Category: theatre

“Lost plays have a romantic pull for theater people, especially for those in love with the past. Resurrecting a forgotten work is a bit like recovering a gold cigarette case from a sunken ocean liner: Wipe away the barnacles and who knows? You may find something that glitters. Of course there’s also the possibility that the thing will simply come apart in your hands. That danger, too, is part of the attraction. And in the case of regional theaters that need to hold on to subscribers, to strike a balance between unorthodox program choices and seat-filling chestnuts, adventurism can come at a price.”

The TKTS half-price theatre ticket booth in Times Square is starting a “palys-only” line. “Tickets to both Broadway and off-Broadway nonmusical plays will be sold at the play-only line, while tickets for both plays and musicals will continue to be sold at the other lines.” The idea is to encourage sales of tickets to plays, which are a harder sell than musicals.

“It’s no longer sufficient, say artists and educators, for theater and other art forms merely to entertain. Nor is it enough for young people to come away from an art experience being able to articulate ‘that was funny’ or ‘that was pretty’. Both society and entertainment are becoming more socially and culturally segregated (think red state vs. blue state) and academic achievement is being increasingly scrutinized under the cold, unforgiving glare of standardized testing. In that stratified environment, theaters for young people are reaching across the footlights and into classrooms — not teaching them what to think but rather how to think.”

What’s the formula for success in the theatre, asks Michael Billington? “I’ve argued till I’m blue in the face that, in the arts, caution kills while risk ultimately pays off. It’s an approach made possible only by subsidy. But if you look at which theatres have prospered in recent decades, it is invariably those that have been artistically daring.”

Producers in London’s West End are considering adding Sunday matinees to their schedule. “This makes complete sense from the perspective of the public. Alongside retail and sport, all other forms of secular entertainment are now freely available on Sunday afternoons, when it’s cheaper to drive into city centres and park. It’s also better for families and older people to be on their way home by 6pm, it’s nice not to have to rush straight from work, and you can easily eat before or afterwards. Broadway has been doing it for years, so why don’t we?”

“Overall, according to the report, the past season generated the third-highest attendance in Main Stem history, rising to 11.6 million tickets purchased from 11.4 million during the prior season and nearing the all-time record of 11.9 million achieved during the 2000-01 season. The numbers can be analyzed another way, however: In a sign of just how difficult it has become to mount plays on Broadway, 10.02 million people saw a musical last season, a new record, versus the 1.57 million who saw a play, the lowest figure in almost a decade.”

“A study conducted by an infectious diseases specialist concludes that the bard likely had syphilis and that mercury, used to treat the disease, could have poisoned the playwright and contributed to his death.”

“Reality superproducer Mark Burnett and Donald Trump, executive producers of NBC’s reality hit, are developing “The Apprentice: The Musical.” Burnett is writing the book for the musical, which is under way, with several songs already written.”

The popular and quirky Blue Man Group show is headed to Toronto this week, and the Canadian Actors Equity union isn’t happy about it, and is organizing a picket lin to protest the group’s lack of union participation. Blue Man Group’s non-union status has never run afoul of the American version of Actors Equity, because “their show doesn’t have a book (script) and consequently wouldn’t fall under our jurisdiction.” Blue Man’s organizers are reportedly stunned at the objections of the Canadian union.

Dodger Theatricals has a history of mounting some of the worst flops on Broadway, and Michael Riedel says that Good Vibrations, the company’s latest baby-boomer-magnet of a show is headed down the same path. ” Two telltale signs of trouble emerged last week. The director David Warren was brought onboard to help bail out his friend, John Carrafa, the ‘official’ director and choreographer of the show; and the opening night has been pushed back a week… Poor Carrafa is already getting most of the blame what one Broadway insider calls ‘the worst show ever booked in a theater.'”