Pity the understudy. Most understudies rarely get that Cinderella call to the stage. But “the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new director, Michael Boyd, has waved his magic wand and decreed that she shall go the ball – every understudy at Stratford is now contractually guaranteed at least one full public performance per production. As a morale booster, this seems to me both humane and practical, and it is also evidence of a new trend that brings the understudy out of the dressing room and into the spotlight.”
Category: theatre
Where Are New York’s Great New Musicals
There is plenty of musical theatre going on in New York. Most of it isn’t first-rate. “New York is awash with performing talent, so why, aside from the obvious factors of cost and the inherently high failure rate for any collaborative art form, aren’t the new works worthy of their actors?”
Theatre Vulture
New York theatre columnist Michael Riedel is “one of the most influential (and feared) media figures in Manhattan today,” writes Richard Ouzounian. It’s because of his “take-no-prisoners style of reporting.” Says Riedel: “I think of Broadway as a very important industry for New York, and so I write about the business of Broadway. The shows that are making money and hiding it, the shows that are losing money and lying about it. I cover it all.”
2003 On Broadway – Revenue Up, Ticket Sales Down
2003 Broadway grosses are “projected to be $730 million, up roughly 3.2% from the $707 million for 2002 and nearly 10% from the $664 million for 2001, when that year’s final quarter saw the aftereffects of the Sept. 11 attacks. In terms of ticket holders, however, the league is projecting figures of 11.2 million in attendance during 2003, down from the 11.4 million in 2002 and down nearly one million from the record 12.1 million achieved in 2000.”
“Grease” Tops UK Top Musical Poll
The musical “Grease” has been named the UK’s most fravorite musical of all time, according to a Channel 4 poll. “When it was released the UK was in the grip of punk rock and Grease, set in 1950s America, was seen as a harmless antidote to the Sex Pistols. The film went on to become a box office smash taking $340m worldwide.”
After 27 Years, Mousetrap To Close
After more than 9,000 performances in 27 years, “the Toronto production of The Mousetrap will close Jan. 15. Producer Peter Peroff says business has been down about 40 per cent this year, which he attributes to the combination of SARS, the war in Iraq and the Alberta mad-cow scare, all of which have made it difficult to attract the busloads of U.S. tourists upon which the long-running Agatha Christie whodunit relies.”
Where Are The New Broadway Musicals?
By some measures you could say this has been a good season for the Broadway musical. But it hasn’t been, really. Where are the new songs? The really new work that worked? “There’s a real reluctance on the part of producers to take on new composers because to some degree no one is sure what a Broadway show is supposed to sound like anymore. Is it supposed to sound like Michael John LaChiusa? Or Alan Menken? If the Broadway sound were the pop music of the day, which it used to be, it would sound like hip-hop, but I don’t think anyone feels there’s much of a Broadway audience for that at the moment.”
NEA Shakespeare Program Pacifies Critics
New Criterion editors have generally been against public funding of the arts in general and the NEA in particular. But “it is gratifying to report that the National Endowment for the Arts seems finally to have come around to our way of thinking on these issues. Under the leadership of the distinguished poet and critic Dana Gioia, the NEA has said farewell to the ephemeral and the meretricious. One evidence of the agency’s new commitment to quality is Shakespeare in American Communities.”
Is “Buffy” The Best Musical Of All-Time?
A TV poll to name the top 20 musicals of all time includes – an episode of the American TV show Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. “An all-singing episode of the cult teen sci-fi drama will battle it out with favourites such as Chicago, Cabaret and The Sound Of Music. Buffy is the only TV show to make the top 20 in Channel 4’s The 100 Greatest Musicals.”
Broadway 2003: More Money, Fewer People
“Fewer people saw shows on New York’s Broadway during 2003 – but takings have gone up during the past year. Theatres predict the year will end with 11.2 million people visiting Broadway’s venues, down from 11.4 million in 2002. But takings are expected to be up to $730m (£414m), compared with $707m (£401m) the previous year – helped by top ticket prices hitting $100 (£56). Broadway theatres are putting the drop in visitors down to a lack of big shows opening during the summer.”