Chicago??
As part of an effort to mend its reputation as a cultural vacuum, Dubai is to stage “Chicago”, a hugely popular musical about adultery, murder and brassy female entertainers in the 1920s. (It was adapted into a hit film starring Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2002.)
The show does not come cheap: Done Events, a state-owned production company, is allegedly investing several million dollars. While the government expects to earn this money back selling tickets, it hopes, more importantly, to position the emirate as a regional entertainment hub. But there may still be some way to go. As one insider said: “If you go to Las Vegas, you walk down from your five-star hotel room and watch Celine Dion or Barry Manilow. In Dubai, you pay more for your room, but you go downstairs and get some dreadful couple with an organ playing cover versions of Celine Dion and Barry Manilow. We had to do something.”
Source: The Economist - Dubai Briefing.
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They really don't get it do they??? People call it a cultural vacuum because it lacks in anything related to Arabian culture. So to remedy this "vacuum" you don't continue sucking in western culture, you try to suck in some Arab culture, need help? Visit Cairo or Damascus.
The show does not come cheap: Done Events, a state-owned production company, is allegedly investing several million dollars. While the government expects to earn this money back selling tickets, it hopes, more importantly, to position the emirate as a regional entertainment hub. But there may still be some way to go. As one insider said: “If you go to Las Vegas, you walk down from your five-star hotel room and watch Celine Dion or Barry Manilow. In Dubai, you pay more for your room, but you go downstairs and get some dreadful couple with an organ playing cover versions of Celine Dion and Barry Manilow. We had to do something.”
Source: The Economist - Dubai Briefing.
***
They really don't get it do they??? People call it a cultural vacuum because it lacks in anything related to Arabian culture. So to remedy this "vacuum" you don't continue sucking in western culture, you try to suck in some Arab culture, need help? Visit Cairo or Damascus.
posted by Rihab at 10:44 PM
3 Comments:
Oh God! they REALLY don't get it!
how about folkoric nights depicting the rich culture of Arab nations? starting with Gulf countries?
How sad!
Yeah it is very sad!
But that's the Arab dilemma, I guess, they constantly complain about the evils of Western culture and yet they are willing addicts of it.
Woah, I didn't hear about this till now !!!Such events usually get a lot of propoganda around here.
Anyway, you are right.The UAE or Dubai,for that matter, is sorely lacking in the portrayal of its culture.That is why, when the first local 3D cartoon " Al Fareej" came out, we gobbled it up because it represented a window into their concealed culture:)
They are trying to attract Western tourists by what they already have in their own countries.Corny!!!
I just came back from Egypt & I feel your post to the core:)
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