Lyn Gardner: “It’s probably true that a bad musical … is harder to endure than a bad play, but that’s only because there’s so much more to get right (and which can go wrong). Bad musicals are uniquely memorable, which is why it’s easy to compile a musical hall of shame. But these things are complicated. Plays more often get a chance to be re-staged and reassessed.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Cameron Mackintosh To Revive Two Of His Biggest Flops
“Is Cameron Mackintosh getting nostalgic in his old age? Having hinted that Miss Saigon might follow Les Miserables onto celluloid, the theatre producer has revealed that two of his biggest flops are in line for major revivals” – Moby Dick and Martin Guerre.
Oakland Museum Suffers Second Burglary In Three Months
“Police believe that the man who stole a Gold Rush-era artifact from the Oakland Museum of California this week is the same burglar who made off with gold nuggets and other items from the institution in November, investigators said Wednesday.”
Simon Rattle To Leave Berlin Philharmonic – After Another Five Years
“Sir Simon Rattle has announced he is to leave the Berlin Philharmonic when his contract as chief conductor expires in five years’ time. … It is the beginning of the end of a relationship that has earned Rattle almost pop-star status in the German capital.”
Time Out Sells Whatsonstage.com To Theatermania
“Theatre news and ticketing website Whatsonstage.com has been bought by the New York-based Theatremania.com, ending its ownership by Time Out Group after less than a year. Whatsonstage and Theatremania operate in a similar manner, with both running news, reviews and ticketing websites as well as organising exclusive theatre trips for their members.”
Vicky Featherstone’s Plans For The Royal Court Theatre
She led the National Theatre of Scotland from infancy to worldwide renown. Now she’s headed down to London for her “absolute dream job.”
Britain’s Royal Opera Announces Ambitious Programme Of New Works
“The Royal Opera House today unveiled a programme of radical new operas, including an adaptation of The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks’s cult novel about a psychopathic teenager. The move could transform the image of the venue, which has previously left rival English National Opera to court controversy over avant-garde work.”
Germans Just Love Mark Twain
More than 130 years after Samuel Clemens spent some time living in Heidelberg, he “is often the first person to come to mind when Germans think of Americans.”
The Caucasian King Of K-Pop
“He was exhausted, his makeup itched, and his tight white pants were cutting off the circulation in his legs. Still, Brad Moore smiled and waved from the television-studio stage to the crowd of screaming, clapping Korean teenagers.”
The Much-Mourned Matriarch Of Canadian Modern Dance
“Toward Light: A Tribute to Rachel Browne”, playing in Toronto and Vancouver this month, offers eight works that “span 48 years, from her first choreography, the joyous solo Odetta’s Songs and Dances (1964), to the poignant trio Momentum (2012), which premiered a month before her death.”