Category: theatre

First it was “Cats.” Now “Miss Saigon” is calling it quits on Broadway, after a nine-year run. The big mega-musicals are in decline. – New York Times

Producer David Merrick, who died this week, was a producer to be reckoned with.  “Merrick is the Bermuda Triangle in a Brooks Brothers suit. He lures writers and playwrights in like naval air squadrons, never to be seen or heard from again,” said the writer and comic Stan Freberg, a survivor of a Merrick flirtation with one of his plays. – Washington Post

The use of British Sign Language has become increasingly popular and more widespread in English theaters in the past few years. But it’s not just a matter of translating words and sentences – the grammar of sign is different. The translation becomes part of the performance. – The Times (UK)

Broadway producer David Merrick has died in London at the age of 87. – Backstage

OR WAS HE 88? Merrick had a talent for producing, but also for making enemies. – New York Times

Why is Lincoln Center balking at presenting Tom Stoppard’s new play? Is it because they think New Yorkers are stupid? – New York Observer

Ownership of London’s West End theaters have been changing hands at a frantic rate this year. Another case of Big Bad Business Consolidation – with all the predictable corporate blandishments to follow? Surprisingly not, reports one critic. The changes seem to be for the better. – The Times (UK)

Who’s Who in London’s theater ownership sweepstakes. – The Times (UK) 

A hundred years ago mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria built an insanely expensive castle whose opulence was so frivolous, his ministers murdered him and dumped him into a lake. “Eleven decades later, another “madness” as great as Ludwig’s has been built. Rising up from the shores of the Starnberger lake, beside Neuschwanstein castle, an entire theatre has been constructed for the sole purpose of staging ‘Ludwig II, The Musical.’ At a cost of £26 million, it is the most expensive musical in the world. – Sunday Times (UK)

As the saying goes, the theater is always perfect before the curtain goes up. This spring, three visionary producers take a look at reinventing San Francisco theater. – San Francisco Chronicle

For most of us, watching live performers act and sing is an infrequent luxury. Theater, like many of the other performing arts, long ago broke with its proletarian roots and assumed the gilded mantle of “culture.” In an era of instant entertainment on the TV and the Internet, attending a play or a musical has become a special event, identified (unfairly, some might argue) with formality, cultural literacy, seriousness and, above all, disposable income. But theater, by its very nature, is about emotional outreach. – Orange County Register

After 18 years, the phenomenon that is “Cats” closes on Broadway. Now just isn’t always forever. – New York Times