Category: theatre

“The current revival of Brecht’s Good Soul of Szechuan at London’s Young Vic has brought out the usual sorry bunch of carping critics eager to prove that Brecht was a heartless Stalinist, a playwright whose work should be dropped from our stages.” But c’mon…

“Taking matters into their own hands, the students pushed ahead, securing the Colony Theatre, where the show will play Thursday and Friday, attracting unexpected high-profile support and, eventually, the blessing of the principal for what remains an independent production not sanctioned by the school.”

Joe Adcock has been covering theatre for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for 26 years. A decade ago he took some time off to do some volunteer work. What did he miss then? Shakespeare.

Just like real estate, everything in the arts is local.

“British theaters will no longer be able to hoodwink potential audiences with out-of-context review quotes that seem to show the production is a hit, when the review actually conveys something different.”

As the Tony Awards loom, controversy has broken out, with some for-profit producers complaining about the unfairness of having to compete with non-profit shows. (No coincidence that a non-profit production of South Pacific is considered a strong contender for Best Musical.) “Producers have long grumbled that the nonprofits get all sorts of breaks, including lower print-ad rates.”

Baltimore-based Center Stage has tapped California Shakespeare Theater managing director Debbie Chinn for its own directorship. “She will be running a company roughly double the size of her current organization.” Chinn will take over in Baltimore in September.

“Seventeen years on, that tiny troupe has given way to a multinational, multi- lingual operation, currently with three productions on the go: a French-language Andromache touring Belgium, a revival of their Russian Boris Godunov preparing to transfer to Salford – and the new Troilus, which comes to London via the Netherlands and Romania before flitting off to Spain.”

“Other than school drama groups that used a cut-down version, no one has been permitted to mess with the look and feel of Les Misérables – until now. Overnight, an iconic piece of theater is open to reinterpretation for the first time since its 1985 debut by the Royal Shakespeare Company in London.”

Initially Drabinsky would make specific suggestions on how to move expenses around to make the books look better, but later simply set a budget for staff, telling them to meet it. “I would go back with staff and Mr. Drabinsky would … suggest where to put these (expenses) because he was the one that had to explain it to the board or outside analysts,” Gordon Eckstein told prosecutor Robert Hubbard. Cash flow problems were constant and creditors were paid only part of what they were owed, he told court.”