The Week in Review

Changes at Martin Professional: Well, that didn't take long. The day after Harman announced it completed its purchase of Martin Professional came the announcement that Christian Engsted, Martin's CEO, was out. He is being replaced by Lars Dige Knudsen, who will take the title vice president, general manager, lighting strategic business unit. Also announced was the news that Villads Thomsen was assuming the title of vice president for global sales and the lighting strategic business unit. This is pure uninformed speculation, but we are guessing that Engsted's departure was a negotiated aspect of the deal. He came to Martin from the wind-energy industry, and it's quite possible that he is looking to take up an entirely new executive challenge. The good news is that Knudsen and Thomsen are longtime Martin employees, so this isn't a case of the corporate parent suddenly stocking the executive staff with its own people. Still, it's a signal that 2013 will be an interesting year for Martin Professional. One other thought: Those job titles, which refer to the lighting strategic business unit -- is this a signal that more lighting purchases are in the offing? We're just wondering ...

Arup Takes Over Artec: In a rare merger set in the world of theatre consulting, Arup has subsumed Artec, the well-known form. Along with the usual optimistic statements, we are told in a release that "Arup has integrated former Artec staff into the New York acoustics, audio visual, and theatre consulting team led by Raj Patel. Tateo Nakajima, Ed Arenius, Todd Brooks, Christopher Darland, and Tom Clark join the leadership team at Arup in this move. They will work closely with Arup's regional leaders, Andrew Nicol (Australasia), Sam Tsoi (East Asia), Rachid Abu-Hassan (Europe), and Rob Harris (UK, Middle East, and Africa)." Will the addition of this expertise add to Arup's share of the theatre consulting market? We probably won't know until sometime this year, since the administrative details of mergers take up an inordinate amount of time at first. But keep an eye on Arup in 2014.

Las Vegas in Recovery?: After years of stalled development on the Strip, it looks as if the money might be tricking back in. Or so reports The Las Vegas Review-Journal:The Genting Group, a Malaysian investment powerhouse, is planning to spend $2-7 billion dollars (quite a range, I know) to develop Resorts World Las Vegas on the footprint currently occupied by the unfinished Echelon Place, which in turn was begun on the site of the old Stardust Casino. The plan is to create an Asian-themed destination "with seven hotel towers surrounding an eight-million sq. ft. complex, dining, retail, and entertainment." Also, "Genting also wants to bring a live panda habitat, a replica of the Great Wall of China, a 7.5-acre indoor water amusement park, tea gardens, outdoor red pagodas, theatres, and other family-friendly attractions." Not surprisingly, city and state officials are falling over themselves to hail this news. It is at the least an open question whether the city can stand that many more unoccupied hotel rooms, but, for the moment, everyone is euphoric. For the full story, go to: http://plasa.me/efjtn.

New Award for Projection Design: Cheers to the Drama Desk, the organization of critics, journalists, and editors who regularly cover the New York theatre, which has decided to add a new projection design category to its annual awards. According to the DD president, Isa Goldberg, "As you have, no doubt, been noticing, the use of projections is becoming more and more prominent in plays and musicals. Our decision to create an award for this category keeps Drama Desk on the cutting edge of innovation in the New York theater community." We couldn't agree more, and we fervently hope that other awards-giving bodies follow suit as quickly as possible.

Lighting up the Stamford Train Station: As The New York Times notes, "The train station here is one of the busiest in the Northeast, but commuters have long bemoaned its drab design, saying it has all the charm of a prison or a morgue." Now, thanks to a team of "light wranglers," it has been transformed into a color lighting installation, thanks to the use of LEDs. You can read more about it at http://plasa.me/nknh2. To read an interview with Jamie Burnett, one of the system designers, and about the use of Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12 Powercore and City Theatrical SHoW DMX Vero wireless DMX, go to http://plasa.me/hfqvk.

Dancer at Bolshoi Arrested: The bizarre doings at Russia's Bolshoi Ballet continue. Pavel Dmitrichenko, a dancer with the company, has been arrested for hiring a thug to attack Sergei Filin, the company's artistic director, by throwing acid in his face. (Filin was blinded in the attack, although his doctors have indicated that he may see again. Dmitrichenko's defense is that he hired the thug to rough Filin up only. According to the Times, when a journalist called out, "Do you want to apologize to Filin?", Mr. Dmitrichenko answered, "For what?" For more appalling details, go to http://plasa.me/3bwyy.

Philips Says LED Sales on the Rise: Just in case you thought LEDs were a fad, consider this, Philips says its LED sales rose 43% in the fourth quarter of 2012. This covers a wide range of products, of course, but the figure is still impressive, more proof, if any were needed, that LEDs are now in charge of the lighting industry. To break it all down, go to http://plasa.me/p9gay.

Spice Girls Musical Retools: You may or may not have been following the fate of Viva Forever, the jukebox musical using songs from the Spice Girls catalog, which opened recently in London's West End. Produced by Judy Craymer, the woman behind Mamma Mia!, the seemingly eternal ABBA tuner, it was hyped as the musical theatre's next great sing-along show. Then the reviews rolled in: ""I'll tell you what I wanted, what I really, really wanted -- I wanted this terrible show to stop ... This musical is tawdry, lazy, and unedifying," wrote Charles Spencer, of the Daily Telegraph. Other reviews were not much better, with critics pointing out that, with only three albums, the Spice Girls hadn't produced enough familiar tunes for a full musical score. This, followed by stories of half-empty houses, caused Broadway insiders to speculate that New York might never see Viva Forever. Now comes news that the Jennifer Saunders' book and Peter McKintosh's set design are being reworked, with an eye to a possible Broadway transfer. Since we can't identify one Spice Girl tune, we remain neutral on the issue, but in any case, don't expect to see Viva Forever on Broadway anytime soon. For more: http://plasa.me/5zoj5.