Category: theatre

As “Finding Neverland” has developed, so have conflicts that on any other show would likely have remained backstage. The spats, which ranged from battles with journalists to staff conflicts, have kept Mr. Weinstein and the show in theater headlines over the past three years.

Lyn Gardner: “Ditching the label ‘fringe’ would put all theatre-makers on an equal footing, wherever they work and in whatever form. It would stop the segmentation of audiences into those who do fringe and those who don’t. It would prevent grant-makers and funders from taking refuge in the labels, and saying ‘Well we don’t fund that kind of theatre, we only fund this kind of theatre’.”

“In short, a mediocre play, at least by Shakespeare’s standards, and in this instance, mediocre is perfect: It’s hard to understand how good Shakespeare could be until you’ve seen him at his worst (and Shakespeare at his worst is still better than most). So imagine how much more some 11th-grader might appreciate Much Ado About Nothing after reading Double Falsehood.”

“As hard as a revival is, a new musical is just on steroids harder. You’re constantly looking at your book, your music, your structure, and at the same time you’re trying to get at execution. So it’s not just ‘Can we make the number better?’ It’s ‘Is the number in the right place?'”

Drama students from Weston College in England and UNLV “will perform the same piece simultaneously, with the overseas actors being broadcast on a screen behind the live action in both locations. The synchronised performance has been made possible by the development of two supercomputers, named ultra grids, which have removed the transatlantic time delay in broadcast.”

Sonia Friedman: “I can stand here alongside a lot of colleagues doing the same job, saying the West End is as good as it can ever be, and it’s probably the best it’s ever been right now.”

“‘August: Osage County’ was the last serious drama by an American playwright to become a multiyear hit. Since 2010, the only straight play of any kind to have run on Broadway for more than a year was the Lincoln Center Theater transfer of the London production of ‘War Horse.'” Also, it doesn’t help as much as you might think to cast a TV or movie star.

“Thousands of years have gone by and we still have this thing called live theatre – and the reason is that we need to be able to compare ourselves to what we see up there and judge ourselves as human beings.”

That is, it’s the Olivier Awards: “‘No one can stand in the way of Angela Lansbury winning an Olivier for her West End comeback after over 40 years away, and no one should,’ said theatre critic Mark Shenton in his list of predictions.”

“It feels like it’s been in labour for such a long time. You now want your child to come off the ventilator and grow up and become part of the modern world. That’s what it’s felt like.”