Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Announces Fall City Center Season

By FELICIA R. LEE

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has announced its 2012 New York City Center season with the world premiere of “Another Night,” by the choreographer Kyle Abraham as well as the premiere of “Strange Humors,” a duet from Robert Battle, the company's artistic director. For the first time in the company's history, a work by the Czech choreographer Jiri Kylian, “Petite Mort,” is also on the bill. The five-week run will also feature Garth Fagan's “From Before,” the first staging of his work outside his own company, Garth Fagan Dance and a new production of Ronald K. Brown's “Grace.”

The City Center season,which runs from Nov. 28-Dec. 30, is the company's 41st consecutive year there. Mo'Nique, the actress and comedienne, will serve as honorary chair and the honored guest for the opening night gala benefit on Nov. 28, which is a fundraiser to support the company's educational and training programs for yo ung people. Nineteen premieres, repertory favorites and classic Ailey works will be performed for the season.

Mr. Abraham's “Another Night,” which melds elements of dance styles from ballet to hip-hop, features music by Dizzy Gillespie and is commissioned in part by the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth in celebration of the center's 50th anniversary. “From Before,” an ensemble piece created by Mr. Fagan, the Tony-award winning choreographer of “The Lion King,” has a score by Grammy winner Ralph McDonald and blends Caribbean influences and African dance rhythms.

A new production will be staged of “Ailey Classics,” which highlights founder Alvin Ailey's 30-year career, with his signature work “Revelations” performed in its entirety. Tickets starting at $25 go on sale Sept. 4 at the City Center Box Office or online at www.alvinailey.org or www.nycitycenter.org.

A \'Fantastic\' Fitzgerald Story, Resurrected in The New Yorker

By CHARLES MCGRATH

The New Yorker this week is publishing a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Thanks for the Light,” that it rejected three-quarters of a century ago. Turning the story down in 1936, the editors said that it was “altogether out of the question” and added, “It seems to us so curious and so unlike the kind of thing we associate with him and really too fantastic.”

It's not hard to see to see why they thought so. The story, though lovely in its odd way, is a long way from “Winter Dreams” or “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.” “Thanks for the Light,” which Fitzgerald's grandchildren discovered while going through his papers, is just a vignette - only a page long - almost fable-like, and written in a pared-down style that, at the end especially, seems more Hemingway than Fitzgerald. According to Deborah Treisman, the New Yorker's fiction editor, the Fitzgerald scholar James West though it seemed “almost Chekhov ian” and suggested to the grandchildren that they give the magazine another crack at it.

The protagonist of “Thanks for the Light” is a widowed, 40-year-old corset saleswoman, Mrs. Hanson, whose main consolation in life is cigarettes. After being transferred to a new sales territory in the west, she discovers that social disapproval of smoking is even stronger there than it had been back east. The story even suggests there is a law against it. Desperate for a cigarette but embarrassed to smoke on the street, she ducks one afternoon into the vestibule of a Catholic cathedral and, finding herself without matches, obtains a light from a heavenly source. (The story's title may have a double meaning.)

Fitzgerald was himself a smoker and a heavy drinker as well. By the time he wrote “Thanks for the Light,” booze had pretty much destroyed his career and he was trying hard, though not always successfully, to stay on the wagon. So it's tempting to see Mrs. Hanso n's situation not just as a reflection on the plight of female smokers in the 30's but as a metaphor for alcohol dependence. If you read the story this way, the ironic, prayerful moment at the end is another version of the sense of loss and spiritual emptiness that Fitzgerald wrote so movingly about in the essays collected in “The Crack-Up.”

And the strange notion of a national ban on smoking? Prohibition had ended just three years earlier. In many parts of the country, though, Prohibition never took on the atmosphere of dour, blanket disapproval suggested by the hatchet-faced anti-smokers in “Thanks for the Light.” Oddly, the era most vividly evoked by the story is our own, where smoking (except in certain neighborhoods downtown and in Brooklyn) is something one does guiltily and on the sly, the butt cupped behind an ashamed hand. The difference is that, unlike Mrs. Hanson, you can't sneak indoors anywhere, not even into a bar, let alone a church. The street i s your only option.

Moscow Monastery Choir Sets American Tour

By DANIEL J. WAKIN

Five years after its first American tour, the Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir will return. The group is coming for a nine-city tour in October, including a stop at Carnegie Hall on Oct. 15, and will feature an appearance by Dmitry Beloselsky, who performed with the choir during their 2007 tour and went on to sing at the Metropolitan Opera. The monastery was established in 1395 but suppressed during the Soviet era. It was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1994.

Philadelphia Orchestra Emerges From Bankruptcy Protection

By DANIEL J. WAKIN

The Philadelphia Orchestra has stepped into the sunlight, announcing on Tuesday that it formally emerged from operating under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. The development, which happened according to schedule, comes after a little more than a year of operating under the cloud of bankruptcy protection. No major American orchestra, amid periodic waves of economic hardship in the symphonic world, had taken the measure before.

