Category: theatre

Lyn Gardner: “When did we fall for the idea of paying extra for the privilege of being able to buy something?”

“[I]t appears that the company [Digital Theatre], which has the experienced stage director Robert Delamere among its founders, has found a way of cracking the perilous transfer of stage show to screen.” It’s no replacement for the live experience, but as cheaper alternatives go? Not bad.

“When I visited Digital Theatre’s Soho office, I was glumly expecting the usual deadness of the filmed stage performance. What I got was something quite new. Thanks to the editing and the multiple points of view, you feel inside the piece in a way that compensates for the loss of that flesh-and-blood thing.”

“Just a year ago, [Terri] White, 61, could not make rent.” Now she’s back on Broadway in “Finian’s Rainbow,” but at the time “[s]he could not work. She also could not find a way to ask for help. For three months, when she was not crashing on a friend’s couch, she slept in Washington Square Park.”

“Reporters, stars on the red carpet and good food have been replaced by BlackBerrys, which, in turn, have made the opening-night ritual of reading aloud the good reviews (and keeping the pans out of the parties) as yesterday as an Al Hirschfeld cartoon.”

“The productions — filmed live in front of audiences over two or three performances, on between 5 and 11 remote-controlled, hi-definition cameras embedded in the staging — will be offered as downloads priced at £8.99 (a bit more than $14.50).”

“Aside from the National Theater the Donmar has become the most influential and productive theater in London, despite its diminutive size. Tucked away on a cobbled street off the Seven Dials, the former warehouse once used for ripening bananas contains about 250 seats.”

“Over time, Culture Clash has transitioned from doing mainly sketch comedy (or “political cabaret,” in Montoya’s formulation) to nervy, full-blown scripted works. Typically based on extensive research and scores of interviews, they’re laced with historical cross-examining and brimming with audacious sociological slapstick.”

“‘Spider-Man’ had been scheduled to begin previews Feb. 25 and open in March, but [an executive involved in the production] said in an interview Thursday evening that there was ‘no way’ that rehearsals for the musical would begin on schedule later this fall.”

“Just as Bob Dylan was booed when he ‘went electric’ at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, the theater community is divided over the growing manipulation of sound on stage.”