SOLT’s update on attendances for 2024 shows that 17.1 million attended performances – the same as in 2023. When compared with 2019 – the year before theatres shut due to the pandemic lockdowns – attendances are up 11% (from 15.3 million). - The Stage
The festival, located where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario on the US-Canada border, had planned to close the century-old Royal George Theatre permanently. Now the provincial government has pledged C$35 million to reconstruct the venue — with more physical stability, updated facilities and expanded seating. - Toronto Star
“The city (government) has pulled $500,000 of Dream Keeper Initiative funding previously awarded to African-American Shakespeare Company with ‘no explanation,’ according to its founder. Executive Director Sherri Young … started the theater company in 1994 to provide actors of color more opportunities to perform in the classics.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
Audible Theater is teaming up with Together, a new accessible-theater initiative led by megastar Hugh Jackman and superproducer Sonia Friedman, for an eight-week series of programming at Off Broadway's Minetta Lane Theatre this spring. - TimeOut
“Othello is Shakespeare’s only major work in which the hero and antihero are given equal weight. … As the Shakespeare scholar Harold Bloom summed up the dichotomy: It is Othello’s tragedy, but it is Iago’s play.” Ben Brantley considers 13 Othello-Iago pairs, going back nearly a century. - The New York Times
Basically, lie (unless you’re a critic, in which case say nothing until the review). One actor: “It takes incredible amounts of bravery to be vulnerable enough to offer yourself to an audience, whether screen or stage. I’m proud of anyone who dares.” - The New York Times
“Members of SU’s theater community argue that the Lee, a relatively new building that opened in 2006, is an irreplaceable part of the school’s creative ecosystem that shouldn’t be razed to accommodate a glitzy, donor-driven project.” - Seattle Times
“This intimate spectacle (was) already a hit title in Asia for years. ... The Times spoke separately with members of the musical's cast and creative team about developing the standout show in Asia, witnessing its remarkable rise to Broadway acclaim and pulling off an ending that fascinates audiences.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
This pairing is the latest in a series of major deals between local arts and cultural organizations, including the merger of ACT Contemporary Theatre and Seattle Shakespeare Company, as well as Seattle University’s acquisition of Cornish College of the Arts. - Seattle Times
“Classic writers — Chekhov, Racine, Eugene O’Neill, Gertrude Stein — have been resurrected in conversation with a tumultuous, shape-shifting present for an astonishing 50 years. … In the late 1970s, these shows … were the ones that the coolest of experimental theatergoers swooned over, gossiped about.” - The New York Times
“Two weeks after the Denzel Washington- and Jake Gyllenhaal-led Othello broke the record for top gross in one week by a Broadway play, the George Clooney-led Good Night, and Good Luck has broken that record to become the top grossing show on Broadway with $3.3 million last week.” - Playbill
Love Life, composer Kurt Weill’s only collaboration with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, seemed like a very promising project. But its debut didn’t go over well — Broadway wasn’t ready for a concept musical in 1948 — and circumstances led to almost no trace of the show surviving. Until now. - The New York Times
Earlier this week, we tracked down what the top ticket cost was to see each of these stars at the evening performance on Saturday, Mar. 22. Like any great piece of theater that warrants a second mortgage in order to afford to see, the results took us by surprise! - The Daily Beast
Love Life premiered in 1948 “as a new show with music by Kurt Weill, and a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. ... Stephen Sondheim got himself a ticket, as did his future collaborator Hal Prince.” But it was never recorded, and seemed lost. - The New York Times
