And not just reopen, but “one of the first productions to play the Taper after its 16-month pause will be the world premiere of Fake It Until You Make It, … the commissioned play by Larissa FastHorse that was halted just weeks before opening last year." - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo News)
Young women, whose bodies are at risk in the post-Dobbs United States, get this version, where Sally "doesn’t sing, dance or exist to please others—including, it should be said, us in the audience. Instead, we see a woman who in spite of everything, has chosen herself." - Variety
"The blades fell onto the street below in the early hours of the morning. The cause of the collapse is not clear. Police say there were no injuries. The first three letters of the Moulin Rouge sign also fell off." - BBC
"Comedian Arj Barker’s interaction with a mother who brought a seven-month-old baby to his comedy show in Melbourne on Saturday night has sparked outrage, sympathy and debate about the woman’s decision to bring her infant to the gig and his decision to ask her to leave." - The Guardian
"It was just after 3 AM on a Saturday night in South Philadelphia, and I was watching an angry inflatable chicken fight a Japanese otter mascot in the middle of a hastily assembled wrestling ring. Around me, several hundred other spectators chanted, 'Holy shit! Holy shit!'" - The Nation
"'The key learning moments for a playwright,' says writer David Eldridge, 'are when you first hear actors read the script, and when the play meets an audience. We’re incredibly rigorous in the rehearsal process. But somehow, when you put it in front of an audience, it exposes unnecessary overwriting.'" - The Guardian
In the Educational Theater Association’s most recent survey, 85 percent of American theater teachers expressed concern about censorship. Even Shakespeare is at risk: In Florida, new laws led to the restriction of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to grades 10 through 12 and “Romeo and Juliet” could not be taught. - The New York Times
“'I was like, as long as someone is musical, any idiot can be in a band,’ Butler said. ‘I can write to whatever level.’ Later Butler realized that this was perhaps naïve.” - The New York Times
The lobby became the Vault Bar, with an elevated stage and a rotating disco-ball eye. Upstairs is the Red Bar, with dancers behind beaded curtains. Then the Green Bar has sequined fruit on the walls. Dancers move between the spaces on a tightly choreographed schedule, accompanied by a trippy musical mix. - Variety
"Five Just Stop Oil protesters have been (convicted) of aggravated trespass after they stormed a performance of Les Misérables in London's West End. Two of (them) were also found guilty of criminal damage after standing on the orchestra pit netting. … The estimated cost to the theatre of cancelling the performance was £60,000." - BBC
Alex Burns of Philadelphia's Quintessence Theatre Group has been criticized by a number of female and trans actors for, in effect, robbing them of all-too-rare opportunities. He asks, "When does the community get to abort someone else’s creative impulse or vision or claim it’s not appropriate?" - Broad Street Review (Philadelphia)
"Russian theatre director Zhenya Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk have been added to an official list of 'terrorists and extremists' as they await trial on charges of 'justifying terrorism' … (for) an award-winning play about Russian women who married Islamic State fighters." - Reuters
"Women dressed as priestesses are at the heart of the ceremony, first held for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Leading the group is an actress who performs the role of high priestess and makes a dramatic appeal to Apollo ... for assistance moments before the torch is lit." - AP
If Broadway feels more expensive than ever before, that’s because it is. Despite crowds that haven’t rebounded to pre-COVID levels, the average ticket price for a Broadway show reached an all time high: $128 in the most recent full season. - Gothamist
