Category: theatre

“We want to believe the parties involved are, in Marc Antony’s words, ‘all honourable men.’ But the early talk pointing the finger at surviving artistic director Des McAnuff might yet yield to another theory- that the same combination of envy and misguided idealism that motivated Cassius and Brutus is the source of the current troubles.”

“The euphoria that greeted a unique theatrical leadership 21 months ago has turned to shock” as two of the Stratford Festival’s three artistic directors resigned this past week. The remaining director calls the collapse of the festival’s model “traumatic,” and observers are still trying to assess what happened.

“Until now, you’d have been hard-pressed to find a West End theatre open on a Sunday.” Taken in context, this is bizarre, since Broadway theaters have long raked in the cash from Sunday matinees. Now, London’s National Theatre is breaking the Sunday taboo, and the rest of the London scene is likely to follow.

Time doesn’t always proceed in a linear fashion on stage, and audiences are increasingly being asked to follow along with productions that seem to take place in multiple eras simultaneously. Still, there are risks to setting a historical play in modern times…

Armistead Maupin’s popular series of novels about San Francisco, Tales From The City, is being converted to a musical by the writer and director of Avenue Q, and is expected to hit Broadway sometime during the 2009-10 season.

A Dublin theatre troupe is in New York this month, putting on “a nasty little tale about prostitutes, politicians and other morally questionable types in 1950s Dublin.” Their venue is as gritty as their story: the whole play is staged in the public bathrooms of Central Park.

The top ticket for the Broadway musical Young Frankenstein costs $120. That’s notable because ever since 2001, hit musicals have reserved a certain number of “premium” tickets for buyers willing to pony up $225, $325, or even $450. But the producers of Frankenstein have reportedly decided that premium pricing was a mistake.

“In a move that shocked the Canadian arts community, General Director Antoni Cimolino announced Thursday afternoon the resignation of two of his three Artistic Directors, Marti Maraden and Don Shipley. The third member of the triumvirate, Des McAnuff will be remaining with the Festival as the sole Artistic Director.”

“America has never taken particularly well to political theater. Even in its heyday in the 1930s, when playwrights like Elmer Rice, Lillian Hellman, and Clifford Odets dominated the stage, plays focused more on social criticism than full-throated cries for social change.”

“After solving a problem like Maria and discovering a Joseph fit to wear his dreamcoat, a BBC One Saturday night series will find new stars for Sir Cameron Mackintosh’s revival of Oliver!” But since Oliver is played by a minor, the BBC says that “the role will not be open to the public vote,” and that “this decision was taken in the best interest of the children following expert advice.”