Orchestra officials said the filing, on April 16, 2011, was necessary to deal with a high pension burden and mounting losses from a drop in donations and ticket sales. “There is much critical diligence and fiscal capitalization to be achieved for the orchestra,” its president and chief executive, Allison Vulgamore said in a prepared statement, adding, “and we embrace this new era - and our audiences - with gratitude and dedication.” The orchestra is now playing at the Saratoga Performing Ar ts Center and opens its main season at Verizon Hall on Oct. 18.

New Internet Project for Ricky Gervais

By FELICIA R. LEE

Why just learn English when you can learn English with Ricky Gervais?

The comedian and TV star announced Tuesday on his blog, www.rickgervais.com that he has a new internet project to be called “Learn English with Ricky Gervais.” As he puts it: “I also finished editing the pilot episode of our new internet project. It will be called “Learn English with Ricky Gervais” and it's turned out great. We hope to have it subtitled into as many languages as possible.”

The show will co-star Karl Pilkington. This being Mr. Gervais, do not expect the enterprise to be too serious. The first one will be free, but he is considering charging for it eventually, he says, “Might charge a small fee or get it sponsored. Unlike the audio podcasts this actually costs quite a bit to make, but even if we charge it will still only be a couple of quid.” He adds: “I'm thinking of making a clean version of the pilot available f or download so people can put their own subtitles on it and repost it. You can do a Klingon version if you want. Interactive…so…”

Colosseum Won\'t Be Restored in a Day, but Work Is Finally Scheduled to Start

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

ROME - Italian cultural officials announced Tuesday that a 25-million-euro restoration of the Colosseum (about $31 million) sponsored by the luxury goods maker Tod's would finally begin in December. The start date of the project had been up in the air after a consumers rights association challenged in court the allocation of the sponsorship to Tod's, asserting that other potential benefactors had been shut out of the bid. On July 4 a regional court threw out the complaint, but the consumers association has vowed to appeal.

The appeal will not affect the work, said Mariarosa Barbera, the culture official who oversees archaeological monuments in Rome.

Diego Della Valle, the chairman of Tod's, said that the legal wrangling should give Italians pause. “Even if they are small, local polemics, they can leave a mark,” he said at a crowded news conference in Rome. The message that such squabbles risk giving, he sa id, “is that it's better that people stay away from Italy if they want to be patrons of the arts.”

Instead, he said he hoped his financial backing would be an incentive to other businessmen, both Italian and foreign, “to do the same to restore other monuments.”

The first stage of work involves cleaning and restoring the first century A.D. monument's multiply arcaded façade and the substitution of the metal enclosures that seal off the ground-level arches. The work is expected to end by mid-2015. The project also calls for the creation of a services center, and for the restoration of the various galleries and underground spaces inside the Colosseum.

“No Roman monument was built so that it would last for eternity,” Ms. Barbera said, adding that was the duty of modern conservators “to prolong its life.”

\'Memphis\' Producers, as Closing Nears, Say Show Will Recoup $12 Million Investment

By FELICIA R. LEE

The producers of “Memphis,” the winner of the 2010 Tony Award for best musical, announced that the production would recoup its $12 million investment as of its final performance on Sunday.

Memphis officially opened Oct. 19, 2009, at the Shubert Theater and at its closing will have played 30 previews and 1,166 regular performances.

Rihanna and Drake Lead MTV Video Music Awards Nominations

By JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR.

Rihanna and Drake lead the field of nominees for this year's MTV Video Music Awards, with five nominations apiece, while Katy Perry got four nods for her videos, the cable network announced on Tuesday.

Alicia Keyes will host the award ceremony, which will be broadcast live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. The performers will include One Direction, the British boy band whose hit “What Makes You Beautiful” has been high on the American pop charts since it was released last spring.

Drake and Rihanna's duet on “Take Care” â€"  the hit single from Drake's second studio album â€"  is nominated for Video of the Year.  Rihanna's solo song “We Found Love” is also a contender in that category, along with Katy Perry's “Wide Awake,” Gotye and Kimbra's “Somebody I Used to Know” and M.I.A.'s “Bad Girls.”

There were few surprises on the list of nominees, which clos ely tracked the Billboard charts.  The nominations for Best New Artist reflect what some program directors have said is a bumper crop of unusually catchy pop songs by rookie artists this summer:  fun.'s “We Are Young,”  Carly Rae Jepsen's “Call Me Maybe,” Frank Ocean's “Swim Good,” One Direction's “What Makes You Beautiful” and the Wanted's “Glad You Came.”

In a nod to the rising popularity of electronic music, MTV is adding a category for “Best Electronic Dance Music Video.”  The D.J.s contending for the new award are Skrillex, Duck Sauce, Calvin Harris, Martin Solveig and Avicii.

New Installation at Vatican Museums: Two Priests

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

ROME â€" The Vatican Museums have one of the greatest collections in the world, and the overlap of masterpieces by Michelangelo, Raphael, Giotto, Caravaggio and scores of other artists (not to mention the rooms packed with classical sculpture) can be quite overwhelming. So starting in August the Vatican is making two priests available to museum visitors, whether they are looking for spiritual advice or more basic iconographic information about the subject matter of a work of art.

