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THEATRE

Inflation, Changing Audience Behavior Are Muting A Broadway Rebound

Amid the spate of new shows, producers are facing higher costs due to inflation and extra understudies, as well as the added stressors of unpredictable and changing audience behavior. - The Hollywood Reporter

The Plays Of Henrik Ibsen, Where Women, Philosophy, And Theater Intertwine

"The male philosophers in Ibsen's plays do not fare well. In fact, they are a bunch of ramshackle figures – either adding sheer comedy or making audiences cringe. ... His women characters play out ideas and positions on stage, and often pay the costs of their male counterparts' rigidly conceived projects." - Psyche

Philadelphia’s Merriam Theater Was, Well, Problematic. As The Miller Theater, It’s Getting Fixed

Well, partially fixed: even the planned $30 million renovation can't address all the issues from decades of deferred maintenance.  But leaks will be fixed, bathrooms updated, murals cleaned, seats replaced. And you won't have to walk through offices to gets to some of the seats anymore. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Securities & Exchange Commission Investigates Hedge Fund That Invests In Broadway Shows

A marketing document from the Broadway Strategic Return Fund claims that the fund's value quadrupled from January 2016 through September 2021, a period that included the COVID shutdowns — this in an industry notorious for losing investors' money.  And now the SEC has noticed this. - Broadway Journal

One-Person Shows Are Having A(nother) Boom — And Not Just Because They’re Cheap To Produce

There have been other periods when stage monologues were big on New York stages.  The difference this time is the audiobook and podcast boom; solo shows are easy to adapt, and companies such as Audible are actively producing such pieces to record them. - TheWrap

Remembering The Groundbreaking Lincoln Center Directors Lab

 In its 25 years, the Lab welcomed more than 1,600 directors through its doors. It was an enormously popular, productive, and competitive program, and one that will be sorely missed by its alumni, and, if it is not revived, missed-out-upon by thousands of artists worldwide in years to come. - American Theatre

Unknown Translation Of Molière By “Clockwork Orange” Author Anthony Burgess Is Discovered

"Miser! Miser! is a complete translation of L'Avare (The Miser) of 1668 ... that Burgess wrote in the early 1990s, yet it has never been performed or published. But now it could finally be staged as it will published for the first time in a forthcoming book." - The Guardian

This Standup Comic Specializes In A Very Niche Audience: Nurses. And He’s A Huge Hit

Nurse Blake, "(a) 31-year-old standup whose real name is Blake Lynch, is a genuine phenomenon, a social media star with millions of followers, which he leveraged to become a popular touring comic selling out theaters across the country." - The New York Times

Is “The Music Man”, And Is Broadway, Really #SoWhite?  Not These Days, Writes John McWhorter

"(The current Broadway revival has) many Black cast members, such that Blackness becomes more than any cartoonish notion of African-esque masculinity. We have moved on. In this production of The Music Man, Black people just are."  And there's an unusually large Black presence on Broadway this season. - The New York Times

Theatre’s Biases About Larger People

"I am a woman performer who wears pant/dress size 10-12. In the eyes of directors, producers, choreographers, and theatre’s other decisionmakers, that means I am undeserving of romantic love, real friendships, dignity, and accurate representation in the characters I play." - Howlround

Donmar Warehouse, A Dynamo Of London’s Theatre Scene, Loses All National Funding

Arts Council England has cut 100% of its grant to the company, which is known for small-scale productions that often go on to successful runs in the West End and on Broadway and for launching the careers of leading directors and actors. - WhatsOnStage (London)

Toronto’s Habourfront Theatre: Exec Director Leaves, Board Resigns, So What’s Next?

Last week, mere days after long-time director Gaëtane Verna left for a bigger job in the United States, board members resigned en masse, saying interference from Harbourfront made it impossible to fulfill its duties. - The Globe & Mail (Canada)

People Actually Do Want To Wear Masks At The Theatre

At least, they do in Washington, D.C. - and the lack of a mask requirement is, many say, why they're not returning. - American Theatre

The Women Adapting And Changing The Scottish Play

Making Mackers modern is a way for some writers - and actors - to get more into Shakespeare's work. One actor says that now she feels "included in a part of the literary canon that she’s always felt excluded from." - The New York Times

Critic Takes His 30-Year-Old Daughter To “Lion King” 25 Years After They First Saw It

I thought about the astonishing durability of the show, how many others in attendance like them were not even born when Lizzie and I visited a quarter-century ago — even members of the cast. - Washington Post

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