Artistic Directors like me have been wringing our hands over the same question for decades. How do we get younger audiences to come to our theatre? How do we engage young people today in our ancient art form? How do we not only hold their attention but excite them enough to want to come back to our theatre? This week, one answer came. And it showed me that maybe we’ve been asking ourselves the wrong question. Sometimes we must bring the mountain to Muhammed. – Intimate Excellent
Category: theatre
Sondheim Is The Shining Genius Of Musical Theatre (But What Does That Mean?)
He revolutionized the Broadway musical with “Company” in 1970. And since, he has created brilliant shows lauded for their originality. But few hits. And where’s the legacy? – Commentary
The West End’s 180-Year-Old Costume Shop, Angels, Is Closing Because Of London’s Rent Increases
Its company director said that although the direct reason was a redevelopment scheme by the landlord, the store couldn’t find another place in the West End. She said, “At present, an independent store owner can be paying well over half-a-million pounds per year in rates and rents to take over an empty unit without stairs or fitted toilets. … That’s before you’ve done the flooring, fitted it out, hired staff and taken a single sale.” – The Stage (UK)
What The New ‘West Side Story’ Gets Right, And How Much Of The Original’s Stereotyping It Just Can’t Change
Can the musical be redeemed? “Grafting sociological precision onto a musical that, from its start, traded facts for rhyme is tough. … The problem with treating the musical’s stylized representations as documentary realism is that it presents ethnic caricatures as news footage.” – The Atlantic
Trump Gets 45-Minute Briefing On The Play “FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers”
Trump hasn’t seen the play, according to playwright Phelim McAleer, but praised its concept: a script based entirely on congressional testimony and the text messages between former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who discussed the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s campaign and Russia while having an affair. The play’s leads—Superman actor Dean Cain and former Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress Kristy Swanson—also attended the White House meeting. – The Daily Beast
Twenty Years Of ‘The Laramie Project’
By now the documentary theatre piece about the murder of Matthew Shepard has been performed thousands of times by professionals, amateurs, and students; an estimated 10 million people have seen it live in 13 languages and 20 countries, and another 20 million have seen the HBO adaptation; arguably, The Laramie Project even helped change federal law. Journalist John Moore looks back at how the play developed and spread. – American Theatre
Head Writer Of ‘The Laramie Project’ Looks Back 20 Years To The Play’s Creation
Leigh Fondakowski: “When we arrived in Denver, the play was not yet finished. It had only two acts then. … Moments were shifting, and the order of scenes kept changing all through previews. … The actors would be running offstage doing their costume quick-changes and looking at the poster boards to know which scene came next.” – American Theatre
Do Big Regional Theatres Still Need Artistic Directors Who Get Paid Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars?
“[A generation ago], it was widely assumed that a theater needed a single, visionary artistic director. … As the years went by, this model became so settled and essential that experienced artistic directors at the biggest theaters were able to command high salaries … of $500,000 per year or more. … But there are signs this longstanding model is beginning to crack.” Chris Jones looks at the reasons. – Chicago Tribune
Watching ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ With 18,000 Schoolkids At Madison Square Garden
“The classic story of Atticus Finch, a small-town lawyer who defends a black man in a racist town, was told under the championship flags of the New York Knicks (who have played their own tragedy there for years) and the Rangers. And with a new venue and a younger audience came new standards of theater decorum: The middle and high school students groaned when things went badly for the protagonists and cheered shamelessly at insults lobbed at the town’s most virulent racists.” – The New York Times
Royal Shakespeare’s Gregory Doran Hits Back At Idea That “Wokeness” Is Threatening Shakespeare
“Dominic Cavendish fears that the woke wolves are beginning to police Shakespeare, and that ultimately they will apply a sort of politically correct censorship which will render the plays unperformable. I can’t agree with that. I think directors, especially some of the freshest and most radical today, many of whom are women, want to reveal what is most urgent, most resonant and sometimes most challenging in his work, and address those issues head on.” – The Stage