The priests will be in “two strategic points” of the museums, according to an article last week in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, which presented the project devised by Bishop Giuseppe Sciacca, secretary general of the Governorate of Vatican City. Presumably, the priests will not be inside the Sistine Chapel, where recorded announcements shush chatty visitors on a regular basis (though the Osservatore Romano article implied t hat Michelangelo's “Last Judgment” was wont to thrust spectators into existential crises, requiring the services of a pastor).

Bishop Sciacca told the newspaper that the identity of the Vatican Museums was rooted in the Christian message, “announced to the world” through the artworks within, welcoming people of all faiths and nationalities.

What Roles Do Nature and Nurture Play in Constructing Boys and Girls?

I've always wanted to believe that nurture, more than nature, determines our interests and abilities, and that the differences that exist between children are more about personality than gender.

ABC Shelves Willard\'s Improv Series

By FELICIA R. LEE

Two weeks after the actor and comedian Fred Willard was arrested in Hollywood on a charge of lewd conduct at an adult movie theater, ABC is pulling the last two new episodes of his improv series “Trust Us With Your Life.”

Reruns of “Wipeout” will replace the Tuesday show hosted by Mr. Willard. The 72-year-old actor previously lost his job as narrator of a new PBS series, “Market Warriors,” which pits professional antiques pickers in a competition to spot the best bargain.

Mr. Willard, in an appearance last week on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” said he was embarrassed by his July 18 arrest but that he had done nothing wrong.

Mr. Willard's case is eligible for a diversion program that will keep him from being formally charged with lewd conduct if he completes the required courses, the Los Angeles City Attorney's office has determined.

On Monday Mr. Willard wrote on Twitter:

Wait til u hear my version; much more PG. & my review, lousy film, but theater would make a terrific racquetball court. Full story 2 follow.

- Fred Willard (@Fred_Willard) July 23, 2012

Snoop at Midlife: More Lion Than Dogg

By JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR.

Just call him Snoop Lion.

Snoop Dogg, the veteran West Coast rapper, says he underwent a spiritual and artistic rebirth while making a new album in Jamaica last February. He abandoned rap as his preferred mode of expression, wrote more than a dozen songs in a traditional Reggae style and opened up to a documentary film crew about his long and sometimes violent journey from teenage gang member to a middle-aged hip-hop superstar. Along the way, he says, he shed the name and persona of Snoop Dogg and was rechristened Snoop Lion by Rastafarian priests.

“I have always said I was Bob Marley reincarnated,” Snoop told a crowd of reporters at a news conference at Miss Lily's, a Caribbean restaurant in New York. He added: “I feel I have always been a Rastafari. I just didn't have my third eye open, but its wide open right now.”

The news conference was to release the first single from the album “Reincarn ation,” which was written and recorded over three weeks in Jamaica.

Wearing a Rasta knit cap, sunglasses and a Kobe Bryant jersey, Snoop held forth about positivity, good vibrations and being “called by the spirit” to begin singing Reggae. Now that he had reached the midpoint of his life â€" he turned 40 last yearâ€" he said he wanted to renounce violence and write in the Reggae genre, which he called “music of love.” The new songs, he said, might give him “a chance to perform for kids and grandkids,” something he felt his work as a rapper would not let him do.

Snoop described his decision to do the album as a spiritual revelation, but others involved in the project said it was, in fact, carefully planned and executed.

He brought along the hit-maker Diplo to produce the tracks and hired a team of three songwriters, led by Angela Hunte, who wrote “Empire State of Mind,” the 2009 hit for Jay-Z and Alicia Keyes. He also had in tow a group of documentary filmmakers from Vice Media, led by the producer Codine Williams and the director Andy Capper. The album, his 12th, will be released later this year. The film, also entitled “Reincarnation,” will make its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

There was more than a whiff of midlife crisis in Snoop's remarks. He said he was tired of being a hip-hop artist, of the young man's macho bluster inherent in the form, and he felt the songs he had done so far did not reflect the wisdom he had gained from being a 40-year-old father of three.

“There comes a point where you say I done it all, or there isn't much more to do,” he said. “This was like a rebirth for me.”

“Rap is not a challenge to me,” he said. “I had enough of that. It's not appealing to me no more. I don't have no challenges. I'm ‘Uncle Snoop' in rap. When you get to be an uncle, you need to find a new profession so you can start over and be fre sh again. I want to be a kid again.”

Yet, when asked, Snoop stopped short of saying he would never make another rap album.

Snoop said he experienced a religious epiphany early on in his trip when he visited a Nyabinghi temple in Scotts Pass, in the Clarendon section of the island. A trailer for the documentary showed him smoking marijuana with Rastafarian priests, who renamed him Lion. There were then more scenes of Snoop meeting local people, smoking weed, climbing in the hills. “This is paradise,” he says on the film.

