Category: theatre

After a long time in the trenches, director Michael Blakemore scored big with a double Tony win a few weeks ago. Now come the opportunities. “I’ve turned down other offers in order to make the most of this while I can,” he says. “At my age, it would be stupid not to.” – The Telegraph (UK)

“You have to make choices about what historic theaters you save, because you can’t save them all. People turned to theater restoration in the 1960’s and 70’s. It was a time when cities were trying to save their downtowns. Theater restoration revives an interest in the downtown, and anecdotal studies show that their economic impact on cities is quite substantial.”- New York Times 

Long gone are the days when a Broadway producer could come up with a good idea and $50,000 and head into production. The theatre world has changed – “from the large sums of money needed to get a production off the ground to the corporate presence in the theatre world to the role that advertising and marketing play in promoting a show. The day of the independent producer – nurturing a project from start to finish – is largely a thing of the past.” – Backstage

Chicago’s major commercial theaters are consolidated into one operation and promise a new flowering of theatre activity for the city. “The new arrangement brings control of the Shubert, Cadillac Palace and Ford Center for the Performing Arts/Oriental theaters under an equal partnership of the Nederlander Organization and SFX Theatrical Group, New York firms that are the two largest commercial theater producers and owners/operators in the United States.” – Chicago Tribune

Theatre impresario Garth Drabinsky might be under indictment in the US and generally disgraced everywhere after bankrupting the Livent empire. But yesterday he rose from the dead to announce he’ll bring an Athol Fugard play to Toronto. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

Despite the 16 felony counts of fraud and conspiracy waiting for him in the US, Drabinsky said he planned to produce more plays, including the big-budget musicals he specialized in at Livent. – New York Times

Critics had a field day with director Sam Mendes’s comment last week that British theater’s “reliance on Hollywood stars meant it was in peril of being held hostage by the lure of glamour,” since it was Mendes himself who had Nicole Kidman strip bare in “The Blue Room” last year and set off the current craze for celebrity casting (and stripping). But, if lagging ticket sales are any indication, British audiences finally are tiring of Hollywood stars taking center stage. – The Guardian

Want to see who won what this year in the theatre? Here’s an aggregation of lists of all this year’s theatre awards and who won what. – Curtainup

New York’s legendary Actor’s Studio – the workshop founded in 1947 by Lee Strasberg to champion his Method acting style – will now be led by Al Pacino, Ellen Burstyn, and Harvey Keitel. All three will donate their time and teaching. – CNN

The discredited flamboyant theatre producer says he’ll produce a play in Toronto. – CBC

When Garth Drabinsky’s Livent North American theatre empire crashed and burned two years ago a lot of theatre people lost their jobs. A lot of theatres went dark too, and many of them still have not recovered. The arts economy in Toronto still has not recovered. “Livent made Toronto so much more attractive for anyone on an arts level. Livent did a lot, but talked about it even louder. They made Toronto shine.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)