Category: theatre

“The 2012 awards ceremony, the biggest night of honors for the Broadway industry, offers something even more fun than singing missionaries and pint-size ballerinas: competition.”

“It’s worth noting, amid the glittery festivities, that some of the finest new playwriting to be seen Off Broadway is not necessarily Broadway-bound, and probably shouldn’t be.”

“More and more, Shakespeare in the Park is tending away from the bedrock principle on which it was founded: that all tickets should be free.”

“The theater, at Fifth Avenue and 125th Street, had been threatened by foreclosure and involved in disputes with a neighboring restaurant and with its former business partners, whom theater officials had accused of mismanagement.”

“In his 2007 survey of the last half-century or so of British drama, State of the Nation, Michael Billington argues that such drama forms the backbone of post-war theatre. … However, a few weeks ago, playwright Dennis Kelly – himself considered one of the foremost political playwrights – gave an intriguing speech in which he claimed that ‘political theatre is a complete fucking waste of time.’ Is he right?”

“In Southern California, where he lived for most of his life, Bradbury was an active and familiar presence in the theater scene, adapting some of his popular fiction for the local stage while also penning original theatrical creations.”

“The $11.2 billion included $8.95 billion in purchases by tourists from outside New York City who said that Broadway was a “very important reason” for their visit; $2.2 billion in expenses to mount and run Broadway shows; and $22.3 million in spending to renovate or refurbish some of the 40 Broadway theaters. Based on those figures Broadway helped generate $550 million in taxes to New York City during the 2010-11 season and support 86,000 jobs.”

“Pre-dating the riverside Globe, the Curtain theatre, north of the river Thames in Shoreditch, was home to Shakespeare’s company – the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Remains of walls forming the gallery and the yard within the venue have been discovered by archaeologists from Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA).”

“Well preserved remains of Shakespeare’s original ‘wooden O’ stage, the Curtain theatre where Henry V and Romeo and Juliet were first performed, have been discovered in a yard in east London. The Curtain theatre in Shoreditch preceded the Globe on the Thames as Shakespeare’s first venue.”

“In a surprise move, the Harper government is restoring the funding it controversially pulled last year from the SummerWorks Theatre Festival after the Toronto event was criticized in 2010 by a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper for scheduling a play that ‘glorifies terrorism’.”