Quick Takes: Spaniard to head Russia’s Mikhailovsky Theatre

The first foreigner to be appointed chief choreographer of a leading Russian ballet troupe since the Bolshevik revolution has vowed to overturn the Soviet-era constraints of dance and bring modernity to the Russian stage.

Nacho Duato will leave his native Spain in January for the Mikhailovsky Theatre, the second largest in Russia’s artistic capital, St. Petersburg, in a bid to bring modern dance to the traditional home of “Swan Lake.”

---

FOR THE RECORD:
Jack Klugman lawsuit: A Quick Takes item in the Aug. 7 Calendar section about the resolution of Jack Klugman’s lawsuit against Universal City Studios over profits from his TV series “Quincy, M.E.” said that the studio had given the actor an accounting statement showing the series lost $66 million from 1998 through 2006. In fact, the lawsuit said that figure was represented as the show’s “cumulative total net loss,” with net losses of $16.5 million listed between 1998 and 2006. —

---

Duato, 53, who performed and directed with the Spanish National Dance company, said Russia had dragged old repertoires onto the 21st century stage and is in dire need of an overhaul.

“They [Mikhailovsky] have the best dancers in the world, a lot of money, a lot of publicity, a lot of soul, but they need renovation, and they are very conscious of that,” Duato said, adding that he signed a five-year contract with the nearly 200-year-old Mikhailovsky.

—Reuters

Critic loses suit over transfer

An ousted critic who claimed he was removed from his beat because of critical coverage lost a lawsuit Friday against his newspaper and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Donald Rosenberg, 56, claimed in the lawsuit that the orchestra lobbied the Plain Dealer to replace him as orchestra reviewer because he frequently panned its conductor, Franz Welser-Möst. The jury ruled in favor of the orchestra on charges of defamation and interference with employment, and in favor of the newspaper

on an age discrimination charge.

Rosenberg’s removal from the beat in September 2008 sparked an outcry in the arts community, and the Music Critics Assn. of North America asked the newspaper to reinstate him. After 16 years as the newspaper’s orchestra critic, he was reassigned to cover other music groups and replaced on the orchestra beat by a younger reviewer.

Attorney David Posner, who represented the Plain Dealer and its executive editor, Susan Goldberg, said the ruling shows that Goldberg made an honest judgment about Rosenberg’s work and decided that he should be reassigned.

—Associated Press

Fox’s ‘Lone Star’ adds MacDowell

Andie MacDowell, star of such films as “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Groundhog Day” and “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” is joining Fox’s new series “Lone Star” in a recurring role.

A soap set against the backdrop of Texas oil, “Lone Star” centers on a young con artist (James Wolk) who has constructed two different lives in two parts of Texas. In Houston, he is married to the daughter ( Adrianne Palicki) of a wealthy oil tycoon ( Jon Voight). In Midland, he lives with his girlfriend (Eloise Mumford) while he defrauds investors of their savings.

MacDowell will play an art appraiser who catches the eye of Voight’s character.

—Maria Elena Fernandez

Klugman, studio reach accord

Jack Klugman and Universal City Studios settled a dispute in which the actor claimed the studio owed him millions of dollars for his work on the television series “Quincy, M.E.,” the actor’s attorney said Friay.

Klugman, now 88, played the crime-fighting coroner Dr. R. Quincy from 1976 to 1983. His 1976 contract with NBC entitled him and his company, Sweater Productions, to 25% of the “net profits” from the series, according to a lawsuit he filed last Aug. 21 alleging breach of an oral agreement and failure to provide regular accountings.

Universal provided Klugman with an accounting statement showing the series lost $66 million from 1998 through 2006, but he believed the show made substantial money, according to his court papers.

Financial details of the settlement were not disclosed, but Klugman’s lawyer, Neville L. Johnson, said, “The issues have been resolved to the satisfaction of both sides and the lawsuit has been dismissed.”

—City News Service

KUSC-FM to air Bowl concerts

If you haven’t been able to make it to the Hollywood Bowl this summer to see the Los Angeles Philharmonic, you’ll at least be able to listen. For the fourth year, classical music station KUSC-FM (91.5) will broadcast a 10-week series of the orchestra’s concert performances.

Beginning this weekend, the series will air Saturdays at 2 p.m. on the Los Angeles-based public radio station.

—Lee Margulies

Richard Price takes a pen name

Richard Price doesn’t have a title yet for his next novel, but he does have a name for the author. And it isn’t Richard Price.

The author of “Clockers” and “Freedomland” will publish under the name Jay Morris for a planned series of detective thrillers set in New York City.

—Associated Press