AmericanTheaterWeb Top News

END OF DAY & NIGHT TIME ADDITIONS

New York Times ArtsBeat Blog

City Opera Seeks Help From 'Turnaround King'
Following the resignation of Gerard Mortier as its artistic director and general manager, Michael Kaiser, the president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, will assist in the company's search for a replacement.

amNY New York City Theater Blog

The Billy Elliot Reviews - Which Billy Is It Based On?

Chad Jones' Theater Dogs Blog

TheatreFIRST seeks leadership

Los Angeles Times Culture Monster Blog

Sacramento theater director who donated to Prop. 8 faced storm of criticism

Prop. 8 donor Scott Eckern explains his resignation from California Musical Theatre

Prop. 8 repercussions: Theater's artistic director resigns

Dallas Morning News Arts Blog

Regina Taylor at TBAAL on Saturday

Miami Herald Drama Queen Blog

A famous actor's sister returns to Barry
It's probably not too surprising that Nancy Murray was drawn to theater. The eldest of nine children in a large Catholic family from Wilmette, Ill., she is the sister of both Bill Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray. At Barry University in...

Playbill

* Cast Announced for World Premiere of Gurney's A Light Lunch at Flea Theater

TheaterMania

* John Melendez and Ming Na to Star in Grease Benefit
* Davi, Moye, et al. Set for Ordway's White Christmas
* Full Cast, Creative Team Set for Quest's Into the Woods

Broadway.com

Fresh Face: Meet Wicked’s new Elphaba! Marcie Dodd’s magical road to Broadway

Video: New York, New York! A helluva sneak peek at On the Town at Encores!

Bitter Lemons

Why Politics and Theatre Matter
As most in the theatre community, especially the California theatre community, may know by now, Scott Eckern the Artistic Director of the California Music Theatre Company has resigned under pressure from advocates of No on Prop 8. The Backstage Blog (aka Lauren Horwitch and company) has more information about the specific details and players involved here. Eckern’s [...]

The Mirror up to Nature

Doubt Trailer
Interesting, I didn't notice any New York accents in the trailer.

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MID-AFTERNOON ADDITIONS

New York Times ArtsBeat Blog

Facing Boycott, Musical Theater Director Resigns
Scott Eckern, the artistic director of the California Musical Theater resigned Wednesday, after gay and lesbian artists threatened a boycott for his support of a ban on same-sex marriage

Village Voice La Daily Musto Blog

Ex Child Demon Plays Pat Nixon
I was thrilled to hear that Patty McCormack--who brilliantly played evil little Rhoda Penmark in the 1956 camp classic The Bad Seed--is portraying the marginally less scary Pat Nixon in the imminent movie of Frost/Nixon.

Playbill

* Together Again. . .Again, with Fraser and Testa, Extended at the Beechman

TheaterMania

* Chernus, Rapp, Sparks to Appear in Astroland at the Kitchen
* PBS to Air Jerome Robbins Documentary in February

BroadwayWorld

* Billy Porter Returns to Joe's Pub December 7 and 8

The Clyde Fitch Report

New York City Arts Coalition Sounds the Alarm on Cuts to NYSCA

The Chicago AIDS Quilt Songbook, in Honor of World AIDS Day, Announced

The Globe and Mail - Theatre

Your theatrical theory reading for the week
Read about "postdramatic theatre" in this blog post by Andrew Haydon in the Guardian, and "relational aesthetics" in Carl Wilson's profile of playwright/social acupuncturist Darren O'Donnell in Toronto ...

Amulette Garneau, one of Michel Tremblay's favourite actresses, dies of cancer

On Theatre and Politics

What I don't know
Tony's discussion made me think a bit about what I know, and what I don't, about content and writing.

Whatsonstage.com

Gossip: M&S Carrier Bags Help Fund New Lyric Roof Garden???
Work began this week on a new “community roof garden” at the Lyric Hammersmith, funded by non-for-profit company HammersmithLondon and the Marks & Spencer 5p carrier bag scheme. The garden will be constructed by environmental charity Groundwork as ...

London Theatre Guide

Hartnett leads stellar gala cast
Hollywood star Josh Hartnett is among the many stars confirmed for this year’s Old Vic 24 Hour Plays Celebrity Gala, which takes place at the Waterloo venue on 30 November.

Stars turn out for Mathilde reading
A host of West End stars, including Samuel Barnett, Daniel Evans, Josefina Gabrielle, Ella Smith and Sally Ann Triplett, are to stage a special industry reading of new musical Mathilde later this week

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NOONTIME ADDITIONS

Chicago Tribune

Original cast of 'August: Osage County' returns to Chicago
The original cast of the Steppenwolf Theatre production of "August: Osage County" is back on the stage of the Steppenwolf this week. But you can't buy a ticket. The group is spending the week rehearsing before headed to the National...

New York Times ArtsBeat Blog

Longtime Tony Producer Dropped From Awards Show
Elizabeth Ireland McCann, the managing producer of the Tony Awards since 2001, and her longtime producing associate Joey Parnes, will no longer be producing the awards show.

Playbill

* The Story of My Life, With Gets and Chase, Aims for Broadway in February 2009
* Champlin to Perform Finishing the Hat in Rochester Nov. 29-30
* Lea Salonga Will Perform Concerts in California, New York, Nevada and More in 2009

TheaterMania

Loose Lips
Alan Cumming chucks it up for LOGO, prepares to make a Tempest, and gets ready to open a Songbook. Plus: Donna Lynne Champlin is Dead on; Michael Cumpsty takes the Town, and Olivia Thirlby is a North star.

