Category: theatre

No, Voters, You Do Not Have To See Billy Elliot Three Times

“Tony Award voters have to see only one of the three boys rotating in the title role of ‘Billy Elliot: The Musical’ before voting on their joint nomination for leading actor in a musical, according to a memo from the Tony Awards administration committee. The memo … has led some voters privately to question the appropriateness of casting ballots to honor all three ‘Billy’ actors if the voters have not seen all three of them perform.”

Sans Rocco, Who’ll Be Public Face Of Broadway Business?

“Ever since the November death of Gerald Schoenfeld, the theater owner and the longtime public face of Broadway to New Yorkers and their mayors, governors and lawmakers, many people in the theater world thought one of his peers, Rocco Landesman, would succeed him as the next ambassador for Broadway.” With Landesman most likely NEA-bound, Broadway has to look elsewhere for that leadership.

In Big-Budget Musicals, Female Directors Remain A Rarity

“It might be surprising that in 2009, women are still having to grope their way to the power seat in an artistic field such as theater. And the helm of a musical, with its complex and expensive working parts, is perhaps the most difficult and challenging position the theater has to offer. Yet for all the successes of a Julie Taymor (‘The Lion King’) or a Susan Stroman (‘The Producers’), women even today only occasionally receive the assignment to direct a big-budget, big-showcase musical.”

Shakespeare Testing Gone, And With It Work For Theatres

“No sooner had the government announced last October that testing would no longer be compulsory at year 9 than phones began to ring at the RSC.” With cancellations, that is. “Less well known has been the devastating effect on smaller theatre companies that have been working in schools to make Shakespeare more accessible to 21st-century teenagers.”