Category: theatre

Blue Man Group recently closed in Toronto, disappointed with its showing there. But other shows have done remarkable business in the city. Richard Ouzounian thinks there’s a trick to building an audience there – and it starts with knowing what the locals are looking for…

Michael Riedel says that 2007 should be a big year for Broadway, but not all will be sweetness and light. The recent run of boffo box office could make life tough at the bargaining table, when contracts for stagehands come up for renewal. Also, the seemingly endless ticket price escalation will likely continue, with some seats reaching $400 a pop, and “Broadway audiences [becoming] richer – and whiter – than ever.”

Robert Woodruff, the American Repertory Theatre’s outgoing artistic director meets with his staff at the theatre for an emotional farewell. “It’s a really hard equation. The challenge between attracting audience, maintaining artistic integrity, and meeting a bottom line. It’s not the North Shore Music Theatre. You can’t just do ‘ The Music Man ‘ with Shirley Jones in the round. I think it’s a very tough row to hoe.”

The Off-Broadway “Women’s Project, a 28-year-old company that has nurtured the careers of established artists like Emily Mann and Suzan Lori-Parks, and of young writers like Karen Hartman and Neena Beeber, is now without an artistic leader and likely to remain so for some time.”

“While eating at your seat at a Broadway theater used to be universally forbidden, theaters are increasingly allowing patrons to take their drinks, candy and even crunchy munchies to their seats during a show.”

Seattle has been known for years as a good theatre town. The city has five big professional theatres and many smaller companies. But in recent years the city has been losing theatres; there’s now a long string of failures, the latest being the Empty Space, whcih closed in October. Can the city still call itself good for theatre?

Broadway had its biggest gross ever last week, with a whopping fifteen different shows pulling in over $1 million for the holiday run. “Several producers said yesterday that the final tally for the holiday week would easily exceed the record figure of $22 million.”

“A Vatican composer is to stage an opera based on Dante’s Divine Comedy, with visions of heaven, hell and purgatory. The lavish production is reported to include 200 performers and musicians, six projectors and a huge stage… Reports suggest heaven will be full of classical style melodies, the limbo of purgatory will be illustrated with Gregorian Chant, with hell full of more jarring music.” Organizers are hoping that Pope Benedict will attend the premiere.

“The Theater Museum in London, Britain’s national museum of the performing arts, is scheduled to close to the public on Sunday after almost 20 years at its Russell Street location in Covent Garden. The museum, which is a branch of the Victoria and Albert and houses one of the world’s largest collections of documents and artifacts related to theater, dance, opera and other performances, has been unable to secure financing for redevelopment.”

“Whereas 18 months ago £37.50 – £45 was pretty much the range for a top price seat for a West End show, £55 or more is now the going rate. The difference really hurts if you’re buying more than one ticket. As West End prices rise to a point where a ticket becomes a real luxury item, only affordable as a special treat, why does the experience often feel so stressful?”