballet, Ian McRae, is to leave the company next July after 10 years in the job Sydney Morning Herald 5 December 2001
Sophie becomes a bantam of the opera:
With the premier of her work Ned the Opera at the Old Melbourne Jail, 15-year-old Sophie Serese is believed to be the youngest person to have written both music and libretto for a full-length opera The Age 5 December 2001
Victoria's values:
Victoria Hamilton, whose powerful performance in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg has audiences weeping and cheering, is being compared to the young Judi Dench Telegraph (London) 4 December 2001
No idyll thoughts:
South Pacific is just a piece of Broadway schmaltz. Not if the National has its way The Times 4 December 2001
Dizzy with
delight:
They've been swooning for years in the piazzas of Florence, but can great art really make you faint?
Sydney Morning Herald 1 December 2001
Phantoms of the
opera:
a review of the year's best books about music Telegraph (London) 30 November 2001
Playing to her own tune:
Helping autistic children has also helped a gifted music teacher who "threw out all the books".
Sydney Morning Herald 30 November 2001
Urbane Waters wins role with a twist:
In one of the year's more surprising cast announcements, John Waters is slated to play Fagin in the Sam Mendes production of Oliver! Sydney Morning Herald 29 November 2001
Cathedral Online:
What is perhaps the most ambitious musical venture on the internet culminates in a live 48-hour interactive web broadcast this weekend.
Gramophone 28 November 2001
Unions stump up to help musicals get hip:
We have had the Beggar's Opera, and even the Villains' Opera — but coming soon to the West End of London could be the strangest hybrid of all — the trade union musical.
The Guardian 28 November 2001
Submarine to get a Cirque refit:
The Beatles' 1968 psychedelic cartoon film Yellow Submarine is to be made into a stage musical by Cirque du Soleil.
Sydney Morning Herald 27 November 2001
Arts and sport coalesce in eyes of new minister:
The new Minister for Arts and Sport, Senator Rod Kemp, is going to be a busy man. Some wits have dubbed him the Minister for Going Out.
The Age 27 November 2001
Dark, fantastic tales from the hidden side of youth and family:
Dystopias and dysfunctional families, hellish retirement camps and plain family hell take centre stage in the two winning works celebrated in this year's young playwrights awards
Sydney Morning Herald 26 November 2001
'Tolkien was not a writer': What is the secret of The Lord of the Rings' appeal? Re-reading the books in the run up to the film, A.N. Wilson found a surprising answer
Telegraph (London) 24 November 2001
Bloodbath at the RSC:
A plan to reorganise the Royal Shakespeare Company could have tragic consequences
Sunday Times 25 November 2001
Sontag a casualty of festival dispute: American writer Susan Sontag has withdrawn from next year's troubled Adelaide Festival of Arts because of her friendship with the event's former artistic director, Peter Sellars
Sydney Morning Herald 24 November 2001
The sound and the fuhrer: The blanket denunciation of Wagner serves only to maintain an irrational taboo, writes Edward Said
Sydney Morning Herald 24 November 2001
The idea that solved music's greatest riddle: The foundation of classical music, tempered tuning, is so axiomatic to music theory that it's hardly worth mentioning that it is, in fact, an artificial convention. In 1600 what has become our modern scale was regarded as a heretical notion. The Economist 23 November 2001
A Dickens of a road trip to Christmas: Novelist's descendant takes on all 26 roles in dramatised Christmas Carol Christian Science Monitor 23 November 2001
The view from a very tender place: Lantana's writer is now trying to give an American classic a radical twist.
Sydney Morning Herald 22 November 2001
Our ballet shows its sex appeal: The Australian Ballet is about to ruffle feathers in a daring and sexy pictorial spread for men's magazine, FHM.
Daily Telegraph 21 November 2001
Calming the waters of El Niño: Urgent negotiations are continuing between the Adelaide Festival and its displaced director, Peter Sellars, to bring the multi-media nativity opera, El Niño, to Adelaide in March.
Sydney Morning Herald 21 November 2001
Stars of the Bolshoi: The touring ballet group advertised as Stars of the Bolshoi is not as sad as some remnants of Soviet Russia's great ballet companies that we've seen in Australia...
Nor does it have anything to do with the Bolshoi.
Sydney Morning Herald 20 November 2001
The sheer Gaul of it: Three wealthy cyber entrepreneurs are putting classical music on the Net. Are they mad or simply French?
The Times 19 November 2001
A Bard from the Big Apple: An American company is making history as the first to perform Shakespeare in Stratford
The Times 19 November 2001
Moral minority exposed by Miller's tales:
America's greatest living playwright endures for a fundamental reason, argues Catherine Keenan
Sydney Morning Herald 19 November 2001
Clive lands dream ABC job: Clive Robertson has lost respect for the ABC since they decided to give him a job as the breakfast host of Classic FM.
Sunday Telegraph 18 November 2001