Category: theatre

“Things aren’t great for Broadway musicians. There are fewer jobs than ever, as orchestras have increasingly become small bands. I’m O.K. with that; times change. Some shows need orchestras and violins; others don’t. But “West Side Story” is one of those shows that does.”

How do “today’s women of the theatre want to present themselves, particularly in the classics. Are they their own masters, with appetites and ambition the equal of men, which is how the playwrights saw them? Or are they to be presented as the innocent victims of men’s appalling patriarchy in the past, which is how you might see them reading the plays?”

“All this effort includes a fancy new carpet in the lobby, a renovation of the grounds and a new partnership to manage the theater’s restaurant. It’s all a part of Bill Hanney’s efforts to build a successful for-profit business on the skeleton of a nonprofit.”

“I thought if we brought the theater downtown, it could have a significant economic impact. I still believe that a theater there is critical to downtown revitalization.”

The Tonys are leaving Radio City Music Hall after 13 years to make way for a new production from Cirque du Soleil next spring. (We can only hope it’s an expanded version of “Banana Shpeel.”) CBS, which broadcasts the Tonys, “still has to approve the move,” says a source. “But it looks like we’ll be in Washington Heights next year.”

“The Emmy nods were announced Thursday and three young Broadway pros have made the leap to prime-time in major ways. They’ve grabbed attention – and Emmy noms.”

“The Young Vic theatre in London will celebrate its 40th anniversary this winter by luring another middle-aged enfant terrible, the award-garlanded French director Patrice Chéreau, to direct his first stage play in English.”

“Shuttered for a year after going bankrupt in 2009, the beloved institution — once the largest nonprofit theater in the region, with close to 350,000 people attending annually — is coming back to life under [Bill Hanney’s] watchful eye. Hanney bought the place for $3.6 million in February and is overseeing every detail of the reopening….”

“During a scene added for this production, Shylock submits to a forced baptism in a small onstage pool. Pacino’s silent anguish as his face was dunked repeatedly in the water seemed only deepened by the thirst for it in the audience. People watched in horror at the forced christening of the Jew — but with a tinge of envy….”