The Week in Review

Disaster in Japan: As the news continues to come in of death, destruction, and nuclear leaks following the record-breaking earthquake in Japan last week, questions are being raised about the country's $5 trillion economy, the world's third-largest. Looking at the entertainment sector, Variety reported that film admissions had plunged over the weekend. In addition, approximately 55,000 people stayed at the Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea parks on Friday, when no transportation was available to take them home. In the short term, anyway, the future for both parks looks grim, as tourism is expected to drop for the next several months. (This was a particularly bad week for Disney; its new animated film, Mars Need Moms, opened to notably poor grosses.) The total economic impact, of course, will not become clear for several weeks.

Olivier Awards: The Olivier Awards, which honors achievement in the West End Theatre, were given out last night. Design winners included Bunny Christie (scenery) and Neil Austin (lighting) for The White Guard, at the National Theatre, Hildegarde Bechtler (costumes) for After the Dance, also at the National, and Adam Cork (sound) for King Lear, at the Donmar Warehouse. (The latter production, starring Derek Jacobi, plays Brooklyn Academy of Music later this season.) Legally Blonde was named best musical and Clybourne Park, by the American playwright Bruce Norris, took the award for best new play.

Revised Spider-Man to Open in June: Broadway's favorite reality series, "The Saga of Spider-Man," had its wildest week yet, with a series of dizzying revelations that only began with the departure of Julie Taymor, the production's director and co-author. (She will be replaced by the director Philip W. McKinley and the librettist Robert Aguiree-Sacasa.) The production will now shut down for three weeks in April and May, and is now scheduled to open for real on June 14. A story in today's New York Times summarizes the story so far; it includes a number of fascinating details as well as some choice comments from Jere Harris, one of the lead producers.