AmericanTheaterWeb Top News

LATE AFTERNOON ADDITIONS

Associated Press

Danish Queen Designs Costumes for Christmas Ballet
''The Little Snow Girl'' is being dressed by a queen.

Chicago Tribune Theater Loop Blog

Milwaukee Shakespeare goes kaput
The Milwaukee Shakespeare Theatre is canceling the rest of its season and ceasing operations, effective immediately. The Equity-affiliated Wisconsin theater, which hired a lot of Chicago theater professionals and has been around for nine seasons, said Tuesday that it had...

Chad Jones' Theatre Dogs Blog

Cal Shakes, ACT’s Willis honored

Playbill

* Complete Cast Announced for Broadway's White Christmas
* Playten, Tunie, Rebeck, Wright and More Join Tony Nominating Committee
* DIVA TALK SPECIAL: The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken

TheaterMania

Their Wicked, Wicked Ways
Ashanti, Joy Behar, Stephanie J. Block, Mario Cantone, Kerry Ellis, Michelle Federer, Mark Indelicato, Stephen Schwartz, Matthew Settle, and George Wendt help celebrate the firth anniversary of Wicked.

* Full Cast, Creative Team Set for Debate Society's Cape Disappointment
* Dixon Place Postpones Forever. But Will Still Open New Facility October 29

Broadway.com

First Person: Why Language of Trees star Michael Hayden traded football for acting

The Playgoer

The "Free Night of Theatre" Experiment
Bay Area critic/blogger Chloe Veltman has been airing some worthy questions about TCG's annual "Free Night of Theatre" promotion, just recently passed. Here she interviews Theatre Bay Area's Brad Erikson about the impact on that scene. He's quite bullish, citing:

The Guardian Performing Arts Blog

Ajesh Patalay: Does London really need a new gay theatre?
Is there any point having a niche gay venue when several productions are already playing to West End audiences?

See all of the late afternoon clippings

EARLY AFTERNOON ADDITIONS

New York Magazine Vulture Blog

It’s On: Disney Officially Launches ‘Wall-E’ Best Picture Campaign!

Playbill

* DeMunn Replaces Blasted-Busy Birney in Belber's Geometry
* Opening Night, Directed by Van Hove, to Play BAM in December

TheaterMania

* Cambodia's First Modern Musical, Where Elephants Weep, to Premiere in Phnom Penh

Parabasis

How Theater Became America
This article about (potentially excessive) executive pay at top NYC theaters reminds me of something... what is it? Oh, that's right, the blog posts that appeared all over the place roughly six or nine months ago about this issue...

The Stage UK

Lack of funding will result in acting talent shortage in Scottish theatre and TV, warn experts
Leading figures in Scottish theatre and television have warned the sector is facing a shortage of highly trained actors, unless the devolved government increases funding so that two conservatoire-level drama schools can be maintained.

Radio 4 to present the baroness' take on The Sound of Music
BBC Radio 4 is to present a new take on The Sound of Music with a drama that retells the Rodgers and Hammerstein story through the eyes of Maria's rival, Baroness Schräder.

Brenda Blethyn Returns to Manchester for HauntedBrenda Blethyn (pictured), who on Sunday won the TMA Award for Best Performance in a Play (See News, 26 Oct 2008), will return in t...

See all of the early afternoon clippings

MID-MORNING ADDITIONS

The Globe and Mail - Theatre

Daniel MacIvor wins the Siminovitch
I was working on a little piece handicapping the finalists for the Siminovitch prize last week, but when I got the embargoed press release about the winner on Wednesday, I dragged and dropped my notes into the recycle bin. I thought Daniel MacIvor, who was given the prize yesterday in Toronto, was least - Follow link to read full post

Playbill

* Anniversary Edition of Wicked CD, with Bonus Tracks by Rimes, Goodrem, Menzel, Arrives Oct. 28
* Travolta Unlikely for "Hairspray" Film Sequel
* Zadan and Meron Will Co-Produce "Footloose" Remake for "High School Musical" Star Efron

TheaterMania

* Champlin, Dunne, Groff, Shnayerson to Participate in Bury the Dead Talkbacks

The Guardian Performing Arts Blog

Chris Wilkinson: Why local critics deserve a standing ovation
With national critics pretty much rooted in the London scene, local papers play a huge part in the success of regional theatres

Whatsonstage.com

The Hip History of the HippodromeFrom the outrageous to the downright bizarre, La Clique’s mix of burlesque, cabaret and circus gives the historic Hippodrome a new lease of ...

