“Based on recent ticket sales and Visitor Center website traffic, … the formula has proven to work in Philadelphia. … While Philly tourism and theater attendance have been down compared to 2019, Amy Murphy, Arden Theatre’s managing director, said TKTS is already paying dividends.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
We should cherish the miracles that happen on stages all over the country every night, even as we question why theatre needs miracles, when actually a very small amount of investment would enable it to produce lasting wonders, both artistically and in how it serves communities. - The Stage
“Life and Trust, an immersive follow up to Sleep No More from the producing team Emursive, closed abruptly on April 19 after beginning performances in the summer of 2024. … No official reasoning was provided for the show’s sudden closure … after tickets were mysteriously refunded over the weekend.” - TheaterMania
“After the archbishop’s interference, Beckett withdrew all rights in protest, for all of his works in Ireland, indefinitely.” - Irish Times (Internet Archive)
“Marissa Chaffee starts her shift by housing a Five Guys burger with pickles, mustard and ketchup. … Later tonight, she’ll chug (a "Witches' Brew") potion while half-dressed in Spider-Man underwear and knee-high boots in front of 85 theatergoers. The test is … whether she can remember her iambic pentameter.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
Culture is the sphere in which people debate and determine who they are, what they value and the kinds of lives they wish to lead. Properly understood, culture is not a passive backdrop to “real life” but an active domain where communities articulate their shared meanings. - Salon
“The new play by George Clooney and Grant Heslov and directed by David Cromer has broken its own all-time record for highest grossing play in Broadway history. ... The production broke the record for eight performances with a gross of $3,784,027.88 for the week ending April 13.” - TheaterMania
“In a new Instagram video – watch it below – Lloyd Webber, pretending to speak for the Phantom character, says that the musical is returning but at ‘a better address in New York, in a better area.’” The show ended its 35-year Broadway run in 2023. - Deadline
The 18-to-25 demographic isn’t usually considered a target audience for a circuit where tickets are so expensive, but the last couple of seasons have seen productions of shows deliberately aimed at that age group. It seems to be working. - The Guardian
“What if … Glengarry is instead celebrating the deceit, in fact presenting it as the epitome of manliness? What if Glengarry Glen Ross, quite possibly in ways a younger Mamet himself did not entirely fathom, offers us a joyful ethnography of Donald Trump’s America?” - The New Republic
In 2024, the 40 best-funded theatre companies that make their own productions - ranging from the National Theatre to the Colchester Mercury - opened 229 original productions, compared with 332 in 2014, a drop of 31%. - BBC
With a full slate of free programming that ranges from workshops and classes to performance, the company is hoping to become a neighbourhood hub. - Ludwig Van
“The number of plays and musicals staged by the UK's main subsidised theatres last year was down by almost a third compared with 10 years earlier, BBC research suggests. In 2024, the 40 best-funded theatre companies that make their own productions opened 229 original productions, compared with 332 in 2014.” - BBC
“In this excerpt, adapted from Seller’s memoir, Theater Kid (out on May 6 from Simon & Schuster), the producer lays out the musical’s long road from dispiriting workshop to its simultaneously triumphant and tragic first preview performance.” - Vulture
