AmericanTheaterWeb Top News

New York Times

Those Were the Days: Broadway’s Press Agents Recall a Bygone Era
The one-liners zinged and the memories flowed as old-timers like Sol Jacobson, 96, gathered to look back at legendary exploits.

New York Times ArtsBeat Blog

Postcard from London: The Marathon Begins
Ben Brantely is in London for a whopping month of theater going, where theater feels like an integral part of the social conversation.

New York Post Theater Blog

Your cheap weekend
I am simultaneously surprised, disappointed and perversely pleased to see that apart from my own rave, the reviews of "Stunning" so far are mixed to negative. I guess critics want new voices only as long as they sound like the old voices.

Hartford Courant

Long Wharf Reducing Budget, Staff

Wall Street Journal

Popcorn and a Play
A coming theater broadcast out of London is part of a wave of live events being broadcast into cinemas and art spaces around the world.

A Remodeled 'Doll's House'
Zinnie Harris updates Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" from late 19th-century Norway to the Edwardian political classes in 1909 London.

Variety

Older stars nab plum Broadway roles
Minnelli, Lansbury score Tonys

Nonprofit defends high 'Birdie' price
Peter Franklin moves on from career as agent

Tony tunesmiths cash in on followups
Scribes follow wins with different career moves

BackStage - BlogStage

* A Book Discussion with Susan Quinn

TheaterMania

* Billy Elliot, Jersey Boys, Next to Normal, Rock of Ages, Wicked et al. Set for Broadway in Bryant Park
* Lewis Cleale, Addi McDaniel Join Off-Broadway's Fantasticks
* Nathan Gunn to Appear With New York Philharmonic in Free Central Park Concert
* Marlo Thomas to Star in Elaine May's George Is Dead for Arizona Theatre Company
* Alexandra Billings to Star in July 25 Bailiwick Benefit
* Melisa Klausner, Morgan Reilly, Mark Weissman to Star in Civic Theatre's Parade

Playbill

* Shakespeare's Bloody Coriolanus Begins Old Globe Run June 20
* LuPone Offers The Gypsy in My Soul June 20-21 in Las Vegas
* Jarrow's Indie-Rock Musical The Consequences Set for UndergroundZero Festival
* PLAYBILL.COM'S THEATRE WEEK IN REVIEW, June 13-19: No Special Treatment
* Multimedia Work Butoh Rocks Set for INTAR's NewWorks Lab Series

Broadway.com

* Jude Law: To Be (Or Not To Be) Hamlet on Broadway

Washington Post

Theater J Reinvents Anton Chekhov's 'The Seagull' in 21st-Century Form
"When I write a play I feel uncomfortable, as if somebody is poking me in the neck," Anton Chekhov once confessed. Theater J Artistic Director Ari Roth and his colleagues, too, have suffered twinges -- philosophical ones -- while crafting "The Seagull on 16th Street," a risky, shofar-and-R.E.M.-i...

Live Arts & Fringe Festival Blog

Myth Making: Welcome to Yuba City
The whole blog crew went over to check out Pig Iron's meet-the-artist event at the Arts Bank earlier this week. Before we get to the details of character development, some core information must be conveyed.

The Weekender: What You're Doing and Why

Artists U: "Doing nothing for artists since 2006"

Orlando Sentinel Attention Must Be Paid Blog

G.O.A.T. announces season
Here's the new season for Greater Orlando Actors Theatre in its new space in Winter Park: Greater Orlando Actors Theatre is pleased to announce their new 2009-2010 Season. All performances will be on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00pm and...

Miami Herald Drama Queen Blog

A caliente "Fuerza Bruta"
Fuerza Bruta, that surreal entertainment event unfolding almost nightly on the Ziff Ballet Opera House stage at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, is packing in the hands-on club-going types who normally wouldn't be caught dead going to the hoity-toity stuff they think of as theater.

Creative Loafing Culture Surfing (Atlanta)

Wild Party vs. Wild Party
You can't tell the different versions of 'The Wild Party' without a program.

Chicago Tribune Theater Loop Blog

* 'Farewell Tour' or not, Topol continues to raise the roof
* We want Billy! When will the hot shows get to Chicago?
* Showbiz paper Performink to cease print publication

Time Out Chicago Theater Blog

Share your teen angst for laughs with Mortified

Houston Chronicle

Cabaret revival goes glam
Theatre Under The Stars is staging a revival of the classic musical Cabaret that incorporates everything that made the original great

San Francisco Chronicle

A Cockettes classic
"Pearls Over Shanghai" is back as part of the Thrillpeddlers' Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival.

