Category: theatre

“Cameron Mackintosh has announced that his re-imagined version of the Alain Boublil/Claude-Michel Schonberg musical Les Miserables will make its debut at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre in [March of] 2014.”

“There are the books of course, TV series in the sixties and nineties, radio adaptations and a musical take from Andrew Lloyd Webber but, dash it, never a stage play featuring one of the greatest comedy double acts ever conceived.”

“The girls seem to know there is life beyond showbiz. ‘I kind of want to be a performer and an environmental lawyer,’ said Milly, 10. ‘I just want what’s right for the world. Otherwise we are going to die of pollution and then we will never see a bird.'”

“It never occurred to either of my parents (or to me) that the National’s manager, whose ticket-taking staff consisted entirely of young, single men, was also gay–in hindsight a larger-than-life queen worthy of ‘The Nance.’ Such was the closeted world, even in the theater, as seen by those on the outside looking in, circa 1966.”

“Plays take place in private homes, street cafes and forests. The audience are told the venue only shortly beforehand, by text message, and sometimes assemble under a pretence, like a fake wedding.”

Slate’s The Vault turns up the great acting instructor’s teaching notes on Blanche DuBois and Amanda Wingfield.

Recently The Spectator‘s Lloyd Evans wrote of his colleagues, “Critics who go into raptures over near-flops risk turning their columns into the sort of perfumed screeds recited at the funerals of Asian dictators.” Does he have a point?

“You could think of these skits as a sort of pop art – like Warhol’s can of soup, they challenge us to see a ubiquitous part of our (digital) culture in a new – and hilarious – way.”

“Since Broadway’s golden age, in the middle of the last century, the most dramatic loss has not been great musicals or plays. Artistic highs remain as resilient as the lows. What has really shrunk is what’s in between: the well-made trifle, the middlebrow entertainment and, strikingly, the light comedy.”

“Superstorm Sandy was a force behind Broadway’s 6.2% dip in audience attendance – its lowest level in several years, according to end-of-season statistics … Box-office grosses were virtually the same: Shows took in $1.14 billion during Broadway’s 2012-13 season.” (Higher ticket prices made up the difference.)