"Molly Smith, ... a champion of American plays and the force behind a glittering transformation of (Arena's) Washington complex, announced that she will leave the job in July 2023. Her departure signals a rare turnover in the artistic leadership of one of the nation's most important nonprofit theaters." - MSN (The Washington Post)
When Flint Repertory Theatre artistic director Michael Lluberes contacted Tom Jones, the musical's playwright/lyricist, requesting approval to do the show with two young men as the central couple, Jones decided to go through the entire 60-year-old script and make adjustments. Many people think it works even better this way. - American Theatre
As Lansbury wins and Chita Rivera is in the audience, we see how "the theater, for all its physical hardships, can provide actors with pretty good third or fourth acts to their careers." (Of course, for some of the Tonys winners, this is a first act.) - The New York Times
It all depends on the voters, of course, but there's a good chance: "Hudson was a producer for A Strange Loop, which is nominated for best musical." (More Tonys predictions and wishes? The New York Times and Vulture have you covered.) - NPR
What timing: Artist "Peter Keegan was commissioned to mark the 10th anniversary of the Waterside Theatre, in Aylesbury, in 2020. Within weeks, all theatres in the UK closed due to the pandemic, but the artist continued to paint." And he painted the tentative return as well. - BBC
The Nederland Organization, owner of what's now called the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (where the musical Six is currently playing), will officially rename the venue the Lena Horne Theatre in a ceremony this fall. It will be the first Broadway house named for a Black woman. - Deadline
Method Acting went very, very wrong in the U.S. "What the educators did verbally, the directors who took the Method from the periphery to the center of American culture in the 1950s often enacted physically. Gropes, slaps and seduction were tools in their arsenal." - The New York Times
Sure, "the argument could be made that this is a canny marketing strategy, a way of drumming up publicity for a play, but it could also be the case that anonymity allow the author to push the material further, to be more candid, to expose themselves." - The Stage (UK)
The announcement comes a week after the company abruptly cancelled this month's production. "Rep officials cited significant financial issues, the challenge of operating in an active construction zone at Horton Plaza and unexpectedly low ticket sales since its post-pandemic reopening last October for the closure." - The San Diego Union Tribune
"Actor Phoebe Waller-Bridge" — honorary president of the Fringe Society — "has hailed a 'new dawn' for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as the biggest ever shake-up of the event aims to crack down on exploitation, reduce its impact on the environment and win over more local people." - The Scotsman
Declares the playwright, "It makes no sense in the structure of the play. It's a complete interruption of the narrative."Â But she won't cut it because "I don't think it came from me. ... (Writing it) literally felt like I was taking dictation." Yet actor David Morse made sense of it. - Variety
There are around 831 eligible voters—and still ballots to be completed and votes totted up. The Daily Beast spoke to three voters anonymously about who and what they were voting for, and what buzz and gossip they had heard from fellow voters. - The Daily Beast
"With his compassionate humor, Chekhov neither indicts his characters nor lets them off the hook for their myopic concerns. His plays are a tonic reminder to artists across disciplines that lives are lived not in headlines but in passing moments." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
It would go on to transfer to Broadway for a then-record eight-year run, spawning several touring companies and a celebrated film. Not many know that it was almost stillborn. - APNews
