Category: theatre

In December New York comedians got together to form an organization to negotiate higher pay from comedy clubs. “Two months ago it sent letters to the owners of 11 clubs around the city asking for raises, and as of last week all but 4 of the clubs had acquiesced and submitted proposals for a new pay scale. Yesterday the union made contact with the four remaining clubs and today will meet with their representatives.”

Seattle Repertory Theatre’s hiring of David Esbjornson as its new artistic director signals a new era for the company. And that new era will be marked by…

London is considering a ban on smoking indoors. This means everywhere – including on stages of theatres. “Cigars and cigarettes feature heavily in many stage productions, from the Old Masters by Simon Gray to Kathleen Turner’s portrayal of Mrs Robinson in the stage production of The Graduate.” So what…. audiences will have to imagine smoking scenes?

The $38 million building “will be the first permanent home for the Theater for a New Audience, a troupe known for its productions of Shakespeare and classical drama. The theater is the first linchpin of the new BAM Cultural District, a $650 million effort to convert vacant and underused properties in the area into space for arts organizations.”

Kevin Spacey’s debut running London’s Old Vic Theatre wasn’t exactly a smash with the critics. This season, though, he’s taking to the stage doing what he’s best-known for: acting.

The press is in for a rough time on Chicago stages these days. “Maybe newspapers had it coming. All those egos running around in fedoras the first half of the 20th Century. Then, more grimly toward the end of that century and in this one, all that unattractive insecurity and self-loathing and corporatespeak. All that nervous-nelly focus-grouping. All those scandals. The stereotypes of reporter-as-scum are legion.”

Far from being risky, conscience has proved lucrative for impresarios. Last year’s hit political plays were mostly built on verbatim evidence with a bit of spin and make-believe thrown in. This year, the formula has changed. Donald Rumsfeld look-alikes are out. The arts have stopped grumbling about the results of bad political decisions and moved towards driving the agenda. Still, two can play at that game. As artistic directors wrestle with the great social issues of the day, Tony Blair has, in a modest way, been dabbling in culture.

What’s with all the mechanical special effects in Broadway theatres? “It’s an odd irony. The performing arts, by their nature, are handmade and transient. But on Broadway, the temptation to reach for the power tools is almost overwhelming. Why, the logic too often goes here, hone your concept with fine-grit sandpaper when a chainsaw will do the job so much more efficiently? There may be some ragged edges here and there, but everyone will get the general idea, and, these days, who wants more than a rough outline?”

Is Broadway being eclipsed by an even glitzier and more glamorous new center of American theater? In a word, yup. “Las Vegas has taken over for New York — certainly for a generation, perhaps for good. This is a seismic shift in the American cultural landscape that has yet to be fully realized. Led by the constantly self-reinventing Cirque du Soleil, which has taken over the high-end entertainment world here and moved light-years away from its street-circus roots, Las Vegas is running full-tilt toward experimental, high-end art created by figures from the opera and performance worlds, even as Broadway drowns in a sea of movie knockoffs, retreads of rock-music catalogs and other forms of cheap pastiche.”

“The industrial corner of Brooklyn located about five minutes from the East Village by L train is known as a haven for Orthodox Jews and art school hipsters. In the 1990’s, it became home to an alternative gallery district. But over the past few years, Williamsburg, Brooklyn has also evolved into something else: a full-fledged theater district. Call it Off Off Off Broadway.”