We can all thank Jeremy O. Harris, who didn't want to miss it but was out of town during its run at BAM. "Harris quickly enlisted some producing vets, such as Sue Wagner and John Johnson, and set about finding a theater." - Variety
"Even with Broadway budgets for musicals regularly topping $20 million, suddenly adding 19 people (the theatre minimum according to the collective bargaining agreement in place) to the payroll would be a significant additional expense at the last minute." - The Stage (UK)
Sure, David Byrne is trying to make do with no orchestra in his show, but check out Sweeney Todd, Camelot, and Some Like It Hot. Philippa Soo, who plays Guinevere, says "she feels supported by the big orchestra, not just musically, but dramatically." - NPR
“We did this workshop,” Foley told me. “And he came to see it, and . . . he did not like it. It was a really awful experience, because everybody was, like, What did Sondheim think? What did Sondheim think? And . . . I had to lie. - The New Yorker
"The artisan Nakamura Mitsue employs her four decades of experience as she cuts, carves and paints, gradually forging an eerily lifelike human face from a single block of wood." (video) - Aeon
Succession comes by its theater DNA honestly. A number of its writers are working playwrights, with impressive produced work under their belts, and executive producer Frank Rich was the New York Times’s chief theater critic from 1980 to 1993. - Vox
"The manuscripts were copied by cleric Richard Heege, a tutor to the Sherbrooke family, part of the Derbyshire gentry. … Dr. Wade concluded that Heege copied the text of an unknown minstrel who performed near the Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border in about 1480." - BBC
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced Thursday that former tech executive Tyler Hokama has been appointed the company’s interim executive director, and at the same time announced a new fundraising goal to complete its 2023 season. - The Oregonian
Behind the scenes, Toronto’s largest theatre festival was struggling. Audience attendance fell below expectations. Fundraising efforts came up short. All that while the festival saw COVID subsidies wind up and operating costs increase. - Toronto Star
"The special Tony Award that honors educators will go this year to Jason Zembuch-Young, a drama teacher in Florida who has closed the gap between the deaf and hearing worlds by having productions performed in both voice and American Sign Language." - AP
"Grosses are down about 13% from the record 2018-19 season but only 7% from the (previous) year. The remaining gap is largely caused by the reluctance of suburban audiences to return — (partly because) many suburbanites have not returned to working in their city offices during the week." - The Hollywood Reporter
LGBTQ storylines drew complaints from parents, spurring Carroll High School to cancel “Marian” in February out of concern for students’ safety. But the cast decided to put the play on anyway. Now, on a chilly evening in late May — after raising almost $84,000 for a show adults had warned them not to do. - Washington Post
"After years of development, Shucked ... became what it is today, an irreverent comedy that both delights in its Dogpatch characters and knows full well how to convey that delight to sophisticated New York theater-goers whose remnant recollections of Minnie Pearl are likely fading by the minute." - Deadline
The producers say the immersive musical, about Imelda Marcos, is based in karaoke (near-mandatory for Philippine politicians) and that recorded instrumental tracks are integral to the show's concept. The AFM says the contract with the theater the show's playing in requires 19 musicians, period. - The New York Times
"I'm doing this emotional ballad, quiet at the start, and someone gets their phone out. They're on WhatsApp and start leaving a voice note saying, 'I'm just watching Bedknobs and Broomsticks, I'm really enjoying it, I think it finishes in 10 minutes'. I can hear the entire conversation." - The Guardian
