Category: theatre

The Metropolitan Opera’s new boss Peter Gelb is intent on bringing more theatrical talent to the Met’s stages. “It’s essential, in order elevate the theatricality of our operas to the high musical standards that are already there, that we need to bring in the world’s great directors. Many of them are theatre directors who occasionally dabble in opera. Some are opera directors who branch off into theatre.”

“The National Theatre of Scotland, which took Edinburgh by storm this summer, has refused an invitation to tour its phenomenally successful play Black Watch to the National Theatre in London.”

Live art is big in London. “From one-off, large-scale outdoor events, to intimate one-to-one performances in someone’s living-room, live art is popping up everywhere, and tapping into audiences’ hunger for unique experiences.”

Renovation of Philadelphia’s historic Sameric Theatre has been shut down. “Clear Channel, of which LiveNation is a subsidiary, bought the theater in January 2005 from the Goldenberg Group, and said it would turn the Sameric into a multi-use entertainment house.”

A British reality show is in the process of choosing a Maria for a new West End production of the Sound of Music. “Now the crunch is nigh. On Saturday, the three finalists from the 2,000 or so women who auditioned — Connie Fisher, 23; Siobhan Dillon, 21; and Helena Blackman, 23 — will have their last chance to woo the public. Then, after a 90-minute countdown, one will set off on a stage career blessed by Lord Lloyd Webber.”

“Veteran French impresario Robert Hossein is undertaking a re-enactment of Ben-Hur in France’s biggest football stadium. “The sword-and-sandal epic in which Charlton Heston swept to victory after cinema’s most famous chariot race is to be staged on an epic scale at the arena where France won the football World Cup in 1998. A cast of several hundred will recreate naval battles between the Roman fleet and Mediterranean pirates, and stage ancient Roman gladiator fights and a live chariot race.”

“Many colleges around the country feel obliged to caution entering students about what to expect and what to avoid, but few offer more hard-hitting warnings than New York University’s theatrical orientation created by the New York playwright and director Elizabeth Swados. The musical ‘The Reality Show: NYU,’ which has already played to nearly 5,000 incoming students at the university and will be shown twice more this month, tells of drugs and date rape, drinking and anorexia, depression and suicide.”

London’s West End is flooded with musicals this fall. But can they all survive?

“A play about Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca has been canceled after its proposed performance ignited political passions still simmering over Spain’s 1936-1939 civil war.”

“For most of its history, Broadway was like a train station. Shows came and went; some big hits would stick around for a few years, then leave before too long. But things have changed, or to be precise, stopped changing. September is traditionally the time when the marquees light up with new titles, productions fresh from the road tryout or from a successful run at a smaller theater. This year, however, 10 of the shows on Broadway have played more than 1,000 performances, 7 of them more than 2,000.”