Visitors to the New York burlesque duo’s performances at the Brisbane Festival in Australia last week had to be screened with metal detectors after threats from hard-right Christian groups angry at the show’s title (The Last Supper) and content (which ranges from nude dancing to a schoolgirl-themed skit to a mock crucifixion).
Category: theatre
Broadway Rebecca Is Cancelled, And The Lawyers Get Busy
“A lawyer for the lead producer of the recently canceled Broadway musical Rebecca said on Monday that criminal investigators had interviewed his client, Ben Sprecher, about the murky circumstances surrounding the last-minute loss of $4.5 million in investor financing.” Many other individuals involved in the show have retained attorneys as well.
Bring On Mirvish’s New Condos! Toronto Has Too Many Big Theatres Anyway
Kelly Nestruck: “The Princess of Wales is the nicest commercial theatre in town. It’s got a warm, Edwardian look, but … has all the amenities missing from genuinely old theatres … But, the truth is, Mirvish … is absolutely right that Toronto has too many large theatres and not enough audience to support them.”
‘A Good Play Puts The Audience Through A Certain Ordeal’: Playwright Howard Barker
“I don’t like sympathetic characters. Theatre should be a taxing experience: the greatest achievement of a writer is to produce a character who creates anxiety.”
Picasso Wrote Plays, Too (As New Yorkers Will See)
“Thankfully for the world of painting, Picasso wasn’t much of a writer. But one of his few plays, a surrealist romp called Desire Caught by the Tail, written over a four-day period in occupied Paris in 1941, will soon get a rare showing” – in a two-night dramatic reading at the Guggenheim Museum.
London’s National Theatre Sets Income Record
In 2011 it earned £80 million. “This increase in total income from last year’s £70.6 million coincides with an improvement to average levels of attendance at the South Bank venue, which have gone from 90% in 2010/11 to 92% in 2011/12. In the past financial year, which ran to March 31, 2012, the National staged 23 new productions, of which 12 were new plays. It put on nearly 1,800 performances in London and the report shows that around a third of its audiences were first-time bookers.”
Two New Theaters Open In New York
“The Pearl Theatre had a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate moving into its new home near Times Square, while the Atlantic Theater Company reopened its main stage in Chelsea after an $8.3 million renovation.”
Russian Theater Cancels Jesus Christ Superstar Over Blasphemy Charge
“Saint Petersburg’s Rock Opera company was to perform the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical – a 1970s classic that has been regularly performed in Russia – at the Philharmonic in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on October 18. However prosecutors launched a probe after a group of local residents complained that the musical presented a distorted image of Jesus Christ.”
Down With Entrance Applause! Clap When An Actor Has Earned It
Kate Taylor: “I don’t object to entrance applause on the grounds it isn’t proper etiquette. … I don’t object on the grounds it breaks the illusion of theatre. … Instead, I object to entrance applause because it is a nasty manifestation of a celebrity-obsessed culture that, tautologically, takes an actor’s fame as a measure of his achievement rather than judging his current performance.”
In Praise Of Entrance Applause: It’s A Part Of The Art Form
Kelly Nestruck: “When a famous performer … walks on stage, the waking dreamworld is broken for a moment whether you want to admit it or not. Entrance applause seems to me a natural acknowledgment of that rupture, especially since so many of us really go to the theatre for two reasons: to see a particular actor and to see the show they’re in.”