"We tricked them by putting soccer in a comedy show. … The first thing you’ve got to do to get somebody to become a soccer fan is just make them care about one team, to find one team.” Even if it’s fictional. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
“I want to see the eyes of the actors, I want to get closer to the emotion - which is what theatre can’t give you. It’s a different thing,” says the Hadestown pro-shot director. - NPR
“There are countless reasons behind the demise of any Broadway show, each of which is essentially a start-up business taking its chances in a volatile market.” - The New York Times
No, not just The Odyssey. “A new audience is finding poetry, particularly (though not exclusively) through social media: a new generation of poets, particularly but not exclusively performance poets, have come to prominence through Instagram, TikTok, and other short-form video formats.” - The Guardian (UK)
"It’s a distinct privilege to witness something being born. It’s exciting.” But developmental opportunities are disappearing from the United States theatre scene at an alarming rate. - American Theatre
Why the comedy part? “New opera is sometimes boring because we’ve forgotten that our job is to entertain people. … During all my time in the American development system, no one ever told me that my job as a composer was to be a dramatist.” - The Guardian
“Until 2001, many of the capital’s most important cultural institutions required visitors to pay for entry. … It’s impossible to overstate just how revolutionary this (change) was. In the decade after free admission was introduced, visits to formerly paid-for museums in London increased by around 151%.” - LBC (UK)
The San Diego Arts Pass — inspired by New York City’s Culture Pass, Britain’s National Art Pass, and the like — will offer purchasers reduced-price or free admission to over 40 organizations, including the Old Globe, San Diego Symphony, and La Jolla Playhouse, in San Diego County and metro Tijuana. - The San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)
Okay, they’re not doing Long Day’s Journey Into Night or Titus Andronicus; after all, the audience is on vacation. But cruises from the UK have started presenting professional productions like Come From Away and the RSC staging of The Constant Wife. Ambassador Cruise Line even has a playwriting competition. - The Guardian
“The idea with the channels seems to be that making the secret, private shame of scrolling into a collaborative activity will give it a new place in the home.” - The Atlantic
Er … not really. "Moviegoing used to be a matter of habit meeting spontaneity. … Today, patrons generally plan their cinema visits in advance, and the question of what to see has collapsed into the question of whether to go at all.” - The Atlantic
On Monday, The New York Times posted an article featuring a longtime volunteer tour guide who said of the currently-dormant institution, “Now it’s a black hole.” On Thursday, a Kennedy Center official sent a memo to all volunteer tour guides telling them not to come there “until further notice.” - The New York Times
“A Chorus Line celebrates artists’ commitment while demonstrating — both at the story level and in the way the script itself was assembled — how easy it is to bully or exploit them.” - The New York Times
The FOMO is real. “Complicating things further for The Odyssey is that it’s available in so many premium formats—six, altogether—that the film’s official website includes a guide to their various strengths and aspect ratios.” - Wired