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The Land of Seats: So, about all those glittery Nutcracker productions that pepper area theaters every winter: They exist for a reason. Washington Post columnist Thomas Heath—-himself a Nuthead—-reported earlier this week that Washington Ballet’s perennial Nutcracker rakes in about 22 percent of that company’s annual revenue, and more than half its yearly ticket sales. And what are all those oohing and aahing families doing after they see little Sophie prance around in her adorable mouse outfit? “You take four weeks of nightly productions at the Warner Theatre, and they all have to eat dinner, park their cars, and all have their brothers and sisters and neighbors, and they go to eat at Chef Geoff’s across the street, and then there are all those bottles of wine,” says Washington Ballet board chair Sylvia de Leon. “This is big business for the District.”
Sugar Daddy: Coca-Cola has tossed a cool $2 million at the Smithsonian Institution, reports the Post‘s Jacqueline Trescott. The breakdown: $1.25 million for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, half a million for an African curator-in-residence program at the National Museum of African Art, and a quarter million for the National Zoo’s “At Water’s Edge” exhibit.
Oh, Snap: For his upcoming (and long overdue) Marion Barry biopic, Spike Lee cast Eddie Murphy in the role of Mayor for Life. The Ward 8 Councilmember appears to have feelings about that.
Today on Arts Desk: Is D.C. really a second-tier city for film openings?