Category: theatre

Apparently, things just aren’t worth enjoying anymore unless they’re “extreme.” The tag gets put on everything from skateboarding to soft drinks, so why not theatre? “Marathons (as savvy marketers have called them since the running boom of the 1970’s) defy conventional ideas about how long full-length plays are. These productions can run 20 hours or more.”

“Lloyd Webber is at a crossroads and the path he chooses over the next weeks will redraw the map of London’s theatreland and, it is believed, possibly change it forever. He is London’s biggest theatrical landlord and it has been known for months that he is considering selling his business, but we can reveal that, after this weekend’s festival he will meet his advisers to consider a range of options that include a complete withdrawal from the West End.”

“Since it began in 1961, Theaterworks/USA has become the largest touring children’s theater company in the country, with as many as 14 shows on the road at a time, traveling to 1,320 cities, towns, villages and hamlets, including Washington and Los Angeles as well as Cando, N.D. (population: 1,372). But now the organization also wants to make it big in its own hometown, which happens to be New York City, where getting noticed is not easy.”

Shakespeare & Company, a summer troupe based in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, is selling half of a 63-acre parcel of land it bought in 2000 in an effort to wipe out a $2.2 million debt and give the company a modicum of financial stability. “The sale also means that company founder and artistic director Tina Packer’s stalled campaign to re-create on the site London’s Rose Theatre, where several of Shakespeare’s plays were mounted, can move forward again.”

London’s West End is doing well right now. But how to keep it thriving? How might it have to change to stay succesful in 20 years time? Herewith some strong opinions…

“The owner of Broadway’s third largest theater chain is looking for a partner. Rocco Landesman, the colorful Broadway producer who bought Jujamcyn Theaters last year for $30 million, is trying to sell a 50 percent stake in the company for about $50 million.” But Landesman, who is pursuing some of Broadway’s richest financiers for the partnership, could get more than he bargained for, given Broadway’s long history of political and financial squabbles.

A fire has destroyed Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s scene shop. “The Rep’s two theaters and adjacent School of Theatre in downtown Berkeley were not affected by the three-alarm fire, but the rented warehouse where the company has built all its sets for 15 years, located many blocks away in northwest Berkeley, was destroyed. The Rep’s immediate losses, estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, were principally in the form of tools and materials.”

A Lloyd-Webber is close to selling four of his 12 West End theatres for about £11 million. “The sale would change the face of theatreland, with a big new theatre owner – Broadway producer Max Weitzenhoffer – entering the West End fray.”

“Take, for example, the Postman Always Rings Twice. On stage we had the dense lacklustre performance of Kilmer, in the audience there was Tracey Emin trying to start a standing ovation and Terry Wogan looking on. Is this what theatre has become? Celebrity Luvve Island? Ewan McGregor in Guys and Dolls, Ross Geller in Some Girl(s) – oops, sorry it’s David Schwimmer isn’t it, and Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic. Then there’s the audience which is equally star-studded. It’s as if success can only be measured by your sleb count and the length of your ovation depends on the number of stars studding the cast not the quality of the performance.”

A major sponsor at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival has withdrawn its support for a play and ordered its logo removed from all publicity surrounding it. “Smirnoff, which sponsors The Underbelly venue, has a reputation for cutting-edge advertising, but the content of Dirty Works, by New York-based British playwright Jamie Linley, has proved too much for the vodka firm.”