Category: theatre

“‘Glee,’ which chronicles the lives of members of a high school glee club, is attracting between 7 and 8 million viewers every week, and doing well among the valued 18- to 49-year-old market segment. But it is something of an obsession among theater denizens, teenage and otherwise.”

“Britain may remain in a recession that could still deepen, yet the mood in and out of the commercial theatre sector seems refreshingly upbeat.” Of course, “there are also problems and worries, especially in a subsidised sector that accounts for almost all our new and cutting-edge drama.”

The story of regional theatre in recent years has been bleak, with some of Britain’s oldest venues facing closure. But a new crop of creative directors are making local heroes of themselves.

Helmer Francesca Zambello has withdrawn from the tuner version of The First Wives Club … Zambello (The Little Mermaid), who directed the world preem of First Wives at San Diego’s Old Globe over the summer, is attached to an upcoming production of musical Rebecca, and also regularly directs opera.”

“It might seem like a stupid question, but when you watch a piece of theatre, do you ever wonder who has done what? There’s no real reason why you should. You liked so-and-so’s performance, the set looked nice, theatre is a collaborative effort and you enjoyed the show. End of story.”

“Papp mostly appears as a kind of theatrical superhero, arriving to give a crucial green light, to fire a director, to change a second act, to shake a cast up or to raise impossibly large sums of money in a single bound.”

“Theaters need to understand that they are the pulse of society. But for theater to have the important place in society that it deserves, it needs to be almost a town hall — a place where people come for ideas, to converse, to be angry and sometimes to be comforted.”

“Both festivals had a slow start due to the recession, a major leap forward once their shows opened and the government came through with additional marketing funds, but an ultimate downward turn by the time the curtain fell.” Stratford slipped 4.7 percent in attendance and 1.7 percent in revenue; Shaw was down 6.5 and 8 percent.

“Shopping and F***ing playwright Mark Ravenhill has criticised the theatre industry for placing too much emphasis on producing the work of first-time writers, claiming more time should be spent developing ‘long-term’ relationships with talent.”

“Some parents who object to the plays’ ‘mature content’ had sought a preliminary injunction to stop both productions. But lawyers for the Clark County School District said the parents’ lawyer failed to prove one of the basic criteria for a preliminary injunction, that it would cause ‘irreparable harm’ to the plaintiffs.”