TCI articles from August 1997

TCI archives from August 1997

House of Disney hits 42nd Street.(Walt Disney Co. restores New Amsterdam Theatre in New York, New York)
August 1, 1997... Some industry naysayers said it couldn't be done, but the Walt Disney Company has completed the restoration of the grand New Amsterdam Theatre on New York City's famed 42nd Street within a tight two-year time frame. With an official...

Fit for a king.(lighting for 'King David' concert in restored New Amsterdam Theatre)
August 1, 1997... Lighting designer David Agress says he was approached two years ago to work on the Alan Menken-Tim Rice oratorio King David, when it was conceived as an outdoor production for the city of Jerusalem. This June, King David made its premiere in a...

Mrs. Brown in black and white.(costume design for film 'Mrs. Brown')
August 1, 1997... Although it seems there are countless movies about Queen Elizabeth I, and that distinguished actresses from Sarah Bernhardt to Glenda Jackson have played her on film, stories of that other great female English monarch have been relatively...

The party's over.(Shakespeare Repertory Theatre's production of 'Timons of Athens' in Chicago, Illinois)
August 1, 1997... Ralph Koltai, who created the illuminating sets and costumes for Timon of Athens at the Shakespeare Repertory Theatre in Chicago, did not build most of the first 20 to 40 costumes he used. He didn't buy them either. That's because, in...

Videowall Street.(MarketSite videowall at NASDAQ)
August 1, 1997... For decades, the NASDAQ stock "ticker tape" has been a common sight in financial institutions, useful only for individuals knowledgeable of the abbreviations and symbols used. Recently, NASDAQ sought to create a ticker tape for its stock market...

Flowers of evil.(costume design for 'Rappaccini's Daughter' at the Manhattan School of Music)
August 1, 1997... There's poison in the air in La Hija de Rappaccini (Rappaccini's Daughter), the 1991 opera by the Mexican composer Daniel Catan; this lushly romantic tale of a love that kills is a gothic creation that, in its New York production, called on...

Russo restores the Martin Beck.(Francesca Russo restores the Martin Beck Theatre)
August 1, 1997... After successfully restoring a string of aging Broadway houses, architect Francesca Russo has again recaptured the architectural magic of another quirky showplace. The interior of the landmark Martin Beck Theatre, on West 45th Street in New...

Bo knows UFO's.(Bo Welch's production design for film 'Men in Black')
August 1, 1997... Barry Sonnenfeld's Men in Black, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as elite cops for the secret agency of the tide, takes off from a logical if fantastic premise. "The Men in Black were founded in the early 60s when these flying saucers...

Mickey on tour.(Walt Disney archival objects, Canadian Center of Architecture, Montreal, Quebec)
August 1, 1997... Over 350 objects from the archives of Walt Disney Imagineering are on display through September 28 at the Canadian Center of Architecture (CCA) in Montreal in an exhibition entitled The Architecture of Reassurance: Designing The Disney Theme...

Check mates.(set design for the computer chess match between IBM Big Blue and Gary Kasparov)
August 1, 1997... "It wasn't going to be that boring, wood-grained thing that you're normally used to seeing. It was going to have a little more life to it,n says designer John Romeo, explaining the two sets used for the recent IBM Big Blue vs. Kasparov chess...

That tingly feeling.(stage version of film 'The Tingler')
August 1, 1997... Film noir meets Technicolor in a stage version of the 1959 William Castle-directed film, The Tingler. The title "character" is a potentially deadly creature that lives along the human spine and is stirred to action when someone experiences...

Business ballyhoo.(design for Compaq Computer Corp.'s Innovate Forum conference)
August 1, 1997... Every two years, the computer manufacturer Compaq holds a technology conference called Innovate Forum, designed to spread the word about the company's latest products. This year's event, held last April at Houston's George R. Brown Convention...

Up, down and around.(set design for Yumi Matsutoya's concert tour)
August 1, 1997... Singing a song titled "Bang, Bang," at one point during her Strolling Cowgirl tour, hugely popular Japanese chanteuse Yumi Matsutoya (wearing a bright red cowboy outfit with a huge hat) travels around her entire round stage without touching the...

