Theaters report drastic declines in performances and attendance
COLOGNE: In the Corona pandemic with its lockdowns, the number of performances and visitors on the German-speaking stages fell drastically. This is shown by the work statistics published on Friday by the German Theater Association for the 2020/21 season. Compared to the 2018/19 season, the last before Corona, the number of spectators had fallen by 86 percent, the stage club said. A total of 2.54 million theater visits were reported. The number of performances fell by 70 percent to around 22,700.
The managing director of the stage association, Claudia Schmitz, said according to the announcement: “The available work statistics show once again the dramatic effects of the lockdowns caused by the pandemic. It is now the task of the stages to reclaim their place in society and to provide the artistic impulses we so urgently need in our lives.»
The most popular music theater work of the past season was the Mozart opera “The Magic Flute” with 111 performances, followed by “The Barber of Seville” by Gioachino Rossini (68 performances). In spoken theater, “Extrawurst” by Dietmar Jacobs and Moritz Netenjakob, a comedy about integration and structural racism, was ahead with 224 performances. In second place is “Gott” by Ferdinand von Schirach. The drama about the legitimacy of euthanasia had 105 performances.
427 theaters from Germany, Austria and Switzerland had reported their data.
First “Blonde” trailer starring Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe
LOS ANGELES: Netflix has released a trailer for the highly-anticipated Marilyn Monroe biopic two months before ‘Blonde’ begins streaming. The almost two-minute video from Thursday shows many facets of the Hollywood legend, acclaimed and plagued by self-doubt. Cuban-born Ana de Armas (34, “The Gray Man”, “Knives Out”) embodies the screen star with platinum blonde hair. “Marilyn Monroe only exists on screen,” says Armas as Monroe in one scene. She couldn’t get used to fame, she always felt like Norma Jeane. The trailer shows famous scenes from the film and the iconic moment when the star stands on a subway ventilation shaft with her white dress billowing. Monroe died of an overdose of sleeping pills in August 1962 at the age of 36. “Blonde” celebrates its premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival (31 August to 10 September). The biopic will be available on the Netflix streaming platform from September 28th.
Actor Bezzel settles accounts with football (photo archive)
OSNABrück: The actor and self-confessed football fan Sebastian Bezzel, known from the Eberhofer thrillers, is becoming more and more alienated from top-flight football. “It’s still possible in Germany, but how FIFA, UEFA, clubs and players behave, what sinister machinations and investors are at work, that repels me,” said Bezzel of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ). “I think that capitalism always destroys a lot – in football it will certainly make it that at some point you don’t feel like it anymore.” He will also try to stay out of the World Cup in Qatar, he said. “Maybe it’s also an opportunity if you say: I’m going back to my village club, eat a bratwurst there, drink a beer and have a lot more fun in a small, not so excited environment.”
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Kylie Minogue: Neighbors return was amazing and unreal (photo handout dated 7/27)
LONDON: Ahead of the airing of the final episode of ‘Neighbours’, pop star Kylie Minogue has expressed excitement at her one-off return to the Australian TV series. “It feels great, unreal and very emotional,” said the 54-year-old, according to a message from Channel 5. “We worked with the same director as we did back in the 1980s, so there were some familiar faces,” said the Australian. ‘Same houses, same street. There is no easy answer, just a mixture of emotions, but they are very happy ones.” Minogue was made famous by Neighbors, from 1986 to 1988 she played the role of Charlene Mitchell. Her character married Scott Robinson, played by Jason Donovan – he also became a world star thanks to the series. Both returned for the final episode.
Bob Odenkirk Appreciates Support After Heart Attack On Film Set (Photo Archive)
LOS ANGELES: A year after his heart attack on the set of the series “Better Call Saul”, US actor Bob Odenkirk has recognized the support of his fans. “Thank you to you, whoever you are,” wrote the 59-year-old on Twitter. He had flirted with death (literally: “quietus”), which brought him a “wave of goodwill and warmth”. “I will forever feel unworthy of this one. I will always be grateful and try to pass it on.” In February, Odenkirk said he was glad he wasn’t alone when he had a heart attack last July. “We shot a scene, we filmed all day, and luckily I didn’t go back to my trailer,” the actor told the New York Times. Instead, he retired with his colleagues Patrick Fabian and Rhea Seehorn and trained on his fitness bike – “and I just went down,” says Odenkirk. “Rhea said I immediately started turning blue-grey.”
Madonna refuses to sell music rights: “They are my songs”
BERLIN: Unlike other prominent colleagues, US singer Madonna (“Frozen”) would like to continue to keep the rights to her songs. When asked why she rejected any consideration of selling her catalog of songs, the 63-year-old pop icon told the US industry journal Variety: “Because they are my songs. Property is everything, isn’t it?”
More and more musicians are selling their song rights: Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shakira, Tina Turner and many more sold the rights to their music. The US music publisher Warner Chappell Music reportedly secured the rights to the entire work of the pop legend David Bowie, who died in 2016, for 250 million dollars (around 220 million euros).
However, Madonna is going a different route: together with the music company Warner Music Group, the singer wants to release her previous albums again, as was announced last year. The singer, who became world famous with hits like “Like a Virgin” or “Material Girl”, worked with Warner Music for the first 25 years of her career, but then temporarily left the label in 2007.
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