The rapper said he then set out to make a traditional album of what he called “true Reggae music,” gritty and unpolished, with roots extending back to Rocksteady musicians like Ken Boothe and Alton Ellis. “We wanted it to feel like a record out of a 1970s collection,” he said. “When you look back you give respect and love and that is what this record is all about. It's about giving homage to those who created Reggae music.â €

For the first time, Snoop sings most of the songs on the new album and does very little rapping, Diplo said. The album is also a departure for him lyrically, as he takes a more peace-loving approach to life and politics than he has in the past. One song, for instance, “No Guns Allowed,” is a plea for the banning of handguns, a position he says he has finally come around to.

“I have always wanted to make a song that could really stand for something,” he said. “I could never make a song called ‘No Guns Allowed' because I was supposed to be a gangsta.”

Public Theater Offers \'Into the Woods\' for Families in Central Park

By PATRICIA COHEN

The Public Theater has added a family-friendly performance of “Into the Woods,” James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim's musical take on classic fairy tales, to take place on Wednesday Aug. 22 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The free one-act matinee, part of the annual Shakespeare in the Park festival, is intended “to engage younger audiences and to serve families unable to attend evening performances,” the Public said.

Most of the tickets will be distributed through a lottery that can be accessed at www.shakespeareinthepark.org/matinee, starting Aug. 15 at 4 p.m. A limited number of stand-by tickets will be given out on the day of the performance. “The Public wants to make great theater accessible to all, and young people, with their parents, deserve an invitation to be a part of the story,” said the theater's artistic director, Oskar Eustis. “This will be a great and rare opportunity. One we hope is j ust a beginning.”

The regular two-act evening performance of Aug. 22 will take place as scheduled, though ticket distribution will begin at noon instead of 1 p.m. that Wednesday.

Inebriation and Disorder on Tap for Chocolate Factory Fall Season

By PATRICIA COHEN

Drunk actors are not unknown in the theater world, but a lack of sobriety is not generally planned. The experimental Chocolate Factory excels in breaking with tradition, however, and so it is launching its fall season, which runs from Sept. 13 through Jan. 12, with “Â"Hot Box,”Â" a project that requires its creator, the theater'Â's founding artistic director, Brian Rogers, to get overly inebriated. Â"A considerably drunk Mr. Rogers is slated to project real-time images of himself and another performer via a live video feed during the piece,Â" a description says, Â"creating a violently noisy and chaotic sense of disorder.Â"

The Long Island City theater, which supports Â"work that defies easy categorization,Â" is also presenting “Â"Play By Ear,Â"” by the mime Rob List; “There There” by Kristen Kosmas, which is loosely about Chekhov and the actor Christopher Walken; and “Â"Ich, Kürbisgeist,Â"”" by Big Dance Th eater and Sibyl Kempson, which is described as Â"”an olde tyme agricultural revenge play for HalloweÂ'en.”Â" The theater will also present projects by the dance and video artist Jillian Peña and the performance artist Aki Sasamoto. Most tickets are $15 and can be bought online at www.chocolatefactorytheater.org or by calling 212-352-3101.

Film Festival Celebrates Brooklyn

By PATRICIA COHEN

There's “Brooklyn's Finest,” “Brooklyn Rules” and “Brooklyn Lobster,” and later this week, there is the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, which runs Aug. 4-12 at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights and features 45 premieres that all have some sort of link to New York's most populous borough.

The independent films include a Turkish film about Brooklyn's diversity, a documentary about a Hasidic rapper from Brooklyn and a short animation by a Brooklyn-born creator.  “Major events mostly cluster around only a few north Brooklyn neighborhoods,” said Joseph Shahidi, the festival's executive director. “Our innovation is simple: We include everyone, from Boerum Hill to Bergen Beach, Fort Greene to Flatlands.” The festival begins with a free screening of Steven Seagal's 1991 film “Out for Justice” â€" set in Brooklyn, of course â€" and a Seagal look-alike contest at Founders Hall Theater.

Huge Trove of Movie Photos Heading to Auction

By PATRICIA COHEN

Soldiers in World War II stuck the pinups on their lockers while female fans swooned over the photos of Frank Sinatra and Gary Cooper. Now Movie Star News, the company that sold classic glossy prints of celebrities, is going out of business and its entire collection of Hollywood photographs is headed for auction, The Associated Press reported. Today, pictures of stars can be downloaded in a heartbeat but in 1939, when Irving Klaw started the business from his Manhattan bookstore, he discovered a huge market for studio photographs. Mr. Klaw essentially invented the pinup and turned the Playboy model Bettie Page into the genre's “Queen” with images of her acting out bondage and sadomasochistic themes.

“He noticed that kids were tearing out the pictures of the movie stars, so he decided to sell their pictures rather than the books,” said Ira Kramer, who took over the business from his mother and his uncle, Mr. Klaw. St uart Scheinman, co-owner of Entertainment Collectibles, based in Las Vegas, bought the collection, which consists primarily of images made between 1939 and 1979. There are original prints and negatives of Marlon Brando, Bette Davis and the Three Stooges as well as scenes from “The Godfather,” “Citizen Kane” and “Gone With the Wind.” He said that the lot, which is being handled by Guernsey's auction house, could be worth as much as $150 million.

