Category: theatre

They’re friendly, beautiful, and have the world’s best beaches – now the Aussies also have a reputation for exporting the best cabaret singers in the business. On the eve of the MAC Awards (the cabaret world’s Tonys), the notoriously insular New York cabaret scene is rife with envy over the recent invasion of young Aussie performers.  – Sydney Morning Herald

There’s a struggle going on for the soul of the American musical. Is it big, cartoonish and Elton? Or pseudo-operatic, arty and  Sondheim? Judging by recent track records, the Disneyites have it. But what succeeds in the long run… – Boston Globe

For the moment, the invasion of British musical theater on Broadway has subsided. So let’s take a whack at assessing Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s influence on the genre. His “wide popular appeal has never been matched by high critical estimation. His music has been called derivative, or worse. Today, he is more likely to be taken to task for purveying middle-class sentimentalism (and sensationalism) at the expense of genuine artistic insight. Nor is he personally popular on Broadway, where he has long been seen as an unwelcome foreign interloper. But his effect on Broadway has been enormous.” – New York Times

Audra McDonald is considered one of the true serious young theatrical artists, an actress and singer of equal strength who is willing to pursue ambitious new work, including operatic undertakings like LaChiusa’s “Marie Christine,” at a time when popular fare along the lines of Disney’s new Broadway “Aida” would probably give her more exposure. – Los Angeles Times

“At this year’s Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, four out of the six mainstage offerings pivoted on incidents of gender warfare and sexual violence. Are hungry playwrights simply aping TV’s lucrative obsession with these sociological phenomena? Or genuinely hoping to cast more light on them in a less-commercialized medium?” – Seattle Times

• “Twenty-four years ago, John Jory created the institution that would make him the messiah of writers for the stage: the Humana Festival. Every year, it transforms Louisville into the mecca of the theatrical universe. Through the years, Humana has birthed more than 250 plays, including “The Gin Game,” “Crimes of the Heart,” “Agnes of God” and works by Lee Blessing, John Guare, Lanford Wilson, John Patrick Shanley and Tony Kushner.” Now he’s leaving to go teach in Seattle. – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

— at this year’s Humana Festival. – Los Angeles Times

• With Elton John’s “Aida” an audience hit, Disney currently has the top three-grossing theater productions on Broadway. Other than that, the Great White Way’s ticket sales have sagged a bit recently. – Variety

Critics have almost universally panned Elton John’s “Aida,” but they’ve all agreed on one thing: singer Heather Headley, in the title role as the Nubian princess who falls in love with her captor, steals the show. Trinidad-born Headley has joined Audra McDonald as “the most exciting young singing actresses in the American theater.” – Newsweek

“Theatre is not just New York,” says a representative of the National Theatre Artists Residency Program, which funds collaborations between theater artists and theater companies to develop new work. The organization announced the recipients of its $1 million in annual grants – and not one New York-based theater received funding. – Backstage