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
The revival, starring Lea Michele and Tovah Feldshuh, grossed $2,005,696.80 last week, breaking the all-time record set by Mean Girls in 2018. - Broadway News
“Nobody wants to admit that they’re not selling tickets. Because of COVID, now Broadway is sort of admitting … sales are down, audiences are not coming back. - AMNY
In 2020/21, when activities were restricted due to lockdowns, the RSC’s box office income was £94,000. This rose to £12.5 million for 2021/22, and total income for 2021/22 was £39.7 million, 62% of which was self-generated from box office sales, commercial trading and fundraising. - The Stage
"This summer, Actors' Equity Association filed lawsuits against a Paradise Square producing entity in both state and federal court. ... After those lawsuits were filed, producer Garth Drabinsky sued AEA for defamation and related claims. This past week, he filed an amended complaint adding antitrust claims." - Broadway World
"(The just-ratified agreement) provides pay increases for those working on Broadway and, in a move prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, allows producers to make short-term hires to cover absent actors." - The New York Times
Many of the current crop of works can be classified as either “I worked with Steve” books or “I had an ongoing professional and intermittently contentious correspondence with Steve” books. - The New York Times
Sure, it's more sweet than serious, but "behind the glitz, look hard enough and there are reminders that Broadway – now consisting of 41 theatres – is a trouper with the battle scars to prove it." - The Guardian (UK)
Has the predominant Broadway tradition of shows by and featuring white artists, playing to white audiences, created a barrier that makes it harder for shows by and about people of colour to break through? - The Stage
That's exactly what the five-member Improvised Shakespeare Company does: take a suggestion from an audience member and invent an entire play, complete with tragedy, comedy, thwarted love, a prologue, and rhymed couplets. Here's a look at how they do it and the way they train. - The Washington Post