Composer of \'Dark Knight\' Score Writes Song for Shooting Victims

By PATRICIA COHEN

Hans Zimmer, the composer who wrote the score for “The Dark Knight Rises,” has written another song â€" this one dedicated to the victims of the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., The Associated Press reported. Mr. Zimmer, who announced that he recorded the song in London in the days after the killings, posted the song, “Aurora,” on his Facebook page on Friday, saying it “is dedicated to those who lost their lives and were affected by the tragedy.”

The eight-and-a-half-minute song is selling for donations from 10 cents to $2,500 on iTunes and Moontoast and all the proceeds, Mr. Zimmer said, are being donated to the Aurora Victim Relief Fund.

\'The Dark Knight Rises\' Leads at a Sluggish Box Office

By BROOKS BARNES

Going into the weekend, the research firm NRG told film studios that about 20 percent of moviegoers remained hesitant to go to the movies following the July 20 mass shooting in Colorado during “The Dark Knight Rises.” Studios also worried about competition from the London Olympics and poor weather in parts of the country.

Something sure dragged down box office results: North American theaters sold about $135 million in tickets over the weekend, a 25 percent decline from the same period last year, according to studio distribution executives. “The Dark Knight Rises” (Warner Brothers) was No. 1, taking in an estimated $64 million - a 60 percent drop from last weekend, when the movie benefited from strong advance ticket sales. “The Dark Knight Rises” has now taken in about $289.1 million in the United States and Canada, or 14 percent less than its franchise predecessor grossed over the same period in 2008, after adju sting for inflation.

“Ice Age: Continental Drift” (20th Century Fox) was second for the weekend, selling about $13.3 million in tickets, for a three-week total of $114.8 million, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box-office data. “The Watch,” a Fox ensemble comedy, was third, taking in about $13 million. “The Watch,” which cost $68 million to make, experienced publicity setbacks after the February shooting of a Florida teenager by a community watch participant. “Step Up Revolution” (Lionsgate) was fourth, taking in an estimated $11.8 million - the lowest opening-weekend gross in the history of this four-film series; “Revolution” cost about $33 million to make. “Ted” (Universal) managed $7.4 million in ticket sales, enough for fifth place and a five-week total of about $193.6 million.

Rock and Rain Blast Catalpa Festival\'s First Day

By JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR.

The inaugural Catalpa Festival got off to a soggy start on Saturday in Randalls Island Park, but the intermittent rain that turned the lawns in front of the stages into muddy bogs did little to dampen the enthusiasm of people who came out to see the Black Keys and TV on the Radio.

The event is one of several new music festivals started in New York City in recent years, as several entrepreneurs seek to find a formula for outdoor events that will work here. With thunderstorms threatening all day and one heavy rain in the late afternoon, the turnout for what was billed as an eclectic festival was less than the 15,000 people the promoter, David Foran, had predicted it might draw.

Musically, the first day of the festival was dominated by rock of various flavors. TV on the Radio, the Brooklyn indie rock band led by Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone, powered through a set of their energetic songs, which draw on everything from punk beats to slow-jam R&B riffs. On a secondary stage, the Chicago-based jam band Umphrey's McGee did two sets of muscular funk-rock, filigreed with the tight, precise riffs and solos of the band's lead guitarist, Jake Cinninger. A smaller stage at the entrance to the festival was devoted to reggae and, as night came on, electronic dance music, with DJs like Felix Da Housecat.

The rain started again as the Black Keys took the stage at about 9:30. Yet several thousand people pressed up, some of the men lifting women up on their shoulders, as Dan Auerbach, the band's guitarist and vocalist, launched into “Howlin' for You.” A few songs later, Mr. Auerbach and his partner, the drummer Patrick Carney, had the crowd singing along and dancing in the rain as they did “Dead and Gone” and “Gold on the Ceiling,” two hits from their most recent album “El Camino” (Nonesuch).

On Sunday, the second and last day of the festival, the bill features several h ip-hop artists, as Snoop Dogg and ASAP Rocky, performing in the final time slots on the two bigger stages.

The Week in Culture Pictures, July 27

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

More Photographs

A slide show of photographs of cultural events from this week.

Darlene Love Suffers a Minor Heart Attack

By JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR.

Darlene Love, the pop vocalist and actress, suffered a minor heart attack before a concert in New Jersey last weekend, but went ahead and performed the show, according to WCBS FM 101.1.

Ms. Love, who is 71, told the radio station she experienced pain her chest and stomach just before going on stage on Saturday at Tim McLoone's in Asbury Park.   She took painkillers and got through the show.

When the symptoms worsened the following day, her husband took her to a hospital, where doctors told her she had suffered a heart attack and treated her. “We caught it before it got bad, and I went in had the procedure done,” Ms. Love told the station, without describing the treatment. “They told me I would be fine in a couple of days.  I can go back to my regular routine.”

