The Romantic ideal of a singular creative genius remaking the rules of his era doesn’t really match William Shakespeare, who was (for a theater guy) fairly conventional. Christopher Marlowe is a better fit, and he transformed more than he gets credit for, but mythmaking distorts his image as well. - The Atlantic (Yahoo!)
“There’s an inherent theatricality to church, and a furtive spirituality to theater. In form, they’re similar: Everybody crowds into a room, usually sits facing the same direction, and focuses on a central action — at least for a while.” - The New York Times
“In a city where the so-called Theater Row has more ‘For Lease’ signs than marquees, New Theater Hollywood feels improbable. Yet since opening in early 2024, it has already become something of a small cult phenomenon.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Cyndi Lauper isn’t thrilled, actually, about Working Girl. "Unfortunately, this story is just as relevant for women as it was when it came out in 1988. … In fact, since the rollback of Roe v. Wade, times may even be worse for women.” - American Theatre
Eight years ago at the Marin Theatre near San Francisco, Thomas Bradshaw’s play Thomas and Sally sparked in-person protests, an open letter with 1,800 signatures, and a police confrontation. Now, under new leaders, the company hopes to repair some of the damage with Suzan-Lori Parks’s play Sally & Tom. - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
The company was producing Michael Frayn’s backstage farce Noises Off, which is, as DTC’s executive director wrote to subscribers, “an intensely physical comedy that depends on precise timing and movement, (so) even one missing performer made it impossible to safely continue.” And the cast had a whack-a-mole series of health issues. - KERA (Dallas)
Artistry is what the ’40s biopics get most wrong. Not just the facts, though the depictions of composition, collaboration and show-making are boldly inaccurate. “Rhapsody in Blue” makes a fuss about Gershwin’s use of a diminished-ninth chord in “Swanee,” a chord that appears nowhere in it. - The New York Times
“I think the understudies, the swings, the standbys and the alternates do so much work, with so little recognition, so much of the time — this is a little piece of paper that makes sure they’re acknowledged by the people who are watching them.” - The New York Times
Festival administrators canceled controversial director Milo Rau’s play The Pelicot Trial, allegedly over Rau’s criticism of the Serbian government last year; consequently, the festival’s artistic director resigned. Artists say the government — which has been facing months of protests over corruption — is putting political pressure on the festival and slashing funding. - AFP (Barron’s)
“The venerable Chicago-based improvisational comedy institution has quietly built out a surprising side-hustle: Using the fundamentals and tactics of improv to teach corporate executives and professional athletes how to be better communicators.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Steppenwolf is embarking on its 50 anniversary season as one of America’s pre-eminent theater companies. An invitation to join its storied ensemble — a familial coterie of actors, directors and writers — is a golden ticket. - The New York Times
There’s an immediate pay increase well as 3% annual raises for the next three years, increased producer contributions to Equity’s health insurance plan, and a limit to how many consecutive days an actor or stage manager must work. - Playbill
The musical, which depicts Eliza Schuyler, Hamilton, and Angelica Schuyler as emotionally entangled right from the get-go, catalyzed Amanda Vaill’s earlier feeling that there was a backstory to Hamilton’s relationship with his wife and sister-in-law that should be told. - Slate
Good question, one that 1948’s biopic about Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart - Words and Music, starring Mickey Rooney as a heterosexual Hart - got very wrong. But: “That the ’40s biopics are so bad on the facts as well as the spirit doesn’t render them entirely worthless.” - The New York Times
“Circus Centre Melbourne, originally designed as a home for Circus Oz, has reopened as a home for the broader contemporary circus and physical theatre sectors — a space where circus artists can meet, create, train and perform.” - ArtsHub (Australia)
