Category: theatre

“From what we can gather from statements from both parties is that the Albee Estate wanted full approval of the casting of this show. Once they saw that an African-American was cast as Nick, they requested that he be recast as a white man, when the director refuses, the shows rights are revoked. While the Albee Estate is using the ADVERTISING(probably casting notice) with a black actor as the reason they are stating a violation of the agreement, it’s pretty clear that the reason is because of the black actor who was cast as Nick. It appears as though Mr. Albee, for at least professional productions, wants that role to remain white.”

“In the revival of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes, the actors alternate between playing the lead role (the cunning, assertive Regina Giddens) and a supporting one (Regina’s timid, abused sister-in-law, Birdie). … In a free-flowing conversation at BuzzFeed‘s New York headquarters, the actors talked about taking on this unique challenge, as well as their thoughts on the theater at large, aging, and roles for women over 40.”

Mind you, this wasn’t a telecast of the theatre performance; decades’ experience has shown that those can be just dandy. (Yes, yes, it’s not the same as being there. Not everyone can get there.) This was a BBC television adaptation, with television conventions. Yes, sometimes that can work; Time Out London theatre editor Andrzej Lukowski analyzes why, for this play in particular, it did not.

“Chris Dercon’s plans for the theater — which mark a distinct shift toward interdisciplinary work and international artists — have garnered criticism since his appointment. A Belgian-born curator, he most recently ran the Tate Modern, where he helped oversee a major expansion into a new building. Mr. Dercon’s close ties to the market-driven British art world have raised eyebrows among those who see his background as a strange fit for a theater that relies largely on public funding and has a long, anti-establishment political tradition.”

A onetime child star, James Rocco initiated the Ordway’s Broadway Songbook series, which celebrates musical theater composers. He also built up the Ordway’s in-house Broadway-style producing arm, putting on shows such as “A Chorus Line,” “Paint Your Wagon” and the recent smash, “West Side Story.”

“The show is the brainchild of an Australian animatronics company, and its only previous production was in Melbourne. Its arrival on Broadway has been long delayed: In 2010, the producers said they were aiming for a 2013 Broadway bow; in 2013, they talked of a possible 2014 Broadway opening, as well as international productions of the show; and by 2014, they had stopped attaching a timeline to their project. But now, for the first time, they are announcing a theater as well as a time frame.”

“A recent National Endowment for the Arts report claims that nationally, theater ticket sales are 6 percent lower than they were a decade ago. Yet our small, local companies, who routinely bring us work by provocative young playwrights — plays in which naked people appear, in which topical issues are discussed over coffee, and women exchange the occasional tongue kiss — are thriving.”

“The premise: a bunch of people sign up for an online dating service called Ok.luv because they want to find dates. Guess what happens next? They go on dates. Musical hijinks ensue.” But Some in the Seattle theatre community were offended by descriptions of the characters in a casting call.

By the time he left, Sir Nicholas had overseen the staging of 100 plays and established many of the features that people now take for granted, among them cheap tickets and live-cinema relays. He had also helped to produce some of modern theatre’s triumphs: “War Horse”, “One Man, Two Guvnors”, “The History Boys”, “His Dark Materials” and “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”. Annual turnover in 2015 had climbed to £117m, of which just 15% came from the public purse.