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Things get HOT for the holidays

By Barry Johnson
December 18, 2013
News & Notes

Very occasionally in oh-so-polite Portland arts circles, someone utters an intemperate remark or two. Startling! And then, some infinitessimal number of those very occasional remarks are emailed to a journalist. Oh happy day!

Chris Murray and Isaac Lamb in "The Aliens"/Third Rail Repertory Theatre

Chris Murray and Isaac Lamb in “The Aliens”/Third Rail Repertory Theatre

So, yes, Chris Murray (who can be gloriously open about his opinions) sent Alison Hallett (the arts editor of the Mercury, who knows fun when she sees it) an email. ostensibly to explain why he’s starting a new theater company called Whizz-Bang. But it didn’t take Murray long to get himself into full rant (and as Hallett noticed, keyboarding on his phone (!)). You should read the whole thing because the issues it raises are really interesting but also because, yeah, intemperate!

Theatre seems produced largely through fear. Fear of the subscriber, the donor, the audience, the squeaky wheels. In most performance houses in America, it’s an old crowd that patronizes theatre. Portland has a ton of hip seniors who love theatre (thank fucking god), but there can nevertheless be a lack of excitement and funding for live entertainment that doesn’t fall into the standard category of theatre.

Now, I don’t think that the financials of what Murray wants to do actually pencil out, but that doesn’t make his observations about the current state of things wrong.

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If you missed the terrific tenor Nicholas Phan perform this past year in Eugene and/or Portland, here’s a chance to hear him singing a few folk song arrangements by Benjamin Britten.

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David Stabler, the eminence gris of The Oregonian’s arts staff, called up the Oregon Symphony to see how things were going. Maybe he’d heard some of the same rumblings I’d heard. Anyway, the news from the symphony was all good: donations are up, and ticket sales are up $1 million over last year. The only disconcerting note in the story? That these positives “do not point to a balanced budget.” Uh-oh. We’ll be getting into this very DEEPLY in January.

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It’s devoutly hoped that the Oregon Symphony doesn’t follow in the footsteps of the Minnesota Orchestra, where while the musicians are playing, management is “turtling.”

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Its 2010 “Joy to the World” album is probably playing on more stereos at the moment, but a new mini-documentary about the making of Pink Martini’s 2013 “Get Happy” album is up. Storm Large meets Phyllis Diller!

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The New Yorker’s John Lahr, himself a National Treasure, reports on the last show of Dame Edna

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