Category: theatre

Two Edinburgh theatres have begun offering a money-back guarantee: buy a ticket to a show, and, when it’s over, if you didn’t like it you get your money back. “We’re always trying to do something a bit innovative when it comes to attracting audiences and this one is really aimed at people who are a bit nervous about going to the theatre.”

Actors Len Cariou, Gregory Hines, Ian McKellen, Brian Murray and Estelle Parsons, playwright A.R. Gurney, designer Santo Loquasto and producer Elizabeth Ireland McCann will be inducted into The Theater Hall of Fame on Jan. 24, 2005.

“David Farr is leaving the Bristol Old Vic to take over the Lyric Hammersmith in London. He joins the theatre next June, replacing current artistic director Neil Bartlett, who steps down at the end of this month.”

So Richard Dreyfus is unable to go on in “The Producers” when it opens in London in a few days. But wait – it’s not a disaster. Indeed, it could make the show a bigger hit, as Nathan Lane steps in to fill the role. “Whether or not Dreyfuss is a victim of the role, or the demands of the backers, or just bad luck – one thing’s clear: for those in possession of a ticket, it’s the equivalent of getting an unexpected upgrade from economy to club class. And, in many ways, the moment of panic couldn’t have arrived at a better time – everyone will now be pulling together harder than ever to ensure that it’s all right on the night.”

This season’s big new thing in New York theatre? It’s Greeks. New York is awash in Greek revival plays. “Between the threat of terrorism and the war in Iraq, we’re all apparently in desperate need of a whopping catharsis—or at least a few old-comedy laughs at the rulers driving us to the brink of catastrophe.”

A three-part TV series on the history of the Broadway musical runs on PBS this week. “If the series has one major theme, it’s that the Broadway musical has always been subversive, ahead of its time in form and subject matter.”

Richard Dreyfuss has abruptly pulled out of the London production of The Producers only days before opening night, citing the toll the physical aspects of the role was taking on his body. Another possible explanation for his departure may be that Dreyfuss had drawn the ire of his co-stars when, in a recent interview, he “[joked] that the lavish production of Mel Brooks’ Broadway smash hit was not yet fit for public consumption.” Nathan Lane, who played the role to great acclaim on Broadway, will step in until January.

“While the RSC looks for a West End home in London and the cult of deadly dull celebrity theatre continues to bore and fleece, there’s an exciting subversiveness going on in anti-theatreland. It threatens to rip up the pretentious splendour of red-padded fold-down seats, jam the 20p slots of those opera-glass dispensers and slash the suffocating, red-tasselled curtain that falls between the acts.” All of which is to say, there’s some seriously exciting theater going on in the UK, if you know where to look.

The entire board of Australia’s Adelaide Fringe Festival has been replaced, following a legal dispute with the organization’s members. The board had called off its annual general meeting, but “29 of the Fringe’s 41 members still turned up, decided there was insufficient reason to cancel the AGM and voted to appoint a new board. The former board disputed the constitutional legitimacy of the election and sought legal advice. However, it announced its resignation yesterday through its lawyer”

Historically, plays focusing on racial themes or African-American issues have been a tough sell with the largely white, largely affluent theater-going public. But the tide may be turning: “The biggest nonmusical hit of last Broadway season was the revival of the 45-year-old play A Raisin in the Sun… And it’s not the only production dealing with black themes resonating in theaters around the country.”