Category: theatre

“Beetlejuice” Has Been A Hit – What Its Surprise Closing Says About Today’s Broadway

Broadway’s supply and demand for theatres is a far cry from the mid 1980s, when commercial theatre in New York in general seemed like it might be on the ropes. Hamilton, Moulin Rouge!, The Lion King and Wicked all grossed more than $2 million last week, and To Kill a Mockingbird – a play – grossed $700,000 more than Beetlejuice – evidence of how expectations and earnings are being recalibrated. – The Stage

How Three Great Actresses In Their 90s Keep Their New York Stage Careers Going

Okay, Lois Smith is only 89 — and she’s currently on Broadway in The Inheritance. Estelle Parsons, 92, is at the Public in Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day. Vinie Burrows is 95 and begins an Off-Broadway play next month — and, as a Black actor, has spent much of her long career creating her own opportunities. Laura Collins-Hughes meets the three of them for tea and talk about staying in regular work at their ages. – The New York Times

Broadway Musicals Are Stretching Their Curtain Calls Into Ever-Longer Encores (As The Audience Stands Up And Dances)

Alexis Soloski: “These post-curtain moments have less to do with telling the story and more with telling the audience how to feel about the story they have just seen and what they should tell their friends. As someone who loves a Broadway musical, but is often ready to scurry up the aisle once that musical nears the three-hour mark, I spoke to some of the creators behind eight current musicals to discover how and why each of them had built in an encore.” – The New York Times

How Ed Harris And Aaron Sorkin Are Interrogating ‘Mockingbird’

Sorkin, playwright of the Broadway adaptation: “I absolutely wanted Atticus to be a traditional protagonist, so he needed to change and have a flaw … It turned out that Harper Lee had [already] given him one; it’s just that when we all learned the book, it was taught as a virtue. It’s that Atticus believes that goodness can be found in everyone.”
Harris, who plays Atticus: “He’s trying to hold on to a belief that’s being eroded slowly but surely.” – The Atlantic

Do You Hear The People Singe? Set Of ‘Les Miserables’ Catches Fire During Show

At the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on Monday night, the performance of the musical had to stop for ten minutes after the actor playing Javert accidentally lit part of the set on fire with his flaming brand. One audience member tweeted, “I thought the fire was part of the show … until all the dead bodies started running off set!” – WhatsOnStage (UK)

In Retrospect “Cats” Was A Brilliant Idea. At The Time? Not So Much

The idea proved anything but irresistible. No one wanted to finance the project: the show’s producer, Cameron Mackintosh, had to solicit small-fry investors through newspaper ads; Lloyd Webber took out a second mortgage to make up the ultimate shortfall. He had composed an epic, genre-spanning score, using a Moog synthesizer to imitate meowing, but, when he played it for Twyla Tharp, hoping that she would choreograph what would have to be a very dance-heavy musical—Valerie would permit the production only if they relied entirely on Eliot’s material, which left little room for plot or spoken dialogue—Tharp said no. – The New Yorker