* ll Cast, Creative Team Set for NSMT's High School Musical 2

The Artful Manager

Shacking up
Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones explores an increasingly common consideration for facility-dependent arts groups in a down economy: sharing space instead of building or owning their own. Says Jones: ...

The Producer's Perspective

How to tickle and tease your audience before they get to the theater.
We've talked a lot about what to do with your customers after they see your show.

The Stage UK

V&A to launch performance galleries with rare theatre memorabilia
The Victoria and Albert Museum is to open Theatre and Performance Galleries in March 2009, featuring more than 250 objects representing all forms of live performance over the last 350 years.

My Darling Clemmie to play at New Wimbledon Theatre Studio
Hugh Whitemore's play My Darling Clemmie - telling the story of Winston Churchill's wife Clementine - is set to be presented at the New Wimbledon Theatre Studio from November 18.

The Guardian Performing Arts Blog

Kelly Nestruck: A whiff of greasepaint on TV
Broadcasts of theatre productions often feel static and soulless, but the latest technology might offer TV viewers the best seat in the house

London Theatre Guide

The Big Interview: Adriano Shaplin
With cutting edge theatre company The Riot Group, playwright Adriano Shaplin has built a reputation for unflinchingly contemporary work. For his RSC debut, however, he has tackled a new idea, a history play, as Matthew Amer found out.

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MID-MORNING ADDITIONS

AmericanTheaterWeb

Updated Digest: Bury the Dead

Updated Digest: Saturn Returns

Playbill

* Tony Winner Emick Will Join Emmy Winner Harper for Looped in Florida
* Scott Alan's "Keys" CD, with Murney, Blickenstaff, Graff, Lewis and Foster, Now Available

BroadwayWorld

* Mart Crowley's 'For Reasons That Remain Unclear'
The Rob Kozlowski Chicago Theater and Vintage Film Medicine Show

The content question
Tony Adams has started a lovely discussion about content. There are plenty of comments from folks you all know and love, and then there's a post from Kris Vire, following up on HIS views on the question of content. Specifically, Kris is talking about the American theater's greatest enemy: the MFA. ...

The Stage UK - Blogs

Mark Shenton: Another New York coincidence…
On Monday evening, as I wrote here yesterday , I saw What’s that Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling , which is all about a fictional composer of bad musicals, with extracts from some of the shows he has...

The Guardian Performing Arts Blog

Andy Field: Should theatre be more dangerous?
The most exciting theatrical experiences have an edge of real risk - but where does the line lie?

Whatsonstage.com

Sunset Boulevard Confirms West End Transfer
...Watermill Theatre’s recent revival of Sunset Boulevard will transfer to the West End’s Comedy Theatre next month, opening on 15 December 2008 (previews from 4 December). Based ...

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THE DAY'S FIRST TOP STORIES

AmericanTheaterWeb

Digest - Rabe's Streamers Revived - read the reviews
* Review - Streamers - A Vietnam War Classic Revisited

Digest - Birbiglia opens his 'Sleepwalk' - read the reviews

New York Times

Two Fathers Are Learning Lessons of ‘All My Sons’
For John Lithgow and Patrick Wilson, “All My Sons” echoes back to their acting-school days.

New York Daily News

Latinos with a starring role on Broadway
John Leguizamo and David Álvarez in Billy Elliot arent the only Latinos with a starring role on Broadway. Beyond the cast of In the Heights, here are other Hispanic stars in the theater scene....

amNY

If You See Something Say Something to be Made into Film

New York Post

Dramatic end for Tony Boss
McCann out amid glory

New York Magazine Vulture Blog

Grace Gummer and Kristjan Thor on ‘The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents’ and the Fine Art of Onstage Groping

Village Voice

The Disorientalism of Continuous City by Tom Sellar

Hollywood Reporter / Reuters

"Shaolin" the first Broadway spotlight on China
When martial arts play "Soul of Shaolin" premieres at Broadway's Marquis Theater in January, it will mark the first Chinese-produced show to hit the Great White Way.

TheaterMania

Peter Filichia's Diary: High Schoolers' Non-Musical
After the ticket-taker dutifully dealt with my ticket, before I actually entered the Connolly Theatre, I heard a voice coming from the stage. Was I late? I consulted my watch, and saw that it was 1:50, a full 10 minutes before the Saturday ...

Washington Post

Backstage: 'Boom' Writer Has Comedy Down to a Science

Theater Alliance's New Season

Sacramento Bee

Pressure on theater grows after artistic director's gift to Prop. 8 campaign

Variety

Hanks, Wilson to host UCLA benefit
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson will host a benefit gala for the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television by toplining a one-time presentation of "You Can't Take It With You."

San Jose Mercury News

Q&A with actress Laurie Metcalf
Meltcalf has made her name by doling out bracing doses of outspoken wit. Jeannette, the feisty heroine she plays in the heartrending tragicomedy 'The Quality of Life,' which debuted in Los Angeles last year before coming to San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater, is no exception.

The Independent

Online theatre: All the web's a stage
Fancy a night in with the games console? Or is seeing a play a more appealing option? Rob Sharp reports on the theatre company that lets you do both – at the same time

Whatsonstage.com

* Buddy Announces West End Closing Notices, 7 Feb
* Gossip: Pennington Brings Harwood Double to Town???

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