Ms. Love, a Los Angeles native, began her career as a lead vocalist in some of Phil Spector's girl groups, like the Blossoms and the Cry stals, recording 1960s pop hits like “He's a Rebel” and “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah.”  She later became an actress, being best known for her role in the four “Lethal Weapon” films and for her performance on Broadway in “Hairspray.”

AMC Cancels \'The Killing,\' Forcing the Show to Look for a New Home

By BILL CARTER

LOS ANGELES- After a promising start that was undermined by a polarizing decision that alienated fans, the AMC drama “The Killing” was canceled by AMC on Friday after two seasons. The studio that produces the moody murder-mystery drama, Fox Television Studios, announced that it will look to other networks to try to find a new home for the series.

Viewership for “The Killing,” which was based on a Danish original series, dropped precipitously, from an average of nearly 2.2 million in its first season to just under 1.6 million in the second, as the show couldn't recover from the creative decision to not solve the “who killed Rosie Larsen” mystery in the Season 1 finale.

That was what many viewers expected, especially when all the publicity behind the show â€" including a contest for viewers â€" pointed to naming the killer at the end of the first season. Instead, the show spun the mystery out to a second season . The decision was hammered by critics and viewers, and the criticism never let up during the second season, despite consistent praise for the show's two stars, Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman.

In its official statement AMC said, “AMC is incredibly proud of the show and is fortunate to have worked with such a talented team on this project, from showrunner Veena Sud and our terrific partners at Fox Television Studios to the talented, dedicated crew and exceptional cast.”

“The Killing” is the second show canceled by the network, home to shows like “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad” and “The Walking Dead.” Only its 2010 drama “Rubicon” has met that fate before.

Graphic Books Best Sellers: Barbara Gordon Reimagined

By ADAM W. KEPLER

In volume 1 of “Batgirl,” which lands at No. 4 on our hardcover graphic books best-seller list this week, Barbara Gordon returns to the world of costumed super-heroics for the first time since being shot in the spine by the Joker in the 1988 classic “Batman: The Killing Joke” (which happens to be No. 3 on the hardcover list). The series, written by Gail Simone and illustrated by Ardian Syaf, was part of the “New 52” initiative from DC Comics last September, and was the subject of some controversy after it was announced that the character would suddenly be able to walk again after years of being in a wheelchair.

The first six issues of the series, collected in this volume, alleviate the initial concern that DC would simply cast aside this unique aspect of the character's history. This is thanks to the work of Ms. Simone, who does not casually dismiss Barbara's former paralysis, but instead treats it as an ongoing and integral part of her life with physical and emotional consequences.

When George Gustines reviewed the first issue of the series, he wrote, “‘Batgirl' achieves a deft hat trick: a well-shaped reintroduction to a character, an elegant acknowledgement of fundamental history and the establishment of a new status quo. This is a must-buy series.”

As always, the complete lists can be found here, along with an explanation of how they were assembled.

Bristol Palin to Return to \'Dancing With the Stars\'

By BILL CARTER

Los Angeles- Bristol Palin, who attracted a lot of attention and some controversy in her first appearance on “Dancing With the Stars,” will return this fall on a special all-star edition of the long-time ABC hit, the network announced Friday at the Television Critics Association presentations here.

Though billed as a showdown to see which star is the best dancer, the cast of the all-star edition does not include just previous winners, but several who did not finish on top. Besides Ms. Palin, who was a finalist in the fall 2010 edition, that list includes the actress Kirstie Alley, the celebrity Pamela Anderson, the former ‘N SYNC singer Joey Fatone, the actor Gilles Marini and Melissa Rycroft, a former contestant on “The Bachelor.”

The previous winners returning to the show include Kelly Monaco, of the soap “General Hospital,” the race car driver Helio Castroneves, the gymnast Shawn Johnson, the singer Drew Lachey, the Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, and the football star Emmitt Smith.

“Dancing” will borrow an idea from baseball's All-Star game by allowing the viewers to vote on a 13th entrant. The three possibilities are Carson Kressley, the former star from “Queer Eye from the Single Guy,” and Kyle Massey and Sabrina Bryan who are known mainly for acting in shows on The Disney Channel, which, not coincidentally, is a sister channel of ABC. The fall edition begins Sept. 24; the regular format will return in the spring.

\'A Christmas Story, the Musical,\' Gets Its Broadway Moment

By LARRY ROHTER

The movie has been a Christmas cult favorite for almost 30 years now, and a stage musical version was a big hit when it played in five cities late last year. Now “A Christmas Story, The Musical!” is headed to Broadway, just in time for the 2012 holiday season.

“A Christmas Story, The Musical!” will play at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater, with opening night scheduled for Nov. 19, and is scheduled to run through Dec. 30. The creative team includes veterans like the director John Rando (“Urinetown”) and the choreographer Warren Carlyle (“Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway”), with songs by a pair of young newcomers, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

First released in 1983 and set in the Midwest during the Great Depression, “A Christmas Story” follows a 12 year old boy named Ralphie, who is desperate to get a BB gun as a present and endures all sorts of challenges on his quest. Peter Billingsley, who played Ralphie in t he original film version, which was based on a book by the humorist Jean Shepherd, is one of the show's producers.

