Category: theatre

“One year after Hollywood broke its colour barrier in the leading actress Oscar category, the Broadway theatre made its own history last night, giving three of four female acting Tony awards to black actresses in two plays set during the U.S. civil-rights movement.”

“Avenue Q,” the offbeat show about a band of furry-headed slacker puppets and their equally fuzzy human cohorts, pulled a stunning upset last night at the 58th annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall, winning best musical, the evening’s top prize, as well as prizes for best book and best score.”

So what do the Tonys mean for American theatre? “While the Tonys celebrate some of the best work on commercially focused Broadway, they’re hardly an indication of what’s best in American theater.”

What kind of season was it on Broadway? Mixed. “It’s been a tough season, with so many flops and shows that are struggling. The stuff just hasn’t been compelling. The new plays, in particular, haven’t done well, and I think it just has to do with their quality. I don’t think it’s a case of resistance to serious drama from the audience. Give them an established drama like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and they come.”

“The New York City Republican Convention Host Committee recently designated eight Broadway shows as fit to ply convention delegates with free tickets. There is barely a Tony nominee in the bunch. All are nice, safe musicals guaranteed not to offend mainstream American tastes or, for that matter, provoke much thought. The title song of “42nd Street” is about as risqué as it gets, with its reference to “sexy ladies from the Eighties who are indiscreet. Isn’t there marketing gold to be mined, especially in Democratic New York, by advertising these plays as shows Republicans love to hate?”

“While it is easy to dismiss the Tonys as a crass Broadway publicity device or a ridiculously exclusive talent contest (only Broadway shows need apply, thank you very much), there are always a couple of genuine reasons to watch the show. It offers some competitive drama, of course, especially for avid Broadway fans, people who actually know what orchestrations are and what a musical’s book is. (Hint: it’s not a novel.) And sure enough, this year such fans can anticipate several close races, including those for best actress in a play and best actress in a musical.”

Theatre critic Hedy Weiss didn’t much like Tony Kushner’s “Caroline, or Change.” In her review in the Chicago Sun-Times, Weiss wrote: “Unfortunately, Kushner, in the classic style of a self-loathing Jew, has little but revulsion for his own roots.” Kushner demanded an apology: “It is appalling that a playwright can be flatly accused of hating his own people without a single word cited from the play in question.”

Connecticut’s Long Wharf Theatre is getting a new home. It will be in a long-neglected area of New Haven, and the $230 million project will include a home for “Gateway Community College, and a new hotel and conference center and parking.” This will be “the largest development project in New Haven in 30 years, will be built through state and city funds and from private donors.”

“One press agent calls it ‘votergate.’ A veteran producer says it’s ‘a problem that has been going on for years.’ And a former drama critic says it’s a scandal people ‘bitch and moan about’ but one that the theater industry does ‘absolutely nothing to police.’ They are talking about Tony voters who do not bother to see all the nominated shows but vote for candidates in all the categories nonetheless.”

This week 100 members of the American Theatre Critics Association converge on San Francisco for their annual meeting. This year’s conference features new plays…