Texas two-step.(entertainment production for 1997 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo)
August 1, 1997... Everything's big in Texas, as the saying goes, so it should come as no surprise that the Lone Star State is home to the world's largest rodeo. The Houston Livestock Show and-Rodeo is a two-week affair held every February in the Houston...

Czechs' imbalances.(dispute over Lucerna theater complex in Prague, Czech Republic)
August 1, 1997... London Bridge may be falling down, and some say Paris is burning, but much of Prague is crumbling. This breathtaking medieval city of cobblestones streets and 1,001 architectural treasures--from Roman to Rococo, from Neo-Gothic, Neo-Baroque and...

Clair Brothers branches out.(Clair Brothers Audio Enterprises Inc. provides complete backstage system for American Music Theatre)
August 1, 1997... Clair Brothers Audio has long been known a sound system provider for tours ranging from Michael Jackson to No Doubt. Less known, perhaps, is the fact that the Lititz, PA-based company is also a developer and manufacturer of speaker components...

Virtual Hollywood.(1997 International Design Conference)
August 1, 1997... Hollywood, from its impact on world culture to the vagaries of the studio system, was the subject of the 47th International Design Conference in Aspen, CO. Entitled "Hollywood: A Design For Living," and co-chaired by Armyan Bernstein of Beacon...

Sneak preview: LDI97 workshops.(theatrical audio and lighting workshops)
August 1, 1997... Taking advantage of the numerous hightech entertainment venues and installations in Las Vegas, LDI97 has planned a series of off-site mini-courses and professional-level tutorials scheduled from Thursday, October 23 through Sunday, October 26....

In memoriam: Abe Feder.(lighting designer)(Obituary)
August 1, 1997... Lighting designer Abe Feder died on April 24 in Manhattan. He was 87. One of the most distinguished lighting designers in Broadway history, as well as an important architectural lighting designer, Feder's career was filled with milestones....

Keys to the kingdom.(set design for No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom concert tour)
August 1, 1997... With new wave, ska-tinged melodies and guitar-rock anthems alternating with dance, reggae, and pop tunes, no two songs on No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom album sound quite the same. This eclectic combination scored big for the 10-year-old band,...

Civic duty.(renovation of the Civic Opera House in Chicago, Illinois)
August 1, 1997... As the resident lighting designer of the Lyric Opera of Chicago for the past 21 seasons, Duane Schuler has grown intimately familiar with its home of three decades, the Civic Opera House. Built in 1929 as part of a 40-story office tower, the...

The big three oh! TCI celebrates four decades with a little help from our friends.(includes related chronology and list of the 30 most influential people in entertainment technology)(Special Report: 1967-1997)(Cover Story)
August 1, 1997... Broadway said Willkommen to Cabaret, Lyndon Johnson was getting ready to say goodbye to Washington, and Simon and Garfunkel said, "Here's to You, Mrs. Robinson." And in March of that year, a little magazine called Theatre Crafts, published by...

Godspeed, Titanic.(set and costume design of Broadway musical 'Titanic')(includes related articles on the show's lighting and sound design)
August 1, 1997... In a Broadway season fraught with peril for producers, no show offered as many cliff-hanging thrills as the new musical Titanic. The show's title was enough to produce snickers from Broadway insiders months before the first performance. Even...

Simon Corder.(lighting designer)
August 1, 1997... It could be argued that there are certain unwritten rules about the best way to become a successful lighting designer: go to a good college; work under an established mentor; get a gig or two in a field (hopefully) of your choice, be it...

The colour & the sound.(sound production for Foo Fighters U.S. concert tour)(includes information on other U.S. tours in summer 1997)
August 1, 1997... "It's been over a year since the Foo Fighters last toured," says front-of-house engineer Craig Overbay. "Not since January 96, apart from the odd festival appearance here and there." It's always a risk taking such a lengthy hiatus; popular...

John Lee Beatty's Southern exposure.(theatrical set designer)
August 1, 1997... Set designer John Lee Beatty had a Southern spring on Broadway this year. In March and April, he opened three plays with Southern living room interiors: Alfred Uhry's The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Wendy Wasserstein's An American Daughter, and...