Category: theatre

“In recent times, theatergoers expecting a musical revival have frequently gotten a ‘revisal.’ It’s not simply that the libretto has been updated in the name of appealing to contemporary audiences or that … offensive dialogue [has] been expunged. It’s that the performers have been belting out numbers [that] weren’t part of the score the first time around.”

“Darrell D’Silva sustained the injury to his hand during technical rehearsals. The RSC’s artistic director Michael Boyd said the actor had undergone surgery and returned to work with his hand in a sling.”

“Mr. Cumming, who won the Tony Award for best actor in a musical in 1998 for his role as the emcee in ‘Cabaret,’ was set to play the villain Green Goblin in ‘Spider-Man’ for his friend Julie Taymor,” who is directing the long-delayed show, now said to be slated for “the Hilton Theater sometime in 2010.”

“‘Theatrical smoking has been a part of free expression in America since the First Amendment’s ratification in 1791,’ [Theatre Communications Group] executive director Teresa Eyring said in a brief filed Friday [with the U.S. Supreme Court]. ‘Theaters rely on actors’ expressive conduct, including smoking, to convey meaning in tandem with a play’s dialogue, movement, mood and tone.'”

“Dubbed “the tweet seats”, the Leeds venue was considering allocating a number of seats at the back of the auditorium for people to send instant messages over Twitter live from the theatre last week, floating the idea on its own Twitter account and asking potential audiences for feedback on the idea.”

“The nation’s economy is in dire straits, but that hasn’t stopped theatergoers from flocking to the West End, where attendance last year topped 14 million and box office revenue hit a record 500 million pounds ($775 million).”

“Should theatres be allowed to employ people without paying them? Given the fact that unpaid internships are virtually endemic across the theatre industry, this might seem a futile question.”

“Some people have understandable nostalgia for what then felt like a common culture, even if, over the years, bitter experience left few practitioners with much trust in those delegated to be its guardians. In fact, the growth of diversity both in the audience and in the places it sharpens its opinions has brought only benefit to any dramatist whose first love is experiment and innovation. And newspapers that once enjoyed such power are themselves discovering what it is like to live with the threat of working in a minority form.”

“The Abbey Theatre in Dublin is closing down its long-established workshop and outsourcing set construction in a bid to save money. … A total of 11 staff will lose their jobs, some of whom have been involved with the workshop for more than 20 years.”

“Musicals will be strongly represented at this year’s BBC Proms, with the line-up featuring a concert paying tribute to the work of Stephen Sondheim and another devoted to the shows of Rodgers and Hammerstein.”