STAGE

Yes, Virginia, there is a downside to perestroika , Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s slate of economic reforms. A troupe of actors from Leningrad’s self-supporting Maly Theater were stuck in a Times Square hotel over the weekend because financing for the troupe’s performance in New York’s “International Festival of the Arts” fell through. Mikhail Stronin, the troupe’s literary manager, said that the troupe could not turn to its own government for help because “We are a self-financing institution, according to the new trend of perestroika. “ Ed Callaghan, a spokesman for the unidentified American backer of the canceled show, said: “We’ve been working day and night looking for funding. But some sponsors have not materialized.”

A brief but related addendum: Martin Segal, founder and chairman of New York’s much-touted 347-event festival (which began over the weekend), said proudly of his brainchild: “There’s never been in the history of the United States any other festival in the performing arts like this one. . . . Los Angeles had 14 events, (The Los Angeles Arts Festival last year) was a good festival . . . but it doesn’t compare.” Actually, the L.A. Festival had 37 events, not counting the Fringe Festival.