Category: theatre

“Cate Blanchett’s impending debut as artistic director of Australia’s national theatre company has not been widely welcomed, amid reservations that she was given the role ahead of more experienced candidates, and yesterday the controversy surrounding her appointment deepened. In an extraordinary outburst, one of the company’s leading actors resigned in disgust, saying: ‘An Oscar for acting is not a suitable recommendation to run the biggest theatre company in the country.'”

Musicals are fine for what they are, says Mark Ravenhill, but they frequently have “as much to do with a night of good theatre as homemade porn does with a lifelong relationship.” So why do purveyors of such pap believe that they deserve the same serious treatment from critics as Pinter and Shakespeare receive?

“It was 25 years ago when a dancer named Cynthia Dale cracked her heel during the third day of rehearsals of the Stratford Festival production of The Gondoliers and was carried out of the Avon Theatre… This afternoon, Dale will once again be leaving the Avon Theatre against her will, following the final performance of My One and Only, because – after a decade as Stratford’s leading lady – she hasn’t been offered a part for next season. But, once again, she fully intends to return.”

“You might think nine months would be a bit early to start worrying about prizes, but that’s to underestimate the singular ecology of Broadway, a street that never met a trophy it didn’t like… In a climate whose strategic thinking increasingly mirrors that of Hollywood’s annual Oscar race, producers carefully position shows to open so as to maximise their Tony potential.”

A children’s theatre production in London is sparking controversy because it deals with mature subject matter such as murder and criminal rehabilitation, even though the characters are children. But shouldn’t older children be exposed to serious issues in theatrical productions? More to the point, why is it that “presenting these issues on stage at the Unicorn, a building dedicated to work for children and young people, causes such controversy when similar themes are explored in TV and in novels for young people without attracting similar outrage?”

“Since its first shows in the mid-1970s the Wooster Group has been a famously tight-knit troupe of collaborative artists overseen by Ms. LeCompte. But as the lineup of actors has changed, so has the artistic center of gravity, moving at points to Spalding Gray, Willem Dafoe, Ron Vawter or Kate Valk. Over the past several years [Scott Shepherd] has emerged as the new main man, a counterpoint to the dynamic presence of Ms. Valk.”

“Once upon a time, Minneapolis and St. Paul were trendy spots to road-test new musicals before they hit the Great White Way. Nowadays, those tryouts are going to other cities – taking prestige, money and jobs with them.” So what changed in the Twin Cities? “It’s not that local theater folks aren’t trying… [but] local markets can be so eager to have the imprimatur of a pre-Broadway tryout that they’re willing to virtually give away the theater space for the weeks and months of rehearsal leading up to performances.”

Critics’ previews for the new Mel Brooks musical, Young Frankenstein, start running on Broadway this week. But the show’s star, Roger Bart, has been out of rehearsals with serious back problems. “One scenario has his doctor pumping him with cortisone so he can play the critics’ performances and opening night, then take time off to heal. But that, as any dancer will tell you, is extremely risky.”

The Minneapolis-based Guthrie Theater has scored a world premiere by Tony-winning playwright Tony Kushner. Kushner’s newest play, tentatively titled “The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures,” will bow on the Guthrie stage in spring 2009.

“Theatre is undergoing its most radical growth phase since the fringe explosion of the seventies, or the new writing boom of the nineties. In the past couple of years, the one-off, short-play evening has gone from being an exciting novelty to a de facto rite-of-passage for young writers.”