The Week in Light & Sound
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Together Again - Mötley Crüe are to reform for a stadium tour of the US - less than five years after they played what they said would be their final ever show. Def Leppard and Poison will join them, but dates and venues are yet to be announced. Before their supposed farewell tour in 2014-2015, the band had signed what they said was a "cessation of touring agreement" at a press conference. But on Monday, they posted a video of that contract being blown up. The band said in a statement: "The contract is off the table because a whole new generation of Crüeheads are relentlessly demanding for the band to come back together."
Street Music - A screening of 42nd Street The Musical took £1.1m in its first week. Distributor More2Screen has confirmed the film achieved the best ever first week box office sales for an event cinema screening. It was screened at more than 600 venues.
CEO and founder of More2Screen Christine Costello said: “This tremendous box office result demonstrates the huge enthusiasm for watching West End musicals at the cinema, and we’d like to thank everyone involved for their help in bringing this superb production to the big screen.” The screening was produced for BroadwayHD by executive producers Bonnie Comley and Stewart F Lane, and filmed live at the Theatre Royal in November 2018.
Healing Exercise - Musicians who have suffered an injury that prevents them from working will be able to access a new physiotherapy service, billed as the first of its kind in the sector. Treatment as part of the initiative will include a plan detailing exercise that can be done at home, as well as face-to-face sessions at a physiotherapy practice.
The pilot service has been launched by the Incorporated Society of Musicians Members Fund and comes after a survey unveiled this year found mental health, musculoskeletal conditions and hearing impairments were among the three biggest medical challenges that prevented musicians from working. The fund launched a counselling service earlier this year to support musicians with their mental health. The physiotherapy service has been launched in partnership with Physio Med, and is described as “the first service of its kind offered on this scale in the music sector”.
In The Round - The Roundhouse in north London has unveiled plans to bolster its theatre output, which will see it introduce curated seasons of work as part of a more prominent performing arts programme. Best known for live music, the venue has spent the past year redeveloping its strategy for theatre and performing arts in order to “be more consistent in the kind of work [staged] and the kind of support offered to artists”, its head of performing arts Malú Ansaldo told The Stage. “We want our performing arts programming to be more prominent in the theatrical landscape because I feel it’s our responsibility as a civic space and a public space. We have to be able to champion these voices,” she said.
Jailhouse Rock - Kanye West played a surprise show at a prison in Texas. Almost everybody in the whole cell block at Harris County jail were treated to a performance by the rapper, who reportedly turned up for an exclusive presentation for 200 selected prisoners and staff at the facility.
West shared tracks from his new gospel album Jesus Is King during his visit, with a number of people in the audience seen welling up in a video released by Harris County Sheriff's Office.
The artist performed with the backing of a choir, and then moved on to another facility across the street where a smaller selection of female inmates were treated to a show. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said representatives of the music star got in touch about doing the performances, which were reminiscent of jailhouse concerts given by country singer Johnny Cash in California in 1968.
(Jim Evans)
19 November 2019