Book Review Podcast: The How-To Issue

By JOHN WILLIAMS

Podcast Archive

Listen to previous podcasts from the Book Review.

This week, the New York Times Book Review offers a special “how-to” issue, including essays about the craft of writing by Colson Whitehead, Roger Rosenblatt and Augusten Burroughs. Elsewhere in the issue, Nicholas Confessore reviews Samuel L. Popkin's book “The Candidate,” which looks at the importance of organization for presidential campaigns. Mr. Confessore writes:

In 1991, George H. W. Bush was the incumbent who couldn't lose. After his years in the White House, with victory in Iraq and the end of the cold war under his belt, he considered the possible Democratic candidates self-evidently underqualified. He believed that voters would reward him for his credentials on national defense, which had been a Republican franchise over the preceding decade, and th at he could pincer any opponent on social issues like welfare and crime. But Bush suffered from a disconnect typical of incumbents: His White House staff balked at yielding turf to his campaign team.

Also on this week's podcast, Henry Alford discusses two new books about modern manhood; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.

The Sweet Spot: July 27

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

David Carr and A. O. Scott discuss the things we are ashamed to read, watch and listen to, but love anyway. Share your guilty pleasures in the comments space below.

Former MOCA Chief Executive Calls for Deitch\'s Removal

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

A month into a roiling controversy over the direction of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, a former chief executive officer of the museum has called for the removal of its current director, Jeffrey Deitch, the Los Angeles Times reported. Charles E. Young, who ran the museum from 2008 to 2010 and before that served as chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles and president of the University of Florida, made his argument in an email to Eli Broad, the museum's largest donor and most influential board member, that was obtained by the paper.

The museum's current round of troubles began in June with the resignation under pressure of its longtime chief curator, Paul Schimmel, who was known to have a difficult relationship with Mr. Deitch, a former New York gallery owner. Mr. Schimmel's departure was followed by the resignation of four prominent artists from the board: John Baldessari, Catherine Opie, Barbara Kruger and Ed Ruscha. In his email to Mr. Broad, as quoted in the Times, Mr. Young wrote of Mr. Deitch, “I hope that the four-alarm fire now enveloping MOCA has at least given you pause for thought about his appointment and your continued attempts to try to save him for a job for which many (including myself) believe he is unqualified.” He added, “The resignation of dedicated, long-term trustees, and especially four highly respected artists of international acclaim should bother you, David [Johnson], Maria [Bell] and the other continuing members of the Board. The question is ‘What is now to be done?'”

“I will do anything I can to try to right the MOCA ship,” Mr. Young concluded, “but nothing will work, in my mind, without a new Captain/Director.”

Collector Sense Tingling: Comic-Book Sale Yields Powerful Prices

By DAVE ITZKOFF

While the onscreen versions of the Marvel Comics superheroes are racking up dollars at the box office, their printed incarnations are commanding premium prices at the auction block, too. An illustration of Spider-Man that ran on the cover of one of the wall-crawler's comic-book adventures from 1990 was sold on Thursday for more than $650,000, while 1960s comics containing the first appearances of that publisher's Avengers and X-Men teams each sold for six-figure prices.

The auction house Heritage Auctions said that the original cover artwork from Amazing Spider-Man No. 328, drawn by Todd McFarlane and depicting Spidey as he lifts the Hulk over his head (and smashes him into his logo) had been sold for $657,250. The company said this was the highest auction price ever paid for a piece of comic-book art; another illustration by Mr. McFarlane drawn for the cover of Spider-Man No. 1, a series published in the 1990s, was sold at this same auction for $358,500.

The Hollywood Reporter said Heritage Auctions had also sold a copy of X-Men No. 1, the 1963 comic that introduced that mutant ensemble, for $492,937.50, and a copy of Avengers No. 1, which that same year united Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk under one roof, for $274,850.

These represent some of the highest prices paid for comics of the so-called Silver Age of the 1950s and 60s. But they still can't touch the figures generated by Golden Age oldies like Action Comics No. 1, the 1938 introduction of Superman, a copy of which sold for more than $2.1 million last year.

Walking the Streets With \'Sugar Man\'

By MEKADO MURPHY

The documentary “Searching for Sugar Man” tells the story of the veteran singer-songwriter Rodriguez, whose two albums from the late '60s and early '70s failed initially to resonate in the United States, but gained a strong following in South Africa. The film's director, Malik Bendjelloul, uses interviews, archival footage, animation and generous amounts of Rodriguez's music to depict Rodriguez's life.

For the segment below, Mr. Bendjelloul filmed Rodriguez out on a walk down Michigan Avenue in the Cass Corridor section of Detroit and set the walk to Rodriguez's song “Street Boy.”

