Category: theatre

Now that Lord of the Rings has opened in West End, it’s time for London’s famously hard to please critics to have their say. And they are: “a thumping great flop,” says The Telegraph, and The Independent wasn’t much more positive, calling it “a show with a bit of an identity crisis, strong on dynamic spectacle, squeezed as a drama.” Still, a few critics liked the show, with The Times calling it “a wonder.”

Richard Ouzonian says that the London Lord of the Rings is both better and worse than its aborted Toronto run last summer. “What has the show gained since its run in Toronto? A more effective use of its sets and lighting, a clearer storyline in Act III and a smashing performance from Laura Michelle Kelly as Galadriel. What has it lost? About 20 minutes of its running time and almost all of its heart.”

A new play has been quietly building steam with some unconventional audiences this spring in New York. “Platanos & Collard Greens concerns itself with the tension between the African-American and Latino communities in New York and the overwhelming majority of men and women who go to see it, some over and over, are nonwhites.” Estimates are that by September, when the play ends its run, over 90,000 people will have seen it.

“It is the first play to tackle the 7/7 London bombings. But why is Pornography being staged only in Germany?” The playwright calls it “bewildering,” but says that the nature of the work fit better with a German theatrical sensibility.

“How far should directors, companies and theatres go to avoid offending audiences or accommodate audiences’ particular sensibilities? Already, here in Britain, religious groups are increasingly successful in their attempts to suppress productions, whether it’s pressure groups such as Christian Voice over Jerry Springer or some of Birmingham’s Sikhs over Behzti. What’s happening in Singapore may seem insignificant, but in the search to broaden audiences both here and abroad, it may be that companies are allowing themselves to fall prey to censorship.”

“Upon closing, it will have played 85 performances and 32 previews, at a loss of most of its reported $16 million investment. The Pirate Queen did not receive a single 2007 Tony Award nomination. In the months leading up to the Broadway bow, following its fall 2006 tryout in Chicago, the show was rewritten and re-staged, with the help of 11th-hour artists Richard Maltby and Graciela Daniele.”

“There’s no shortage of British theatrical talent, but who’s our best director? I was discussing the question with an actor recently at a party and we both came up with the same answer. But, before revealing the name, maybe it’s worth exploring the ramifications of the question.”

“Across the world, circus performers are mixing in a little cabaret, adding some nudity, sprinkling a fetish here and there, to deliver a spicier brew than Mr Chipperfield ever imagined. In New Zealand, Heavenly Burlesque joins strippers with acrobats in a blend of high wire and low life. Edinburgh’s La Clique toys with fetish and fantasy. The Montreal acrobats Les 7 Doigts de la Main cling to each other’s flesh with the intensity of passionate lovers.”

It’s been well documented that Broadway relies on out-of-town ticketbuyers to fill a majority of its seats, especially for big-budget musicals. “In addition to the tickets they buy, those who come to the city just for theater spent more than $2 billion on hotels, restaurants and other expenses in 2004-5… By the millions, day-trippers visit New York every year, to see the biggest Broadway shows. The matinees [in particular] rely on the bus trips.”

“After a disastrous workshop, a flop out-of-town production and a nasty lawsuit, “Bounce,” the only new Stephen Sondheim musical in years, may finally play New York. Sources say the Public Theater wants to mount a full-scale production at its flagship theater on Lafayette Street next spring, with an eye to moving it to Broadway if the critics are kind.”