And while the parties afterward, if they happened at all, used to be intimate affairs at restaurants like Sardi's - where the cast members made grand entrances and were greeted with applause - now the events are large, costly, heavily produced extravaganzas that are considered a pro forma perk for investors.

A salon painter par excellence, Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889) produced florid history, biblical and allegorical extravaganzas as the radical notions of French Realism swirled right past him.

Ms. Bernhardt, who has produced extravaganzas on the Brooklyn Bridge, the Staten Island Ferry and at the base of the Eiffel Tower, isn't particularly concerned that her audience will be one of milling commuters.

Unlike their European counterparts, most American frames were molded of a compositional material rather than carved, which made it possible to produce elaborate extravaganzas in rather short order.

Ever since Atlanta snared the Olympics, half the cities of America - New York included - have been dreaming of doing the same thing or trying to produce extravaganzas with just the right aroma of world-classiness.

After these financial setbacks, Courtneidge next produced less expensive extravaganzas in the provinces, including Oh, Caesar!

The Fusion division of AOB Media, which stages the shows, has a contract to produce extravaganzas for the next four Lunar New Years.

Actually, our best answer might be found in the very phenomenon of a film industry that takes no interest in that most human of pursuits - complex and meaningful stories - and produces only pseudo fairy tales or empty extravaganzas with ever more sophisticated special effects.