Category: theatre

This year’s Tony Award nominations scored a few surprises. “The musical The Drowsy Chaperone earned the most Tony nominations on Tuesday when it garnered 13, but the biggest surprise was the 11 earned by The Color Purple, the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel that has earned tepid praise but has been well-attended.”

Want to know who should win this year’s Tonys? Terry Teachout’s already handicapped the field…

“In most cases, the notable absences are within categories, not entire categories themselves. But an exception is the brand-new award for best performance by an actor or actress in a recreated role, which was expected to go to either Jonathan Pryce for stepping into “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” or Harvey Fierstein for recreating the role of Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof.” To the surprise of many, no award will be given this year in this category.”

” ‘American Idol’ has absolutely become a big deal here in terms of finding new talent. Watching this show has become another way to locate incredibly talented people — it’s like a televised open call. I watch it, and certain people on our staff have to watch it. Our inside joke is we root for our favorites to lose so that they can become available to us…”

Scotland’s new National Theatre picks up 11 nominations in the annual Scottish Critics Awards. “The first few months of the National Theatre of Scotland has proved to be both a popular and critical success. It is in line with its innovative model that all its nominations are the result of partnerships and co-productions with the existing talent pool.”

Andrew Lloyd Webber, testifying before the House of Lords, says playwrights need to take more risks. “We are not really seeing the young writers, or risks being taken in my particular area.” He also called for “the same sort of tax advantages that are given to film and television, to be extended to commercial theatre”.

Students at a high school in the Bronx were told this week they will be able to stage a production of “Chicago” in their school after all. The Broadway producers of the show had originally said rights for the show would not be granted because the school was too close to Broadway. “No one within a 75-mile radius of the New York production can get the rights. Those who violate the rules could face hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation.”

“Billy Elliot made a phenomenally successful transfer from screen to stage last year. On Friday, Stephen Daldry’s production celebrates its first birthday, and the three original Billys – the cast works on a rotation system – will return for a special gala.” And this brings up an interesting question: where, exactly, do they keep finding new Billy Elliots? As it turns out, there’s a factory for that…

Kevin Spacey, who has come under fire from the London press recently for his management of the city’s struggling Old Vic, has unveiled a new season that he hopes will get the critics (and the public) back on his side and into his theatre. “After the critical bruising the theatre’s recent output has received, the forthcoming productions include some obvious crowd-pleasers… But the programme does include some more adventurous choices.”

Could acting lessons help the elderly to keep their minds sharp and stave off cognitive decline? A husband-wife teaching team at Elmhurst College in Chicago thinks so, and they’ve begun offering such lessons. “The National Institutes of Health has awarded the Noices two grants to fund research on improving brain function in older adults. With the first grant, they trained seniors who lived independently. With their most recent grant, they are teaching acting techniques to seniors who live in government-funded retirement homes.”