Half a dozen of the main works are deliberately in dialogue with literary classics and ephemera, from sources as diverse as Mark Twain’s satirical monologues, James Joyce’s erotic letters, the Epic of Gilgamesh and “Antigone.” - The New York Times
Lily Janiak looks at the situation in the Bay Area, where small companies in particular have had trouble hiring or retaining ADs — the long hours, heavy demands, low pay, and hesitant post-pandemic audiences are just too much — and are trying joint-leadership models instead. - San Francisco Chronicle
The 33 shows grossed $51.9 million, the most since the final week of 2019. And “The Lion King” notched a remarkable milestone: It grossed $4.3 million, the most by a show in a single week on Broadway. - The New York Times
"Last week, Disney's The Lion King grossed $4,315,264 in ticket sales, which is the most any Broadway show has ever made from a single week of performances. The average paid admission was $284.89 and the show played to 99.23 percent capacity at the Minskoff Theatre." - TheaterMania
When asked why, participants’ responses included how "theatre direction just doesn’t pay a living wage", with another claiming "the pay and hours are terrible". The survey found one in 10 jobs was unpaid. - The Stage
Sordid? Squalid? That's pretty much how a lot of critics reacted to the play when it was new. Yet for decades it has been getting high-profile, star-powered revivals every few years. Why? Not just for its meaty roles, writes Michael Billington, but also for "its air of tantalising ambiguity." - The Guardian
Lyn Gardner: "6) Safeguarding. We don't expect people in other professions to do their jobs well without proper safeguards, checks and balances in place; we don't expect them to work long hours for free. Yet in theatre, we do. We should welcome whistleblowers." - The Stage
"At one point in time, New York was home to more than 50 Yiddish theatres. … Today, reflecting both the relative decline and the cultural persistence of this unique heritage, there are two remaining Yiddish theatres in the city, New Yiddish Rep and National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene." - American Theatre
In Yippee Ki Yay, running through this week in London and then touring Britain, poet/playwright Richard Marsh uses just a few props and 75 minutes' worth of verse to recreate Hollywood's greatest big-budget fighting-terrorists-at-Christmastime movie. - The New York Times
"That piano is so central ... that (August) Wilson's script dedicates half of its mandate for the play's setting to a description of the instrument. ... The seemingly obvious artistry of the piano speaks to intense research, precise dramaturgy and the arduous labor that brought its design to fruition." - Broadway News
Says Shuler Hensley, who's played the 600-pound Charlie in New York and London: "It's a brilliant ending, because audience members have constantly told me they couldn't breathe afterwards. They didn't know what to do, whether to applaud or get up or move because they've become so connected to Charlie." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) has named Matt August, a director and educator, their new artistic director. He succeeds Sean Daniels, who will serve as director of the new Recovery Project at Florida Studio Theatre. - American Theatre
Recent video from Ukraine shows a bulldozer tearing down the back of the ruined theater, which Russian fighter planes bombed last March while hundreds of families were sheltering in its basement; over 300 people died. The city's mayor, currently in exile, says the occupiers plan to leave the façade intact. - BBC
The conflict seems to come down to addressing the gap between what boards can do legally and what they should do to build trust, transparency, and community, especially as theaters continue to proclaim their desire to create diverse artistic visions and attract new audiences. - Chicago Reader