Latest Gossip: Ashley Walters Sets Sights on Globe Domination???
Dominic Dromgoole take note - award-winning actor and former So Solid Crew member Ashley Walters has revealed to What’s on Stage his next big ambition – to perform Shakespeare at the Globe.

Whatsonstage.com - Off-West End & Fringe

Paul Heritage On … Amazonia
Paul Heritage is the Artistic Director of People’s Palace Projects, who are currently working on the Amazonia project in association with the Young Vic. The second and last part of the project, which has seen Paul

London Theatre Guide

Henry’s horrid at the Trafalgar Studios
Horrid Henry, the naughty youngster from the popular children’s book series, will spread his mischief over London when Horrid Henry – Live And Horrid! opens at the Trafalgar Studios on 21 November.

Seeall of the mid-morning clippings

---

THE MORNING'S FIRST TOP CLIPS

AmericanTheaterWeb

Digest - Daisey's 'Say Something' opens off-B'way - read the reviews
* Review - If You See Something Say Something - A Provocative Monologue for Our Times

Review - Resurrection – New Hope for the Black Man’s Experience

Review - Big River – A Fun Ride Down the Mississippi – and the Connecticut

Bloomberg.com

Big Bucks for Theater Chiefs Draw Support, Criticism as Sign of Excess
Fresh out of the Yale School of Management, Todd Haimes joined the nearly bankrupt Roundabout Theatre Co. in 1983 and led its transformation into one of the largest U.S. nonprofit theaters.

Asssociated Press

’Wicked’ keeps on growing and so do its statistics

Back Stage

Regional Theatre Gets Broadway Treatment
Eleven regional theatre actors will live like Broadway legends next summer under the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship.

TheaterMania

Speed Demon
Raul Esparza is having fun, fun, fun as a ruthless Hollywood producer in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow.

Broadway.com

* What a Drag: John Travolta Snubs Hairspray Movie Sequel

New York Daily News

Audio Slide Show: Liza's Open Rehearsal
Liza Minnelli performs "Clap Yo' Hands" during rehearsal for her upcoming show "Liza's at the Palace...!".

Hartford Courant

Stamford Theatre Works To Close
Stamford Theatre Works is calling it quits. The 20-year-old professional Equity theater company, which presents off-Broadway-type fare in a 150-seat barn on the property of Sacred Heart Academy in Stamford, announced Monday that it is discontinuing programming and dissolving theater operations.

Bitter Lemons

The Bursting of the American Theatre Bubble
Say what? I didn’t realize there was an “American Theatre Bubble”. That’s cuz I just made it up. Not in a vacuum, mind you, but in response to Charles McNulty’s interesting article in the LA Times. In his desire to explore the state of our economy and how it connects with the state [...]

The Clyde Fitch Report

The Death of Journalism? The Death of Arts Journalism?
Apparently some people don't seem to understand the impact of what's going on in journalism, of which arts journalism is always the not-quite-wanted younger sibling.

Miami Herald Drama Queen Blog

Miami's McCraney keeps soaring
In the entire United States, just two major regional theater companies -- the Center Theater Group in Los Angeles and the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, N.J. -- have been chosen to receive the first grants in the National Endowment for the Arts' Outstanding New American Play project. At the McCarter, that project involves Tarell Alvin McCraney (that's him at right, writing).

Chicago Tribune Theater Loop Blog

Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori fly in to see 'Caroline'
The creators of "Caroline, or Change" flew to Chicago Sunday to see Court Theatre's hit version of their baby. Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori attended the Sunday matinee. Tesori rushed in from technical rehearsals for "Shrek." The pair surprised the...

'Million Dollar Quartet' to record cast album
The cast of "Million Dollar Quartet," the hit rock 'n roll musical that's moving to the Apollo Theater (Oct. 31-Jan. 4) on Friday, is laying down its performance for prosperity. Cast members were at the Chicago Recording Company on Monday, ...

Seattle Times

Rep shortens "The Three Musketeers" run; Oregon Shakespeare Festival cuts 2009 budget

The Independent

Leicester: a new theatre and no boundaries
From its radically adaptable stage to its public make-up room, Leicester’s new theatre rewrites the script for dramatic design, says Jay Merrick

The Stage UK Blogs

Mark Shenton: Reinventing theatrical perspectives and spaces…
I caught up with a couple of new productions on Saturday and Monday that both imposed something completely unexpected on the text, respectively creating environments and perspectives on the action that were not specified by either of the playwrights...

See all of the day's clippings