Category: theatre

Broadway set an attendance record during  the week of April 17-23, when some 308,000 people saw the 36 plays and musicals currently playing Broadway houses. The League of American Theaters and Producers says the number “challenges both Shea and Yankee stadiums’ weekly in-season draws.” Gross receipts for the week were reported at $17 million, an increase of more than 25 percent over last year’s figure of $13.4 million. – Backstage

Critics accuse Trevor Nunn, head of London’s National Theatre, of turning the company into the home of bland, crowd-pleasing fare. So much so, that there’s a debate going on about whether Nunn’s contract ought to be renewed. But if the productions are so blah, how come the National’s team keeps winning so many awards? – The Guardian

The Shubert Organization, producers of the Broadway play “The Ride Down Mount Morgan,” have filed charges of unprofessional conduct with Actors Equity Association against the show’s star, Patrick Stewart. Stewart gave an impromptu speech after Saturday’s performance accusing the Shuberts of under-promoting the play. “Stewart could be reprimanded or fined if the union agrees with the producers.” – New York Times

A flood of new musicals is hitting London’s West End, including a new “King and I” which currently boasts “the all-time record for advance box office takings.” Why the resurgence of tried-and-true, innocuous old favorites? Some observers point to the consolidation of London’s theaters into fewer hands, the need to fill huge-capacity houses with shows that have mass appeal, and the simple fact that money talks and thus “producers are playing safe, being unwilling to experiment or take chances.” – The Age (Melbourne)

• Patrick Stewart stunned everyone Saturday after his performance in Arthur Miller’s “The Ride Down Mt. Morgan” on Broadway when he made a curtain speech saying he had lost confidence in the producers of the play to properly promote and advertise it. [first item] – Los Angeles Times

New York Magazine theater critic John Simon loses it at a performance of “Music Man” and screams at the parent of noisy kids to shut them up. “Simon said he ‘smelled trouble’ as soon as he saw several young children – between the ages of 4 and 8 – sitting in front of him.” – New York Post

Spanish playwright, widely revered in Spain, was known for his opposition to the country’s former fascist dictatorship. – CBC

Working on a play about the Third Reich, the actors begin arguing about whether what they’re doing is a good idea or not. Even though the play is based on a well-presented book, putting Nazis onstage transforms it. “Like a British courtroom, a play tends to the adversarial, demanding that the jury identify with one side.” – The Observer (UK)

Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” – music theater or modern opera? Composer Ned Rorem sits down with Sondheim to debate the issue. – New York Times

Composer Frank Wildhorn is the first American musical-theater composer in 22 years to have three shows running simultaneously on Broadway. He’s been called the American Andrew Lloyd Webber, but while his loyal fans are fanatical in their love of his work, the critics haven’t been kind. “Six million people have seen my stuff. I make no apologies for what I write. I just want to appeal to my generation. Look, if you’re 45 or 50 years old, that means in the early ’70s you were listening to the Stones or John Denver or Jim Croce. If nothing else, I represent the era I grew up in. I still write for pop artists all the time. I feel it’s important to speak to audiences in a vocabulary that’s comfortable to their ear.” – Orange County Register