For four decades, the consensus has been that — despite some excellent songs, and despite repeated adjustments during revivals — there's just no way to make Merrily We Roll Along into a good piece of musical theater. Then the director Maria Friedman, who's uniquely qualified, had a go. - The New York Times
Indeed, Phantom is ending its long Broadway run this spring, but the Blue Man Group (granted, in a smaller house) just keeps on — not only in New York, but in touring shows on at least three continents. Peter Marks considers the secrets of their success. - MSN (The Washington Post)
Roxana Silbert has quit as the north London theatre’s artistic director because of the financial constraints it is facing after Arts Council England’s decision not to renew its £766,455 annual grant. - The Guardian
A thinly veiled swipe at playwright William Inge (and at himself), the play seems to have been deliberately omitted by Albee from his collected works, but it has just resurfaced at a theater in L.A. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
The long-popular show, which combines rhythmic movement and comedy with percussion, much of it using everyday objects, opened in Manhattan's East Village in 1994. It will close, "due to declining ticket sales," on Jan. 8, 2023, though touring productions in North America and overseas will continue. - The Hollywood Reporter
The wager on “KPOP” hasn’t paid off, ticket sales data show. “KPOP” was one of Broadway’s lowest-selling shows in recent weeks, according to the Broadway League, the industry’s trade group. - The Wall Street Journal
John McWhorter: "I don't mean ordinary modern pop loud. I mean that in many numbers the volume is turned up so high ... you feel like your hair is growing faster or falling out. ... Of course, most audiences seem to love this auditory mauling." - The New York Times
"We quit on the theatre much more readily than the theatre quits on us. I am aware now—as a working artist in my 60s—that the theatre has outlasted all my teachers and mentors and heroes; that the theatre will outlast me, and all my students; everyone I’ve ever known, and everyone I am yet to meet." - American Theatre
We have to collect the stories and inspire people, rather than fighting hipsters and fighting people who are gentrifiers—people don’t really understand how gentrification works. It’s not about white people coming in; Latinos can gentrify too. - American Theatre
“Disability theatre is not all cute little community projects. I know that sounds like I’m dissing community projects, but that’s not what I mean … We exist, too. We can be professionals. We can be just as much angels or devils as everyone else. We can have the same kinks or non-kinks as everyone else.” - The Guardian
Her theory: "It's because I'm a Black woman." But there's more than that: her plays are more avant-garde than those of Lynn Nottage or Katori Hall, let alone Lorraine Hansberry or Anna Deavere Smith. Better to ask how the mainstream finally found Kennedy. - T — The New York Times Style Magazine
Our research has revealed that virtual music theatre — music theatre online — allows for a more accessible and a less exclusive way to engage with this art form with many benefits for participants. - The Conversation
First, the new version sued the old; now it's reversed. "At stake is not only who will profit, long-term, from stage versions of the classic story, but also which dramatic interpretation will reach many audiences across the country." - The New York Times
It's called Phinney's Rainbow, and Sondheim was a sophomore in college when he wrote and mounted it in 1948. "It's the stuff of legend in theater circles because nobody's heard much of it." - NPR
