Category: theatre

“Looking for the American theatre to say something about the presidential election? You’ll be lucky. On screen, we have the imminent release of Oliver Stone’s W, while in music Madonna has made it clear that Sarah Palin is not welcome at any of her concerts. But on Broadway there’s barely a squeak.”

“Though you may not find Pinter or Hare on the Vegas strip, most other forms of theatrical spectacle are here, from an inevitable clutch of Broadway and West End shows to a seemingly endless parade of Cirque du Soleil spectacles. There are shows here the like of which you can see nowhere else on the planet.”

“A great deal of British comedy operates as if it’s 1963 outside and no one has ever heard a willy joke before. There seems to be a kind of complacent conspiratorial fantasy among a generation of comedians that in making mention of sex – in an age of instant-access porn and full disclosure memoirs – they’re in some way handling dangerous or original material.”

“The tanking economy has the Denver Center for the Performing Arts taking precautionary steps that will cumulatively cut $1 million in spending this fiscal year. The goal is to create a cushion to protect against further market volatility that might soon affect everything from foundation support to possible audience downturns.”

“Broadway, the major cultural institutions and individual nonprofits are recognizably shellshocked as they brace themselves for the impact on investors, donors and audiences.”

“Inevitably, the West End will find it harder to attract investors and harder to shift tickets,” but might there be an upside for smaller companies? “Perhaps the credit crunch will mean that many more wake up to the fact that fringe tickets are often terrific value and offer an overall experience that is often far more enjoyable than that in the West End.”

Far be it from us to interpret the appearance today of cheap-ticket tips in two New York City dailies as a portent of doom. Nonetheless: “The new and improved TKTS booth opens next Thursday at 3 p.m. – and not a minute too soon. With the economy tighter than the Naked Cowboy’s trunks, saving dough is more than ever on everyone’s mind.”

The Ebony Repertory Theatre opens its first production tonight in South Los Angeles, an area that “has lacked a significant theater presence for more than a decade.” Company founder/producer Wren T. Brown says he “wanted to ensure that the so-called minority community had a place to go see theater where the standards are high and not compromised.”

Brendan Kiley has a list of urgent suggestions to save the art form from its imminent doom – from the inventive (provide child care, letting the kids play theater games in a rehearsal room while the parents groove to Pinter) to the risky (provide lots of cheap alcohol) to the unlikely (no more Shakespeare). Money quote: “Fringe theater shouldn’t be in the game of ennobling, it should be in the game of debasement.”

“Tony Kushner’s complex musical ‘Caroline, or Change’ struggled to survive on Broadway. But thanks to a fine production from Charles Newell and a star turn from E. Faye Butler, the show has turned into the biggest hit in the long history of the Court Theatre. … With ‘Caroline,’ Court has been doing around $10,000 in sales a day–which is a boffo box-office performance for a theater with only about 250 seats.”