Category: theatre

The new Broadway revival of “A Chorus Line” has some of the dancers whose stories were used in the show remembering that they weren’t properly compensated for those stories. “At one point, when we were young and stupid, we kind of signed our lives away, and they exploited that. We were the authors of the show, and we should have been paid accordingly.”

“An unscientific survey of 30 recent, current or forthcoming Broadway musicals reveals that only 7 have an old-fashioned overture.”

While Germany’s cultural establishment argues over the cancellation of an opera production deemed insensitive to Islamic fundamentalists, a Frankfurt theatre is quietly going ahead with a satirical play about Jews and Muslims in the Mideast that might prove far more provocative. “Members of the German-Israeli Society, which works to further relations between the countries, wrote to the theater condemning the play as anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli.”

“In the summer of 1940, Tennessee Williams, who was living in Provincetown, [Massachusetts,] fell hard for a young dancer named Kip Kiernan. It was the writer’s first real love affair, and his first broken heart. Williams wrote a thinly disguised theatrical version of the relationship that was lost for years. Now the world premiere of that resurrected play, The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer, will be performed in Provincetown, where it was set and written.”

The Blue Man Group is one of those shows that seems to run forever whereve it plays. But not in Toronto, where the show is closing after a disappointing run. “The backlash from the show’s union difficulties and the sheer age of the property itself are the more likely culprits — and not the same general audience malaise blamed for the early departure of The Lord of the Rings.”

“Broue, a ribald look at working-class life set inside a Quebec tavern, has earned a place in the record books. The play, which opened in Montreal on March 21, 1979, has been performed by the original trio of cast members since the first show. For that, it has earned a place in Guinness World Records as the longest-running theatrical play with the same cast.”

“Please God, let the season be different from all other seasons. Please don’t let it be dominated by any more revivals, British actors and Eve Ensler. Please get them to bring the price of tickets down and make all welcome at the theater. Please God, let one new, thrilling voice of an unknown playwright be heard throughout the land. Thanks a lot. That’s all for now.” Now one of these prayers has been answered…

“Mel Brooks’ The Producers, which once looked as if it would run forever, suddenly has lost its footing. In the last few weeks, the bottom has fallen out of the box office, and the cast has been playing to half-empty houses. A show that once grossed $1 million a week is now pulling in about $450,000 – not quite enough to cover its running costs.”

“Does it matter? Isn’t theatre something that’s supposed to happen in the moment rather than be artificially preserved? I’d say it matters hugely for both practical and symbolic reasons. The great advantage of the Theatre Museum was that a large part of our history was stored under one roof.”

“Though there has been a huge amount of moral support for the Theatre Museum, money for the most part has not been forthcoming. From the beginning, we had always seen this as being a joint venture between ourselves, the V&A and any number of others from the theatre world. We did not want it to be a Theatre Museum dominated by the ROH. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find those other collaborators.”