Category: theatre

Scott Rudin, lead producer of the Aaron Sorkin adaptation now on Broadway and likely to tour eventually, has been trying to block stagings of the older version, written half a century ago by Christopher Sergel Sr. and still published by his family firm. (One tour of regional Britain was recently cancelled after Rudin threatened to sue.) Christopher Sergel III says this is doing real damage to his business. – Crain’s Chicago Business

Actors are increasingly being asked how many Instagram or Twitter followers they have when attending auditions for West End shows, films and adverts, even for non-speaking roles. An online poll on The Stage revealed 87% of 402 respondents did not think this practice is fair. – The Stage

The co-artistic director says that “the cast members’ travel documents were scrutinised for three hours, with the group returning the next day to be told that one of the actors, Syed Haleem Najibi, would be unable to travel as the officials claimed they had never heard of the Home Office Certificate of Travel that he was carrying.” – The Stage (UK)

The theatre now has a three-year grace period. “With the announcement of Amazon’s move into Arlington, the mostly vacant building became a centerpiece for the first phase of the company’s takeover of National Landing, née Crystal City. This left Synetic Theater—known for its wordless, physical productions—looking for a new home.” – DCist

Two actors who played opposite each other in two different plays end up on Broadway at the same time – each in one of those plays. How did they not end up together in at least one of them? Whew: “It’s a bit sensitive, because my agent who was the point person died, and there was a miscommunication,” says one. – The New York Times

The critics aren’t wrong: We really do want that crisp, new snap. But Broadway has deep roots in vaudeville — no story, just acts — so audiences are right: We’ll always crave performances that revel in that singing, dancing beat. – Washington Post

“A half-mile apart on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, two buildings claim to be putting on theater for the PUBLIC, using boldfaced font to advertise their mission. … The Public Theater, which opened its first show in the 1960s, claims that the Public hotel [which has a performance space] is essentially siphoning off its business by riding on its theatrical coattails.” – The New York Times

“Set in an alternate universe during the 2008 primaries, as she fights for survival against a charismatic upstart … [and] unfolding around a pivotal moment in the contest, it examined how the strictures of her gender and the baggage of her marriage affected her ability to navigate the men’s world of politics. … Hillary and Clinton arrives [on Broadway] in March amid a raucous cultural debate about gender politics and the double standard that women face.” – The New York Times

In a new production at ACT in Seattle, Juliet will speak English while Romeo will sign. (Interpreters will translate other roles’ lines into ASL.) In a process involving several steps, Shakespeare’s text has been converted into ASL poetry, “a distinct, dramatic form of sign-language storytelling … [that] uses gestures and facial expressions to evoke such poetic conventions as repetition, rhyme, alliteration, rhythm and meter.” – The Seattle Times

The sleeper-hit musical’s composer and lyricist, Joe Iconis, has kept around him a group of performers (who call themselves the Family) who’ve all been waiting for their big breaks together — and now that Iconis’s show is taking off, he’s keeping Family members on board, resisting every request to replace one of them with, say, a TV star. – The New York Times