Category: theatre

“Udderbelly, the 400-seat, giant upside-down purple cow that has been a popular feature of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 2006, is to make its London debut this summer when it will play host to a new arts festival on the South Bank.” The venue, in partnership with the Southbank Centre, will offer an eight-week season of plays, music and children’s shows.

“Legiters can breathe a sigh of relief now that New York state leaders have announced that $1.3 billion in proposed tax increases will be dropped from consideration — including a potential levy on live theater. The 4% state tax on legit tickets … had raised concerns in the legit industry that the additional charges would serve to further dissuade consumers from buying theater tickets, prices of which are already consistently on the rise.”

“Completing the new Abbey Theatre remains a top government priority, despite the worsening economic climate, according to Irish arts minister Martin Cullen.” The project was approved in 2006, but since then not even the competition to design the theater has been launched.

“‘Impressionism,’ a new Broadway play about the healing power of Art, is in desperate need of the healing power of Cutting.” With opening night of the Jeremy Irons-Joan Allen vehicle pushed back two weeks, lead producer Bill Haber has told “investors that ‘Impressionism’ will be whacked to one act without an intermission (that’s one way of eliminating the mass exodus!), and that confusing sections created by what he calls ‘flashback moments’ will be trimmed and clarified.”

“No major new Broadway production has been canceled because of economic or budget concerns so far this spring. … Over all, Broadway is on track to have 43 productions open during the 2008-9 season, an unusually high number at any time, but especially during a recession.” On the other hand, it’s “far from clear whether Broadway marquees will be bright or dark through this summer and into the fall.”

Lisa Fung rounds up reviews, from New York and Los Angeles to London and Atlanta, of Moisés Kaufman’s 33 Variations. Typical is Peter Marks of The Washington Post: “She not only manages to transcend time, but also the material… [which is] little more than a handsomely annotated music lesson.”

In Before I Forget, “Douglas shares tales about his life, work and family, intertwined with video from his long career in Hollywood.” Charles McNulty finds the evening “genuinely touching and amusing by turns”; Bob Verini says that “Douglas’ insights may not be deep, but they’re pithy, witty and heartfelt.”

“Some might scoff at the notion of mixing culture with prison and claim that this is not what prisons are for, but that would be to miss the point. On the evidence of two hours in Wandsworth nick, this is what rehabilitation is all about and precisely the kind of approach that can – for some – make prisons more effective.”

Michael Billington: “I’m delighted that Black Watch won four awards. But this is a show that opened in Edinburgh in the summer of 2006, has been seen all over the UK and the world, and is only now eligible for an Olivier because it did a season at the Barbican. … If we are to have London-only awards (which is debatable), they should at least be wide-ranging enough to include West End, off-West End and fringe theatres in acknowledgement of the capital’s diversity.”

“The Madison Rep’s financial and public relations problems began long before the national economy tanked. Even a beautiful gem of a new performing home in the Overture Center could not save the company from itself. The Rep has provided a template on how not to run a theater company for the surviving state arts groups.”