“When you spoke to people on the streets of Detroit, they all talked about Rodriguez as the guy who was always on foot in a city where no one walks,” Mr. Bendjelloul said in a recent interview at The Times. “He walked extensively to places where people normally don't even go.”

Mr. Bendjelloul and his crew followed Rodrig uez on some walking excursions to show how he would spend his days. He got this footage, which looks like the camera is following Rodriguez on a dolly. But that wasn't the case. “We just used a car, driving really, really slowly, and a tripod on the floor,” he said.

Another scene, scored to the song “Crucify Your Mind,” uses animation to show Rodriguez's walking habits. This sequence starts with black and white illustrations drawn by Mr. Bendjelloul, then transitions to color animation made by a Swedish company the director employed.

Mr. Bendjelloul had planned to use large amounts of animation in the film because there was so little documented footage of Rodriguez. But he ran low on financing and had to find other ways to tell the story. “In the end, there were only two places where we used animation,” he said. Those scenes were created early on when the film was well-funded.

“Searching for Sugar Man” opens in limited release on Frida y and the film's soundtrack, featuring songs from both of the artist's albums, is now available.

The Olympics Blog

Ian Walton/Getty Images

Kieran Behan during a gymnastics competition in January.

Once Told He'd Never Walk Again, Irish Gymnast Is Now Olympian

By JULIET MACUR

Kieran Behan has overcome a botched leg operation and a brain injury that kept him from doing even the simplest things, like sitting or eating, to qualify in three Olympic events.

Investigators Seize Antiquities Thought Stolen from India

By KEVIN FLYNN

Federal investigators on Thursday seized more than $20 million worth of Asian antiquities from a Manhattan dealer who they suspect has been importing looted antiquities from India for several years.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office issued an arrest warrant for the dealer, Subhash Kapoor, on charges of possessing stolen property. Mr. Kapoor owns a gallery on the Upper East Side known as Art of the Past that advertises its role in providing antiquities to several of the world's major museums.

He is currently in India where he is being held on similar charges related to the theft of antiquities, according to a statement from the office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which made the seizures.

Among the items seized from a Manhattan storage unit was a bronze sculpture dating from the Chola Period, which ran from the late 9th century to the 13th century. Authorities valued the statue at nearly $2 .5 million and said it was among several items that had been stolen from temples in India.

There was no answer at Mr. Kapoor's Madison Avenue gallery, which the New York Post reported appears to have been closed for several weeks.

Authorities said the investigation began in 2007 based on a tip from Indian authorities. Some of the artifacts seized Thursday had been previously displayed in major museums, they said, and in some cases, they said, Mr. Kapoor had created false provenances to disguise the fact that they were stolen.

“These seizures send a clear message to looters, smugglers and dealers to think twice before trying to profit from illicit cultural property in the United States,” said James T. Hayes Jr., the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New York.

Venice Film Festival Announces Lineup

By DAVE ITZKOFF

New works from Terrence Malick, Brian De Palma and Harmony Korine will be among the 17 films presented in competition at the Venice Film Festival this summer, its organizers announced on Thursday. Among the features that will be vying for the Golden Lion trophy at the festival, which runs from Aug. 29 through Sept. 8, are “Passion,” a sexual thriller directed by Mr. De Palma and starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace; “Spring Breakers,” Mr. Korine's film starring Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens as young revelers who decide to rob a fast-food restaurant; and “To the Wonder,” a drama starring Ms. McAdams, Ben Affleck, Rachel Weisz and Javier Bardem, and written and directed by Mr. Malick, who by his own yardstick is working at a positively blistering pace these days.

Films that will be shown out of competition at the festival include “Enzo Avitabile Music Life,” a documentary by Jonathan Demme about Mr. Avita bile, the Italian singer-songwriter and saxophonist; “Bad 25,” Spike Lee‘s documentary about Michael Jackson; and “The Company You Keep,” a new feature directed by Robert Redford and starring him, Shia LaBeouf and Julie Christie. Not on the list was Paul Thomas Anderson's much anticipated new film, “The Master,” which will receive a theatrical release in October but has yet to appear on the festival circuit (or anywhere else, for that matter). It was previously announced that the Venice Film Festival would open with “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” a feature directed by Mira Nair (“The Namesake”) and adapted from that Mohsin Hamid novel.

Wrestling\'s \'Raw\' Hits a Ratings High

By ADAM W. KEPLER

The 1,000th episode of World Wrestling Entertainment's “Raw” on USA Network pile-drove, clothes-lined and then threw the rest of the cable competition into the turnbuckle on Monday night, as it drew its largest audience in 10 years. According to Nielsen, the three-hour episode averaged 6 million total viewers, up 18 percent from last week's episode which had 4.9 million total viewers. 3.1 million viewers who tuned in were in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic, the group deemed most important by advertisers. It easily finished first in all ratings categories among cable programming and beat most of the programming on the broadcast networks as well, with only “Hell's Kitchen” and “MasterChef” on Fox drawing larger audiences at 6.5 million and 6.4 million total viewers respectively.