Category: theatre

Are Americans discouraged from going to London’s West End theatres because the seats are too small? “The seats were built for backsides of a Victorian era, not of a modern era – or indeed an American size – and many of the bars are dingy and overpriced and haven’t seen a lick of paint since Oscar Wilde was last there.”

Next season is the Denver Center Theatre’s 25th anniversary. But the theatre’s celebrations will be somewhat muted. The 25th season contains only one premiere, and tight budgets make restraint mandatory. “That premiere is a new musical, but its loneliness in a collection of regional premieres and American revivals points toward the shrinking endowment of the Bonfils Foundation, which largely underwrites the theater company. Donovan Marley, the theater’s artistic director, said next season will also see more staff reductions, and while he hoped they would be through attrition, he could not guarantee it.”

A group of Dallas actresses in their 30s and 40s got tired of sitting around complaining that there were no roles for them anymore. So they started their own theatre, found an old church to renovate, and Contemporary Theatre of Dallas was born…

“Museum directors have long since realised that the overall aesthetic experience of visiting a museum is vital to a full appreciation of the art it held, and now theatre directors are catching up, as Bennetts Associates’ new Hampstead Theatre demonstrates. The theatre, at Swiss Cottage in London, opens on February 14, when it will be the first new stand-alone producing theatre in London since the National Theatre in 1976.”

“The Hampstead Theatre is a great achievement, and the more so for having seen off the enemies of promise that are the rules and restrictions that come with Lottery funding. The Arts Council, for example, having binged on earlier projects, set a severe limit of £10 million on their grant to this one. Compared with the hasty, ramshackle architecture of Sadler’s Wells, Hampstead stands out. It also avoided the drastic cost overruns that afflicted the revamped Royal Court.”

A 50-minute play about suicide bombers and the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis was supposed to tour Cincinnati area high schools beginning in March, but the tour has been canceled after a protest by local Muslims. That in turn has set off protests. “Cincinnati’s reputation as a community that tries to control the arts and allows bigots to dominate the discussion is accurate. Once again Cincinnati looks small, foolish and provincial.”

The battle looming on Broadway between the musicians’ union and producers is being cast as a fight over whether there will be live music in orchestra pits. On the other hand – union rules requiring a minimum number of musicians to be employed at theatres even when not all the musicians are required for a show, are unreasonable almost by any standard. Meanwhile – today’s theatre orchestras are so highly miked that it’s often difficult to tell whether the music is live or not. Where’s the artistic value in any of this?

Classical dinner has vanished in cities like Chicago. It thrived in the 70s and 80s when minor Hollywood and Broadway stars looking for work would take to the dinner theatre circuit. Then the attraction was more the star than the play. “Now, a different story: Marginal TV stars can score a USA Original teleplay, or a one-shot movie on the Lifetime channel. ‘There’s plenty of work for all of ’em. That’s why the star system doesn’t exist’.”

Outgoing National Theatre director Trevor Nunn has made a surprise gift to the London theatres – £2.5 million. Nunn was severely criticized during his tenure when it was learned that he was making as much as £25,000 a week from the West End transfer of his award-winning revival of My Fair Lady. “But in a move that will silence his detractors, Nunn has given the theatre £208,000 this year as a first instalment of a legacy to support new work, with £2.3m more coming over the next two years. All the money he has earned from the transfer of ‘My Fair Lady’, as well as ‘Oklahoma!’, which is now on Broadway, will go back into the National’s coffers.”

Broadway is having a debate about musicians. Can they be replaced with a “virtual” orchestra? “I believe 90% of the producers want live theatre. “I don’t worry about them. I worry about the 10% that say, ‘I look at the bottom line. Look at how much I can save.’ I understand the bottom line. It’s a commercial venture. But theatre is based on certain compacts with the audience. But what happens if you change that contract with the audience? I think if you ask anybody that comes to the theatre, ‘Would you like to see a show with music on tape or supplied by a virtual orchestra, and pay the same price’- I guarantee that producers won’t lower the musical’s price – most people would say, ‘I’d rather have a live orchestra.’ “