Category: theatre

As part of the New York Public Library main building’s centennial celebration, the theater troupe Elevator Repair Service took to the periodicals room and performed a simultaneous condensed reading of Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

“In general the Broadway musical and opera inhabit separate, increasingly distant cultural spheres, but these productions represented a notable — and unfortunate — point of contact: two large-scaled, highly anticipated shows helmed by acclaimed theater directors with international reputations, both of whom were handed fat checks to realize their visions.”

“This year’s Tony nominees for lead actor in a play suggest that there may still be some truth to the clichés about the Anglo-American theatrical divide.”

From “Good People” to “Ghetto Klown” to “Lombardi,” it was a bumper year for dramatic writers. Of the 25 plays that made it to Broadway for the 2010-2011 season, a robust 14 productions were new.

“When California voters banned gay marriage in 2008, Brian Shnipper didn’t take to the streets in protest; he called his playwright friends. It was the beginning of what would become Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, a collection of nine one-act plays by writers such as Neil LaBute, Paul Rudnick and Wendy MacLeod.”

“Compared to the same period last year – covering January 1 to March 31 – box office revenue dropped by 6%, while attendances were down 10%.”

Alexis Soloski: “Once upon a time, the ‘avant garde’ didn’t refer to art at all. It denoted the horse cavalry, the riders and their mounts who led the charge into battle. … Still, even though the term avant garde has been outmoded for nearly a century, it’s precisely how many critics and academics – myself included – persist in thinking about the theatre.”

“The children line up in the middle of the room and take turns to fulfil a comic brief called out by [the teacher]. They run through a load of situations: world’s worst newsreader; things you’d least expect to hear from a headmistress (‘Hello children – today we’re going to be watching Black Swan‘). Not everything works, but the performers are rarely stumped. I’ve never seen children so eager to volunteer for anything.”

The group opposes that some producers have reduced live orchestras on Broadway in favor of recordings “to squeeze out a few extra dollars in profits,” even though ticket prices continue to rise.

According to data released on Monday, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has played at 95% capacity since reopening its doors on Thursday.