Category: theatre

The Royal Shakespeare Company has been looking for a London Home. “But why does the RSC need a London base? Partly because it is the will of the Arts Council that the company has “a regular and sustained presence in the capital”, and partly because the management finds it difficult to persuade agents to sign their actors up for a Stratford season unless a London transfer is part of the deal. These are not altogether cogent reasons.”

Vietnam has passed an edict banning wild haircuts on stage. “Regulation 47 bans ‘hairstyles which inflict horror, painted or dyed hair, shaved heads or long, uncombed hair’ The ban, announced by the ministry of culture last week, also tackles ‘revealing performance outfits’.”

“Those who keep their culture in tidy boxes have a problem with Stephen Sondheim. For 47 years, ever since he jetted to attention at 27 as lyricist of West Side Story, Sondheim has walked both sides of the track and straight down the middle. He plays in commercial theatres and state opera houses, in am-dram and at the Kennedy Center. All his life he has defied categorisation as high art or low, common entertainer or lofty public edifier.”

When Sweeney Todd first opened in London 25 years ago it was not well-received. Sondheim has always been hurt by this reception. “It was my love letter to London.” But now, he thinks he understands. “A friend of mine, the playwright John Guare, said that it was as if the British had come to the States and done a serious musical of I Love Lucy. “And we would think, Don’t they know that’s a silly comedy? Well, I think maybe, with Sweeney Todd, people thought that the Americans were taking a melodrama just too seriously. How pretentious! “

“Buoyed by popular plays and musicals the theater increased the total audience for its main stage, Lab and touring productions by nearly 30 percent, drawing 417,528 patrons compared with 319,888 last year. It was the theater’s highest overall attendance figure since 2000. The attendance news, announced Monday at the annual meeting, was compounded by an upbeat financial report that included balanced books, improved revenues and increased fundraising.”

Talent agents, casting directors, and talent management firms are receiving more requests for actors who are ‘ethnically ambiguous,’ of ‘mixed ethnicity,’ or have a ‘global look,’ especially for commercials, films, and television shows. “There is more opportunity for actors who are ethnically mixed than ever before. I often get requests for actors who are biracial. Sometimes it’s very specific, like African-American and Caucasian; other times, the request for biracial is broadly nonspecific, leaving it wide open. The breakdowns for many musicals now include ‘all ethnicities, unless otherwise noted.’ “

Sandy Duncan despairs over the state of the Broadway theatre business. “Once an industry run by producers with vision and heart, she says, Broadway has devolved into a business now run by ‘money men who don’t have an eye for the product. It used to be that producers would make a profit, with the idea that they would put that money into a new show. Now, they want to make a killing, and so they’re flogging these shows into 10-, 12-, 14-year runs. It hurts the whole creative community’.”

Why did Saturday Night Live alum Chris Kattan get fired from Stephen Sondheim’s “The Frogs” on Broadway? “The departure of Kattan from ‘The Frogs’ could be turned into a sort of morality tale — or fraught disaster movie. After all, what could have been more promising and foolproof than to be summoned, as he was, from Hollywood to Broadway by some of its most dazzling citizenry — multi-Tony winners Stroman and Lane, not to mention Sondheim? They invited him to take his first role on the stage.”

“In an unexpected move, J Ranelli has resigned as artistic director of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center a little more than half a year after he was named to the post at the 40-year-old Waterford, Conn., institution.”

A few months back, Emma Barber suggested in an interview that “no straight man ever willingly goes to the theatre.” Since the interview was published, Barber has met every straight man in the UK who enjoys the theatre, and one of them turned out to be her editor, who promptly assigned her to start going to some plays herself. Five evenings of theatre later, Barber is unmoved: “Where do you start listing what is wrong with it? The booking? The building? The queues for the loos? The surly bar staff? The undrinkable wine? The rip-off programmes? The torturous seats? These can all be summed up in the feeling that from the minute you embark on this excursion you have set yourself up for a sucker.”