Category: theatre

“Campaigners fighting to prevent the Derby Hippodrome from being replaced with a multi-storey car park have united to launch a new lobby group, which aims to see the venue brought back to life under a £14 million development scheme. The former variety theatre was partially destroyed in March 2008.”

“He was a communist whose mission was to peddle what is now a defunct ideology. His theories, once revered as theatrical scripture, seem patronising and dated today.” So why does Brecht still have such a hold on us?

“Theater attendance plunged 9.3 percent to 3.3 million compared with last year,” while box-office grosses, despite higher ticket prices, “dropped 2.9 percent to just under $290.9 million for the period, which began in June, Crain’s New York Business reported.”

“[A]fter achieving fame and a small measure of fortune from the unlikely success of a show about a dystopia where citizens are forced to pay to pee, the creators of ‘Urinetown’ are desperately trying to top themselves.” Thus the oddball topic of their new musical, “Yeast Nation.”

“There have been plenty of breakthroughs, such as the blending of media and genres to create new art forms or the use of virtual gaming to redefine ‘audience participation.’ There have been missteps too, especially when people have become overly enamored of new toys and tools.”

“At the final Broadway performance of the long-running tuner, producer Kevin McCollum took the stage following the curtain call and announced the show would transfer to New World Stages,” becoming one of the very few Broadway shows to migrate off-Broadway.

These five critters weren’t animal actors (like the black cat who plays a key role in The Lieutenant of Inishmore), but they were well-known and well-loved residents of West End theatres.

The ’80s movie star is starring in a new comedy “as a has-been actor and opportunist [named Matthew Modine] who goes to South America to create a photo op as a celebrity ‘humanitarian’ so he can get back on the A-list. By saving an endangered herd of alpacas, he figures he’ll save his career.”

“Lloyd-Webber’s latest Saturday night talent show will search for a girl to play Dorothy and a dog to play Toto in The Wizard Of Oz, the BBC says. Winners of the programme will star in a West End production of the musical.”

“An Orange County school district where varsity athletes threatened to rape and kill the lead actress in a student production of the musical ‘Rent’ has agreed to provide harassment and discrimination prevention training to Corona del Mar High School students, teachers and administrators and other district officials, according to a legal settlement….”