It wouldn’t hurt us any if Michael Riedel is right in his prediction of fewer Disney Musicals in the future. It looks like “The Little Mermaid” might bomb. The commercial interest in these Disney Productions does not really seem to on the demise. We are only longing for a Broadway of substance with more offerings of plays. Anyway, Riedel has the low down on “The Little Mermaid.”
Mouse of Blues
August 31, 2007 — ON the heels of the fiasco that was “Tarzan” and the lumbering bore that is “Mary Poppins” comes Disney Theatrical’s latest stage cartoon, “The Little Mermaid” - which Variety has helpfully dubbed “a waterlogged misstep.”
The $15 million-plus musical, now trying out in Denver, doesn’t arrive in New York until November. So Disney’s got about a month to retool director Francesca Zambello’s baffling production.
But given Variety’s brutal review (which was written not by a local stringer but by the paper’s chief theater critic) and the show’s tepid industry word-of-mouth, theater people are starting to wonder: What’s gone wrong in the Magic Kingdom - and, if “Mermaid” flops, how much longer will Disney keep throwing its cartoons at Broadway stages? (more…)
Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has made a mess for himself. He claims that he was wrong to admit to being guilty of anything. The public smells a rat. Never mind that the drive-by media is having a late summer feeding frenzy over almost nothing…2008 is a campaign year, and the democrats want to pick up another senate seat. Liz Mair of The American Spectator highlights the despicable tactics and motives of the democrats. Tom Delay made the point repeatedly on Thursday that the Republicans deal with their scandalized politicians and the democrats re-elect theirs.
The American public was greeted this week with the latest in Republican scandal, when news emerged that Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho recently pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct charges related to his apparent solicitation of gay sex in the Minneapolis airport.
Craig has tried to pass off the guilty plea as an inconsequential mistake. But the public smells a rat, and just as Craig surely squirms, Sen. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee surely laughs with glee. After all, Craig is up for re-election next year. (more…)
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Calls on parents, educators, policymakers, and communities to join forces to ensure our children become productive, engaged citizens. Our children deserve an education that emphasizes academic rigor as well as the essential 21st century skills of critical thinking and creativity.
Hat Tip to Hot Air. Jack Murtha has made many foolish and irresponsible comments. Maybe now he will be held accountable for at least some of those comments.
Bryan says, “Well, I’m cheering on any Marine who chooses to sue Jack Murtha over his Haditha comments. He got himself way out ahead of the facts, and now the facts are sneaking up to bite him on the backside. He deserves it, and it’s about time someone got some justice over one of these slanders.”
Thanks Ann for your great column today. Janet Reno was a total disaster, yet the drive-by media can only focus on Gonzales.
This week, congressional Democrats vowed to investigate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ firing of himself. Gonzales has said he was not involved in the discussions about his firing and that it was “performance-based,” but he couldn’t recall the specifics.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales listens on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 24, 2007, as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on monitor, asks him a question during the committee’s hearing on his role in the U.S. attorney firings. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Liberals want to return the office to the glory years of Attorney General Janet Reno!
There is reason to believe Reno is precisely the sort of attorney general that Hillary would nominate, since Reno was widely assumed to be Hillary’s pick at the time. As ABC News’ Chris Bury reported the day Reno was confirmed: “The search for an attorney general exemplifies Hillary Clinton’s circle of influence and its clout. … The attorney general-designate, Janet Reno, came to the president’s attention through Hillary Clinton’s brother, Hugh Rodham.”
Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has been doing some writing. Blackwell would make a great congressman or senator. He certainly has Barack Obama’s number.
In light of recent polls, pundits have speculated that Senator Obama will need a miracle to win his party’s presidential nomination. After offending many of the nation’s ministers, priests, and rabbis in a speech this summer, he better have a direct line to the almighty.
Mr. Obama accused Conservative Christian leaders of “hijacking” religion several weeks ago. While seeking to impose his own secular agenda through houses of worship, the senator condemns any pastor or priest who disagrees with it. (more…)
The original news coverage of Katrina beginning on August 29, 2005 motivated my start in the world of the blogosphere. You’ll see some of these initial posts indicated at the bottom of this post. You can also search and look at the whole month of September, 2005, and you’ll see my outrage. Of course, two years later, the drive-by media is still using the same tired template to cover this bogus story. If the media spent half of the time investigating and reporting on Kathleen Blanco’s and Ray Nagin’s failures, the story would look a lot different. It might even resemble the truth. News Busters takes ‘em all to task on their faulty reporting. Breitbart has more.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - President Bush commemorated Hurricane Katrina’s devastating blow Wednesday with a somber moment of silence. Across town, in a symbol of a federal-city divide that persists two years after the killer storm, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin marked the levee-breach moment with bell- ringing.
“We’re still paying attention. We understand,” Bush said in remarks afterward. (more…)
The 2007 Tony Award Winner for best new musical, Spring Awkening, has returned its’ $6 million capitalization. By effective marketing on the web, the show has been able to eceed expectations and is the midst of a healthy run on Broadway after success off-Broadway in the summer of 2006. The show has lots of young people, a crowd that doesn’t really frequent Broadway shows in huge numbers.
Walk by the stage door after any performance, and you’ll see hordes of kids waiting to meet the cast. Once upon a time, they would have thrust out their Playbills for an autograph. Now, they whip out their cellphones and take picture of themselves with the actors.
All summer long, “Spring Awakening” has been playing to nearly sold-out houses and grossing almost $800,000 a week. (more…)
Leona Helmsley willed $12 million to her dog. No kidding.
August 29, 2007 — Trouble took a $12 million bite out of Leona Helmsley’s will.
While the Queen of Mean left a kennel full of cash for the plenty-pampered female pooch, she also left potentially billions of dollars to charity, court papers show.
The will leaves a total of $50 million in bequests to Trouble the dog and three family members, and instructs that the remainder of her personal fortune - which Westchester Surrogate’s Court documents estimate to be valued at between $4 billion and $8 billion - to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
Matthew K. Tabor has a great blog we just discovered. Today, Matthew hosts a lenghty and well-done “Carnival of Education.” There is a whole baseball diamond full of great posts that are all education related. Matthews hails from Cooperstown, New York. You’ll also want to read Matthew’s post, Another Qucik Note on Blog Critcism, that talks a lot about education blogs.
Links, Commentary, and News on all things political, theatrical and educational. Artistic Interludes are interspersed.
Ronald Reagan
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
