"When the curtain comes down on the Music Venue Trust’s (MVT) #OwnOurVenues fundraising drive, it is expected to have raised close to £2.2m, a hemi-demi-semiquaver away from the £2.5m that it set out to achieve." - The Guardian (UK)
"Lead producer Mike Bosner … and his team enacted the old-school practice of preview pricing: selling tickets for a show's pre-opening period at a significantly lower price point than after the show's official opening — and advertised this accordingly." - Broadway News
"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 culture editors at El País had been considering starting a reading group for several years, but they only went ahead and launched the project in late 2022. In five months, the club had grown to over 1,100 members in Spain and Latin America. - Nieman Lab
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
Since the final in Liverpool sold out in 40 minutes, theatres across the UK will show the final. "Organisers say the screenings will encourage fancy dress and singalongs." - BBC
When the BBC announced plans to close the UK's only full-time professional chamber choir right before its century mark, 140,000 people signed a petition - and alternative funders stepped in. - BBC
The equipment for making professional-looking films has never been more inexpensive or accessible. There are people writing creative scripts; there's always an abundance of talented actors; there's a whole scene building around microbudget indies. But how do you get the wider world to notice? - Esquire
"While the general consensus among industry experts is that digital access provides an opportunity for Broadway to reach new audiences and tap new revenue streams, they told TheWrap that there are many financial and logistical challenges that stand in the way of a broader rollout." - Yahoo! (TheWrap)
"In devising an onstage gateway to Ally’s imagination, 'We were like, what if the portal is actually her notebook?' said Sammy Lopez, co-director. 'And what if we gave the audience the opportunity to jump into the notebook with Ally?'" - The New York Times
"We have changed our collective tastes in response to technological progress in the past. We’ll now do it again, without even noticing that it’s happening. And if history is any indication, our tastes will evolve in a way that rigs the game in favor of human artists." - Wired
Hollywood is very, very good at pathos - the art of emotional persuasion. The goal of the newly formed Climate Action Network is to "infiltrate every part of the industry with climate knowledge," they say. It's a rough road. - The Atlantic
Arifa Akbar: "Crunching or chewing can be a distraction, especially in the confines of the older, tighter West End venues, but theatre is a group activity. … The group experience is what we come for – and that includes jostling in the foyer, coughing, rustling and, yes, eating or drinking." - The Guardian
"For the general public, street teams are often the first touchpoint to a theater production. ... They serve as extensions of a show's brand, contribute to the general Broadway education for potential theatergoers and provide feedback to producers and marketers about what they're hearing on the ground from target audiences." - Broadway News
Sure, some of the sequences were a bit zany (and then there are the hot dog finers), but the film "feels more in line with last year’s winner, CODA, suggesting that pandemic-scarred academy voters are especially fond of cozily sentimental family dramas these days." - Los Angeles Times
