Category: theatre

“Of the 19 plays and musicals that opened on Broadway during the second half of 2012, only 2 have caught fire with ticket buyers, in large part thanks to a famous star in the cast (Al Pacino of Glengarry) and a famous title (the musical Annie). … Indeed, the two best-reviewed shows of the fall have emerged as two of the worst sellers on Broadway.”

“More than most European cities, Hamburg … has seized on American-style musicals and has turned shows into tourist attractions.” For example, the Disney spectacular Tarzan “has proved that even out-and-out flops on Broadway can go on to lucrative afterlives in this destination city for Germans.”

“Chekhov flatters everyone, thesps, play-goers, designers, producers. … When director Peter Brook first saw Chekhov, he said it was like listening to a tape recorder that had been accidentally switched on during a family argument. To modern audiences, raised on reality TV and soap operas, this humdrum realism is in tune with our aesthetic expectations.”

The theatres see more money trickling back in, but actors, directors, and crew won’t see anything like a living wage, an annual report says.

The awards season gets under full swing with Danny Boyle’s opening for the Olympics going up against the 37-plays-in-37-languages extravaganza of the Globe to Globe Festival.

“The Old Vic’s audience is a baby-boomer one, and this casting is likely to be good box office and attract an age group that is increasingly used to seeing plays and movies directly aimed at its wallets.”

“Theatre is too valuable to be wasted on the few.”

Andrew Upton of Sydney Theatre Co. : “The hardest audience burden of all to tolerate is sitting back and waiting to be fed. This sort of blobby ‘tell me a story while I chew my cud’ has left me wondering if seats should be removed from theatres altogether. … Sit up and engage. It’s not feeding time; it’s haranguing, coaxing, wooing time.”

“I have received hostile voice mail messages and e-mails. They are often anonymous, I’m sad to say, as anonymous messages are delivered only by very low forms of human life, in my opinion. I have been denounced in various public forums … The columnist Liz Smith once proposed in print that I be lynched in Shubert Alley, which was one of the more thrilling moments of my career.”

Now you see ’em, now you don’t! This week, three Broadway shows–“Chaplin,” “Scandalous,” and “The Anarchist”–announced their closing dates.