Category: theatre

A controversy is brewing over the tactics employed by the producers of Avenue Q, which won the Tony award for best musical, and then promptly announced that it would forgo a national tour in favor of an exclusive (and lucrative) deal to mount the show in Las Vegas. At issue is whether the Avenue Q crew misled road producers, who make up a sizable chunk of Tony voters, telling them that a national tour was a foregone conclusion, even as they were negotiating a secret deal with Vegas promoter Steve Wynn.

The London International Festival of Theatre is taking an interesting angle this season, conducting a citywide Enquiry on the very nature of theatre. Among the questions to be answered: What is theatre? What is it for? And why should we care, anyway?

Avenue Q, which cleaned up at this year’s Tonys, is buying the typically lucrative national tours that follow Broadway success, and taking up residence in Las Vegas. “Working with the Las Vegas impressario Steve Wynn, the producers of “Q” plan to open around Labor Day 2005 in a new $40-million theater built especially for the show. The production had planned to follow the lucrative tradition of touring nationally, hitting major markets like Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles.”

Rex Reed pines for the old days of Broadway. “To see how much it’s changed (mostly for the worst) or to experience how little wit, originality, intelligence and quality remains, all you had to do was watch this year’s Tony awards. Whatever happened to the Golden Age of Broadway? When did the miracles end and the ticket prices become prohibitive? Why did the inspiration and sweat and creative genius dry up and get replaced by helicopters and chandeliers and naked, cussing puppets? Does anybody care?”

“Furthering its interest in new writing, the Old Vic theatre in London has just staged Britain’s first 24-hour plays. Six playwrights, six directors and 24 actors wrote, cast, rehearsed and performed six new 10-minute plays in one day and night.”

Republicans won’t be seeing Broadway’s Tony winners at the convention this summer. “With thousands of Republicans set to descend on the Big Apple to nominate President Bush for re-election, convention organizers decided to treat delegates to the glitz of Broadway before they knuckled down to the business of politics. But Republican organizers, selling themselves as the family-values party, decided to buy tickets to tame shows like “42nd Street” and Disney productions like “Aida” and “The Lion King,” avoiding more offbeat fare.”

“What started off as an embarrassment turned into a classy Tony Awards, which rewarded devoted theater fans while remaining lively and unstuffy.”

“While the puppeteers behind the Tony-winning Avenue Q have won over Broadway, their success comes at a time when many puppeteers — and puppets — find themselves being replaced by pixels.”

How is it that “Avenue Q” won the big awards at Sunday’s Tonys? The wins were a big surpirse to everyone. “Avenue Q,” a modest musical with singing puppets playing in a small Broadway theater, had pulled off what many in the business were calling one of the biggest upsets in Tony history. There even seemed to be a sense of shock inside the producing office for “Avenue Q,” where some were nursing hangovers yesterday from a long night celebrating the show’s three victories, which included awards for best score (the show’s music and lyrics) and best book (its dialogue and structure).”