Category: theatre

“Wilton’s Music Hall has had its £2.25 million application to the Heritage Lottery Fund rejected and now faces being closed by this autumn if nothing is done. … The London venue needs £3.5 million to make it structurally sound, and believed it could raise £1.25 million itself towards the total with the lottery money making up the rest.”

“Big stars, classic productions and the pulling power of one of Australia’s best known international actresses has fuelled higher profits, bigger audiences and helped attract new corporate sponsors and private donors for the Sydney Theatre Company.”

“Horror writer Stephen King’s first play, The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, featuring haunting melodies by rocker John Mellencamp, is finally ready for the stage. The musical was originally scheduled for its debut at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre in 2009, but was postponed. It’s now set to open next April at the Alliance.”

Ben Brantley: “Famous people of all stripes are returning the compliment by looking to Broadway to rejuvenate their careers [and] enhance their artistic credibility … I am proposing a little list that matches stars in search of redemption with roles tailor-made to their particular skills and images.” (Picture Mel Gibson as Titus Andronicus.)

“Whether stage actors… will disappear from Broadway’s future if the Tonys continue to focus on Hollywood stars is debatable. Many actors appearing on Broadway–including Al Pacino, a nominee this year–began their careers on stage, but their mass appeal comes from their films.”

Jessica Winter: “[I seek] out every Lear I [can] find. … This quasi-completeist mission is perverse, because its frisson depends largely on expectations of shameless presumption and abject failure. (You fiends! How dare you dare to stage this!) But the promise – always kept – is the thrill of seeing actors try the impossible.”

“People feel that satire needs to be bang up to the minute, with scripts changing daily to reflect the news. While this is not impossible, with productions such as The Prisoner of Windsor turned around in a mere two weeks, … we appear more constricted on a big stage. West End shows need a long time in preproduction and after a short run they could be irrelevant.”

“Now theatre, too, is moving into ordinary people’s homes, making a literal reality of kitchen-sink and drawing-room drama. In fact I’ve spent so much of this year’s Brighton fringe being marched round residential backstreets to watch pieces staged in people’s [homes] that I’m beginning to feel like I’m flat-hunting.”

Can William Shakespeare win a competition for $500,000 that is straight out of “American Idol?”

“The Drama Desk, an organization of theater journalists and critics, called ‘The Book of Mormon’ the season’s best musical and gave it awards for best lyrics, music, director and orchestrations.”