Category: theatre

The League of Chicago Theatres is launching an online ticket service to serve its 183 members. “The league is considering using software that can capture and massage information about patrons and their theater-going preferences. Such data would be useful for theaters and could guide patrons to other plays they may be partial to, much as Amazon.com does with goods on its Web site.”

As Pittsburgh braces for the impact of the touring Radio City Christmas Spectacular to hit local arts groups, arts leaders are discovering that there’s just no way to tell in advance what that impact will be. A holiday entertainment glut is a possibility, which might see ticketbuyers shunning the same old Nutcracker performances in favor of the shiny new Rockettes. But the expected 30% spike in winter heating costs could also cause sales slumps all around. In any case, the beleagured Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre doesn’t need the new headache.

St. Paul’s Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, which plays host to a range of traveling musicals as well as serving as the home base for Minnesota Opera and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, has balanced its budget for the third year in a row. “For the first time in three years, the center was able to draw funds — about $600,000 — from its endowment… And, buoyed by a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation, the Ordway saw contributions increase by 17 percent over last year. After three years of fiscal discipline and a half-million-dollar bailout from the city of St. Paul, the Ordway seems again ready to look forward.”

The City of Chicago is creating a new ordinance to ease licensing on theatres. “The new rules will cut much of the red tape associated with current applications for Public Place of Amusement licenses, whose guidelines would continue to govern larger theaters. “This will make it a lot less cumbersome for theaters to go through the licensing process. It is just much more sensible and user-friendly to look at small spaces in a different way from movie theaters, bowling alleys and nightclubs.” In November 2003, inspectors from the city’s Revenue Department abruptly closed down a number of off-Loop theaters and cited them for an array of previously unknown violations.

Buffalo artists are protesting a county funding plan that would cut loose one of the city’s cultural biggies – the Studio Arena Theater. “The all-volunteer county Cultural Resources Advisory Board recently came out with that surprise decision. The plan offered by the committee – which after due deliberation makes recommendations on how much and who gets funds the county sets aside for cultural organizations – is for the $3.5 million tucked away for “the culturals” to be distributed among five prime institutions, instead of six that included Studio, which was the case in 2005.”

The Juilliard School’s director of drama is stepping down to devote himself full-time to his other job, as head of the Washington, D.C.-based Shakespeare Theatre Company. The company is preparing to open a new 776-seat theatre in Washington, and Michael Kahn felt he could no longer juggle both jobs. “He has taught at Juilliard since 1968 and run the drama division since 1992… The list of actors Kahn has helped train includes Val Kilmer, Laura Linney, Frances Conroy, Mandy Patinkin, Patti LuPone, Christine Baranski, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Bradley Whitford and on and on.”

When a Microsoft research scientist offered the Oregon Shakespeare Festival free software along with his usual cash contribution a few years ago, festival officials jumped at the opportunity to boost their techno-capability. “The festival’s technical staff put together a lengthy wish list of software, some of it basic operating system software, some of it more specialized, and far more expensive… New computers were purchased, and a wireless network was built. A small group of programmers at the festival was able to write customized software to cue lights, position scenery, keep track of props and costumes, project synchronized video, sell tickets and administer the database of members.” There isn’t a single aspect of the festival that hasn’t been transformed by the new equipment.

“Scotland’s oldest working theatre faces demolition after the trust that runs it submitted plans to build a new theatre complex, including a restaurant and studio. JM Barrie, Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel have all trodden the boards at the Dumfries Theatre Royal, which was built from money raised in part by Robert Burns, Scotland’s most famous poet. But the trust wants to raze it and build a new theatre.”

Composer Joseph Brooks’s newest musical, In My Life, has been running on Broadway for three weeks now, and judging from the terrible reviews and lackluster box office it has attracted, you might expect that it would shortly be folding up its tent and disappearing into the ether. But Brooks is apparently quite a determined sort, and he has taken the unique step of mounting a dizzying blitz of advertising designed to counteract the bad press and build buzz for a show which, to this point, has generated none on its own. Is the massive ad buy working? Well, that depends. Ticket sales are undeniably up, but the show is still losing money hand over fist.

Andrew Lloyd-Webber has decided to buy out his partners in owning several West End theatres. “Lloyd-Webber, 57, who co-owned the West End venues, has agreed to buy out his partners, equity group Bridgepoint, for an undisclosed sum. He immediately announced a £10m refurbishment programme for the buildings over the next five years.”