Category: theatre

Minnesota arts lover Governor Jesse Ventura vetoed a $3 million allocation passed by the state legislature for the Guthrie Theater’s new $75 million home in Minneapolis. An override of the veto seems unlikely. – The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

The shows that grabbed the most Tony nominations last week got a nice bump in their Broadway box office. Nearly everything else declined last week. But the current season continues to be well ahead of 1999. – Variety

Off-Broadway’s OBIE Awards were presented Monday night in New York. Director/choreographer/video artist Ping Chong won a special sustained achievement award. – Backstage

The Israeli Theatre Prizes are being held for the fifth time. But the occasion has been marred by the directors of two leading Israeli theaters who are leading their theaters to boycott the awards, making any of the actors who work in those theaters ineligible for honors.  “Perhaps they mistakenly thought that the prize is meant for directors, rather than for artists.” – Haaretz (Israel)

There were a lot of no-shows for the Drama Desk Awards ceremonies Sunday, but “Kiss Me Kate” was the big winner. – Variety

A project to film all 19 of Samuel Beckett’s plays for TV and the cinema faces the predictable backlash from Beckett purists. Nonetheless, the project – which has enlisted directors such as Anthony Minghella, David Mamet, Neil Jordan, Atom Egoyan, Patricia Rozema, Richard Eyre and Karel Reisz – has some big promise. – Irish Times

Who said the measure of success is whether your play gets made into a movie? August Wilson discusses why his work hasn’t been movified yet. “I told Eddie I wanted a black director, and they all looked at me and told me that there weren’t any.” – Boston Globe

Every ten years since 1634 the villagers of Oberammergau, in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps, have been staging their six-hour passion play about the death and resurrection of Jesus. “It is a Roman Catholic play about Jews, performed in German before a largely Protestant audience, most of whom will be American or British. The newly refurbished Passion playhouse holds 4,700 people, and 112 performances have been scheduled.” This year the winds of reform have altered how the play will be presented. – New York Times

Michael Frayn’s play “Copenhagen” imagines a philosophical conversation about the implications of quantum physics. The play’s been getting raves, but does anyone understand it/ The New York Times tested audience members on the way out of a performance. – New York Times

What are we on here – Life No. 687? “Cats,” the show that wouldn’t go away, has extended its run on Broadway to September. Producers had announced earlier this year that the show would close in June. But: “After the Feb. 20 closing announcement, ticket sales for the Andrew Lloyd Webber tuner topped $1.5 million during the first week, rising to a total of $4.7 million over four weeks. The show has performed at an average of 94% capacity since mid-February, selling out twice in the last 10 weeks. Prior to the closing announcement, capacity had occasionally dipped below the 50% benchmark.” – Variety