Category: theatre

“More gently one could say it appears to be in tentative search of a new one, and in the interim has increasingly relied on sounds from other realms of music, namely rock and pop, to provide the central ingredient in the theatrical recipe.” Like the television series Glee, Broadway is “using repurposed spare parts from the cultural trove of the past half-century to spin fresh forms of entertainment.”

“I think the Broadway musical is trying to figure out how to be new in the face of enormous financial pressures. I’m encouraged by the diversity of influences on theater music, but I worry that the holy of all holies — marketing — is dictating the offerings.”

“The Tony Award statuette – a medallion mounted on a black pedestal with a curved armature – has gotten taller and heavier in advance of Sunday night’s ceremony at Radio City Music Hall. It now stands at five inches tall, up from three and 1/4 inches, and weighs three-and-a-half pounds, a two-pound gain.”

Lyn Gardner: “Traditional routes into the profession via established drama schools such as RADA [or] LAMDA … are now supplemented by hundreds of other courses – some at universities, some at more recently established [specialized] schools … [But] many of these courses offer their students little in the way of career advice and development. After taking their money and providing the requisite teaching hours, the courses simply send students out to sink or swim.”

“What these artists desperately need are the skills, support and confidence that will allow them to develop as independent artists, make their own opportunities and help broaden the theatre ecology. Otherwise, their training isn’t an investment: it’s just a waste.”

“In a letter sent last week to members, the guild explained that NYMF’s new contract entitles the festival to 2 percent of the applicant and author’s gross ‘on all income received from the play in excess of $20,000 over 10 years.'” The guild says that’s “too high for a presenting festival that already asks participants to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket.”

“With 22% of its MPs female, Britain is number 50 in the league table of women in parliament, a dubious distinction it shares with the Czech Republic, Eritrea, Latvia and Uzbekistan,” playwright Gillian Slovo writes. “But what I needed to understand was why the mother of parliaments came so low in the table.”

Michael Riedel predicts who’ll walk away empty-handed Sunday night “due to heavy-duty competition in their categories and the politics of this year’s Tony races,” and despite “remarkable performances.”

“There would be no Broadway without the non-profit theaters, and yet this apartheid system survives. London’s top awards, the Oliviers, don’t make that distinction. Other local awards, such as the New York Drama Critics Circle and the Drama Desk, do include off-Broadway, but they lack the brand recognition of the Tonys….”

“In an unusual bit of major star re-casting on Broadway, the actresses … will join the current revival of A Little Night Music in July to take over the roles of Desirée and Madame Armfeldt, now played by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury.” Says Stritch of the idea, “No one is going to own up to it until they see how I do.”