Category: theatre

So Seattle’s ACT theatre is on the verge of going out of business. The theatre declared a life-and-death emegergency, then gave itself a little breathing room when board members ponied up some operating money. Roger Downey isn’t impressed. “Why was the theatre’s board so ignorant of the organization’s precarious financial situation? Many Seattle arts groups seem headed down this same path – ACT is just the first. Why do we let it happen? “It’s entirely in keeping with the way arts groups, in Seattle and elsewhere in this country, are governed and financed. The system is rickety even in good times, and bad times expose its shortcomings cruelly.”

Boston’s Wang Center for the Performing Arts and the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, which presents free summer productions, are merging their business operations together in an effort to streamline fundraising and marketing efforts. Each company will maintain its own distinct identity, but the agreement “formalizes and underscores the Wang’s sponsorship of CSC during the past two summer seasons. As CSC’s major underwriter, the Wang has contributed $200,000 in cash and thousands of dollars in ‘in-kind services,’ according to Maler.”

London critics loved Sam Mendes’ Donmar Theatre productions. Yet when he brought them to New York, the critics piled up their complaints. “There is a long tradition of New York critics resisting productions that have been successful in London. But there is more to the failure of Mendes’s productions to win them over than sniping.”

Contract talks between Broadway producers and the musicians union have stalled, and musicians say they may strike next week. “Musicians who work in the orchestra pits of old Broadway standbys like ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and new hits like ‘Hairspray’ said on Tuesday they might walk off the job after their union contract expires on Sunday.” Producers are preparing to use recorded music.

On Monday some 700 readings of Aristophanes’ anti-war satire “Lysistrata,” written in 411 B.C., will be presented around the world to protest a war in Iraq. “It’s all part of the Lysistrata Project, the brainchild of New York writer-actress Kathryn Blume. Blume said she had been working on a screenplay based on “Lysistrata” when she heard about Theaters Against War (THAW), a group planning an ‘action day’ to protest a potential United States war against Iraq.”

Theatre people across America were shocked last week when Seattle’s ACT Theatre announced it was on the verge of closing, nearly sunk by debt. Could the theatre’s predicament happen elsewhere, wonders Frank Rizzo? “The problems in Seattle only remind us that simply supporting building projects and not what happens when these buildings open is a short-sighted vision, one that could ultimately reflect a legacy of losers.”

“With the decline of clubs and cabaret venues, cruise ships have become the music halls of our generation – and as more than 10 million people cruise every year there is a lot of entertaining to be done. There are some who never get off…”

Remember those days just after 9/11/01, when everything had changed and nothing would ever be the same again? Satire was dead, and Hollywood would surely have to rethink its mission. Well, 18 months later, as we all know, little has really changed, satire is alive and well, and Hollywood is still as it was. In fact, with the world on the brink of an uncertain war, the only artistic discipline which really seems to be meeting current events head-on is the theatre. “As the whiff of war emanates from the White House, for the first time in years the theater feels like a place where world events in the making can be remade for the stage, speedily and purposefully.”

There appears to be some movement in the contentious negotiations between Broadway producers and the musicians who staff the pits of the Great White Way. The central issue in the talks is over the requirement that a minimum number of musicians be employed for every show. Producers have been insisting that the policy must be eliminated outright, but sources now say that they may be willing to accept reductions in the minimums instead. Why the change of heart? It’s possible that producers aren’t as ready as they suggest to start using canned music as accompaniment to Broadway musicals.

“Two high-profile, upcoming Broadway productions – the musical ‘Urban Cowboy’ and Yasmina Reza’s play ‘Life x 3’ – are scheduled to premiere March 27, and both say they won’t change their plans. It is unusual for two Broadway shows to open on the same day, thus going head to head for newspaper space, television coverage and opening-night party publicity.”