New 'Hair' cast on Broadway means new CD

Seattle Times

In "Moore Inside Out," a free event, the theater is part of the show
Seattle's Moore Theatre offers a free event tonight, "Moore Inside Out," where viewers can experience the theater as an art installation, with performances and visual art displays everywhere — backstage, in the balconies, bathrooms, the basement. The idea is to explore the meaning of places and how they are perceived.

5th Avenue Theatre Blog

Countdown To Catch Me If You Can – 5 Weeks To First Preview!
Today I focus on another of our amazing trio of leading men. Playing the leading role of the brilliant and charismatic teenage conman Frank Abagnale, Jr. is rising Broadway star Aaron Tveit.

Daily Telegraph

New cast of Calendar Girls unveiled with Jerry Hall June Brown and Jill Halfpenny
Featuring Jerry Hall June Brown and Jill Halfpenny has been unveiled.

The Times UK

Are theatregoers becoming more disruptive?
Is the behaviour of theatre audiences worsening? Not really, our thespians have had a lot to endure over the centuries

The 15 golden rules of theatre etiquette
The play's the thing - so shhh. Our chief theatre critic explains what to do with your sweets, crisps and mobile phones

The Guardian

Writers' rooms: Simon Callow
As that odd portmanteau commodity, an actor-writer-director, I rarely have long in any one place for writing. I'm often on the road, or in a film studio, and I snatch my time wherever and whenever I can. I wrote a great deal of my first book about Orson Welles in my trailer in the middle of various...

Wallace Shawn on his love of writing about sex
Why is sex so interesting to write about? Because it's fun, yes, but also because it creates anarchy and can be a humbling, equalising force, argues playwright Wallace Shawn

Black box theatres can't inspire innovative work Jason Barnes
The Cottsloe theatre is too often mistaken for a black box venue, but these spaces typically lack character or flexibility

Help! The new Nirvana play is based on my life!
Nevermind, a play about a depressed NME hack haunted by the ghost of Kurt Cobain, is an unwitting interpretation of my own life

Financial Times

The author as performer
Writers are shifting away from traditional book readings towards stage shows, in which bookish ideas and themes are lifted off the page and into the stuff of rhetoric and performance

The Stage UK

Alison Jiear: Voice size matters
Typecast due to her curvaceous figure and told to lose pounds at the audition for her first West End show, Alison Jiear has felt the full force of weight issues during her career. She tells Mark Shenton why she has turned her attention to solo work and is appearing in cabaret at Pizza on the Park

Whatsonstage.com

Feature: Best of This Week's Theatre Blogs - 19 Jun 2009
Welcome to another new regular feature on Whatsonstage.com. Every week our theatregoer reporter Corinne Furness trawls the web to find some of the best gems from the myriad theatre-related blogs and condense them into one easy-to-read “Best of the ...

ARTSBLOG

Conventional Wisdom
Greetings from Seattle. Here we are in downtown Seattle, Americans for the Arts and a vast contingency of 1,200 artists, arts administrators and advocates has taken over the convention center and four hotels. Seattle has rolled out the welcome wagon (or should I say monorail).

Artsy Schmartsy

Anyone got $10,000 to make a phone call to the Skylight?
[one of eight links with videos about the Skylight situation]

Culturebot

Underground Zero 2009
Just got the line-up for this year’s UNDERGROUND ZERO Festival which will be held at PS122. This year’s line-up looks pretty interesting featuring work from director Jose Zayas, Wax Factory, The South Wing, Hoi Polloi and Kyle Jarrow. Complete line-up after the jump…

Economic Revitalization for Performing Artists

Art critics on the demise?
The ever-wise, sassy, and determined Elizabeth Zimmer says the cold, hard truth about the death of intelligent dance criticism. It's all scary but true. Thanks to my pal Wayne Hazzard at the hard-working Bay Area arts service org, Dancers' Group for pointing me toward Elizabeth's writing.

NEA New Play Development Program

O'Neill Center's Summer Gathering for Graduate Playwrights
This summer the O'Neill will host a unique convening for graduate playwrights. With the generous support of the Mellon Foundation, the National Playwrights Conference will host a discussion and day long ...

Parabasis

Tickets to Roundabout's Bye Bye Birdie WIll Be As High As Billy Elliot's
Coverage from Variety here. So what, exactly, is the difference between Roundabout's Broadway production arm and a commercial producing house? That they have subscribers? Actually, I think it's the rather sweet deals on labor costs that Roundabout gets as a result of being a nonprofit.

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