Through Phantom, Lloyd Webber presented an argument for the destiny of musical theater itself. The operatic tradition had always been divided over the relationship between music and drama, and this debate had reemerged in Lloyd Webber’s day. - New York Magazine
On a 1971 visit to Malta, the playwright saw the painter's Beheading of St. John the Baptist, and the horrified face of an elderly female spectator at the execution was the key inspiration for Beckett's Not I, the 13-minute monologue for a disembodied mouth on a pitch-black stage. - The New European
For a lot of us, we started out doing this young. And our lives have changed. It’s like watching a child grow up. I didn’t have a child when I started this. Now I have a daughter, who’s 34, and a grandson! - Forbes
"Front-of-house staff facing violent assaults, theatregoers urinating in fire exits and mass brawls in auditoriums were among the incidents uncovered by the report from the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU). … Almost half (45%) said they had considered leaving the industry due to poor audience behaviour." - The Guardian
"The union ... will be launching the PAC in the first week of April, with the goal of contributing money to federal candidates who support Actors' Equity priorities" such as arts funding, expanded health insurance coverage, and the Performing Artists Tax Parity Act. - The Hollywood Reporter
Even without hard numbers, many of the designers, technicians and stage managers who are still around agree: there are more job contracts available in the Toronto theatre market than there are people to take them, which has piled on a pre-existing burnout problem. - Toronto Star
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey are back, baby (in September) - without lions, tigers, or bears, but with a lot of roadies to handle all the gear. "You can’t downscale. ... You really have to reimagine and reinvent." - Fast Company
"How can our art form, perhaps the most ephemeral of its aesthetic siblings, impress upon audiences the necessity for action? And, conversely: Why is this so very hard for our field to seem to do?" - American Theatre
"(They're) eating gourmet meals in a medieval village turned boutique hotel with breathtaking views of the postcard-perfect Val d'Orcia countryside. With access to a sauna and spa, as well as pasta-making classes and truffle-hunting, they are very much in a pinch-me-I-can't-believe-it's-true state." - The New York Times
"Finn Caldwell, the production's puppetry director, and two of those Olivier-winning puppeteers, Fred Davis and Scarlet Wilderink, sat down at the Schoenfeld one morning last week to talk about bringing the show's puppets to life — and then, in several scenes, to vivid and often gruesome death." - The New York Times
"The 75 performers from 18 countries will include performers on a triangular high wire 25 feet off the ground, crisscrossing flying trapeze artists, a spinning double wheel powered by acrobats and BMX trail bikes, unicycle riders and skateboarders doing flips and tricks." - AP
Scenic downsizing is all the rage in Midtown for a range of reasons — skyrocketing costs, cold concepts, quick turnarounds. As a result, storied houses are morphing into university black boxes; shows into showcases; dramas into drab-a-thons. - New York Post
The songs "How to Handle a Woman" and "What Do the Simple Folk Do?" haven't aged well, and the book of the Lerner & Loewe musical, always a weakness, is even worse today. So the producers asked Sorkin to do what he did with To Kill a Mockingbird. - The New York Times
The more pressing question, now that theatres are back in some kind of business, is: How is business? Are audiences coming back at anything like pre-pandemic levels? And are theatres able to make ends meet? The evidence is mixed, and seems to vary by region. - American Theatre
