Category: theatre

“Rising… from the heart of Leicester’s new cultural quarter, the Curve makes the powerful, dramatic statement that here is a city that can think outside the box. What the new building doesn’t shout, in any obvious way, is “theatre”. Yet a theatre is exactly what this £61 million architectural dazzler is.”

“Rumours have been circulating on the internet for some time, but it has been confirmed today that Godot will be turning up in British theatres next year, courtesy of Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. The two venerable stage actors… will be taking a new production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot on a short regional tour in the new year, before opening for a longer run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London’s West End.”

With newspapers struggling nationwide, it’s no surprise that theatre critics are in danger of joining the endangered species list, even in New York. “But is it such a bad thing for the theater if a tiny group of older, mostly male critics no longer have make-or-break power? Many bloggers on All That Chat write as well as members of the New York Drama Critics Circle. And who’s to say their opinions are any less valid?”

Broadway’s entire operation now depends on wireless microphones. So a proposal to make unused spectrum pathways that exist between digital TV signals available to the telecommunications industry has the theatre industry worried. “A proliferation of wireless devices in overtaxed areas such as Times Square, which overlaps with the theatre district, could cause serious disruptions to live performances.”

“We are undeniably watching something original, at once refined and electrifying. […] Throughout, Lovelace operates in an Expressionist whirl – silhouetted sex tableaux, waitresses-turned-strippers before our eyes, a campy “Silicone Injection” sequence, ad infinitum… Even with canned accompaniment, it’s remarkable how well it works.”

Lipsynch, the most recent of Canadian director Robert Lepage’s signature nine-hour stage works, will be one of the major events at next June’s Luminato festival in Toronto. The piece was first seen in an abbreviated version in Newcastle, England in 2007; the full-length Lipsynch premiered in London in September.

Cambodia’s first rock opera will premiere in Phnom Penh next month, a cultural milestone in the Southeast Asian country where performing arts were banned during the brutal Khmer Rouge years. Where Elephants Weep is an East-meets-West blend of traditional Cambodian music and Western rock that is modeled after Romeo and Juliet and inspired by the Broadway musical Rent.

The Chicago edition of the popular satirical revue, Forbidden Broadway, is closing after only three weeks, apparently because of economic pressures. “An earlier edition of the show ran for nearly six months in 2006 at the Royal George Theatre. This time around at the George, the producers say, the well-known revue spoofing Broadway musicals couldn’t sell a ticket to save its life.”

“The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the selection of seven plays to be funded as part of its New Play Development Program. The pilot project… is designed not only to underwrite new works already in progress but also to spot successful collaborations among artists, theaters, communities and other entities that might be used as models.”

The creators of Rue Magique say that “ours is the first musical to present the reality of prostitution for women and children.” Children, indeed: the leading character has brought her 13-year-old daughter into the business with her. But don’t expect too much reality. The author says, “I’ve had to keep in mind the capacities of the theatregoing audience. There are people who even find Rent unpalatable.”