Category: theatre

“A tuner adaptation of ‘Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’ is in the works. The developing musical will get a week of creative work hosted by Lincoln Center Theater this summer.”

“Christopher Hampton, whose play The Philanthropist and translation of God of Carnage are now on Broadway, has signed on to write the English-language adaptation of the book for the musical Rebecca, based on the Daphne Du Maurier novel.” Following a tryout in Toronto, runs in London and New York are planned.

“Art that bewilders one generation becomes accessible to the next; or so it would seem.” The explanation for this is partly “a natural process: the true artist is always ahead of the game and the public takes time to catch up. … But there is more to it than the depth-charge effect of great drama. Along with the erosion of the old certainties and the belief that life is explicable in religious or philosophical terms has gone a total revolution in the form of drama.”

“Off Broadway’s 54th Obie Awards honored ‘Ruined,’ ‘Road Show,’ actor Earle Hyman and legit companies Classical Theater of Harlem, the Chocolate Factory and the Lark Play Development Center on Monday.”

“Theatre now finds itself in a strange position. There is little prospect of making more money at the box office: audiences are already coming in large numbers and ticket prices are high. But, as other income evaporates, we are having to face a future in which there will be fewer productions and more dark theatres. The next few years look tough – but I don’t feel gloomy.”

“After keeping one foot on each coast in recent years — as artistic director of Intiman Theater in Seattle and directing shows on Broadway — Bartlett Sher is preparing to plant both feet more firmly in New York. Intiman today will announce the first details of an unusual, multiyear succession plan that allows Sher to share leadership of Intiman through the end of 2010 with a replacement already selected but not due to be named yet.”

The Drama Desk Awards were bestowed, as usual, to Broadway shows over off-Broadway alternatives. “Billy Elliot” danced off with 11 prizes, including best musical.

“The season that just ended with the announcement of the Tony nominations was, by its conclusion, so fully alive and functionally adult it felt as if some brain-freezing, senses-numbing spell, cast perhaps by a singing witch from a Disney show, had at long last been lifted.”

“The Ordway is part of a consortium of regional theaters and presenters that are among the lead backers of a musical version of “The Addams Family.” Producers announced this week that the show, starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, would open on Broadway next March following a Chicago tryout this autumn.”

“The Broadway revival of Eugene O’Neill’s ‘Desire Under the Elms’ will close on May 24, several weeks ahead of schedule, in the face of declining grosses and its lack of any nominations for the 2009 Tony Awards. The play’s lead producer, Jeffrey Richards, issued a statement this evening to announce the closing. The limited run of the show was supposed to end in July.”