theater

Stories 101 - 120 | << Prev   Next >>

Mercury Illness Was Real: Piven
 Mercury Illness Was Real: Piven

Mercury Illness Was Real: Piven

Star defends decision to leave Broadway production

(Newser) - Jeremy Piven has taken a lot of flak since leaving the Broadway production of Speed-the-Plow due to unhealthy amounts of mercury in his body—including anonymous sources who said medical reasons were a cover for the fact that he was fired—but the condition was real, the actor tells People....

Radcliffe Sick of Being Naked
 Radcliffe Sick of Being Naked 

Radcliffe Sick of Being Naked

'Harry Potter' star ready for new role

(Newser) - The idea of Harry Potter getting naked brought a lot of attention to Broadway’s Equus—but star Daniel Radcliffe is getting tired of stripping down with a fake horse every night, reports the New York Post. What’s next for the actor? Possibly a musical, he told his producer....

No Revival in Sight for Battered Broadway

Economic downturn makes investors nervous and theatergoers thrifty

(Newser) - The economic crisis has produced plenty of drama, but it means a bust for Broadway, the Los Angeles Times reports. Investors are jittery about backing just about anything, theaters are cutting costs, and some shows are shutting down early or canceling their openings. "What we had was a small...

Above All, Pinter Was Remarkable, Loyal Friend
Above All, Pinter Was Remarkable, Loyal Friend
Appreciation

Above All, Pinter Was Remarkable, Loyal Friend

Playwright lives on in his plays, already considered modern classics

(Newser) - He didn’t always like the plays of Harold Pinter, who died yesterday at 78, but Guardian theater critic Michael Billington says he’s sure they “will endure wind and weather, because he understood the insecurity of human life.” Billington, also Pinter’s biographer, remembers the “poet’...

Theater Giant Harold Pinter Dead at 78

Outspoken playwright was awarded Nobel in 2005

(Newser) - Harold Pinter, one of the foremost playwrights of the 20th century, has died of cancer at the age of 78. He began his career as a poet before writing such classic plays as The Caretaker and The Homecoming, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2005. His widow, Antonia Fraser,...

Broadway Bigwig's Secret Struggle
 Broadway Bigwig's 
 Secret Struggle 

APPRECIATION

Broadway Bigwig's Secret Struggle

(Newser) - Just before he died last month, Broadway mogul Gerald Schoenfeld finished a memoir revealing a secret but devastating battle with depression, Jeremy Gerard writes on Bloomberg. “This will surprise many of the people who thought they knew the Shubert Organization chairman well. It did me.” The Great White...

Stage Shrek Is Lumbering but Lovable
 Stage Shrek Is 
 Lumbering but Lovable 
theater review

Stage Shrek Is Lumbering but Lovable

Show lacking in 'inspiration'

(Newser) - Shrek the Musical has its moments, but in the end, it contradicts its own message that substance trumps what’s on the surface, writes Ben Brantley in the New York Times. The “leaden” show presents a “cavalcade of storybook effigies” that “feels like 40 blocks’ worth of...

Blago Dialogue Worthy of Mamet
 Blago Dialogue 
 Worthy of Mamet 
OPINION

Blago Dialogue Worthy of Mamet

(Newser) - An astute reader of the criminal complaint against Rod Blagojevich will notice that, with shockingly little tweaking, the wiretapped conversations between the Illinois governor and his co-conspirators could be dialogue from a David Mamet play. Choire Sicha demonstrates in Salon, turning it into a quick one-acter. From the trash-talking femme...

Fonda Heads Back to Broadway
 Fonda Heads Back to Broadway 

Fonda Heads Back to Broadway

Starring role marks return after 46 years

(Newser) - Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress Jane Fonda will have another chance to add a Tony to her collection when she returns to Broadway after a 46-year absence, Playbill reports. Fonda, who made her Broadway debut in 1960, will star in Moisés Kaufman's 33 Variations as Katherine Brandt, a musicologist working...

Pianist's Skull Steals Hamlet Scene

Concert pianist left skull to theater

(Newser) - A concert pianist has appeared on stage in a 22-performance run of Hamlet—26 years after his death. André Tchaikowsky, a Polish Jew who was smuggled out of Warsaw as a child of 7, left his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company upon his death in 1982. It was finally...

Broadway Giant Gerald Schoenfeld Dies at 84
Broadway Giant Gerald Schoenfeld Dies at 84
OBITUARY

Broadway Giant Gerald Schoenfeld Dies at 84

Powerful owner reshaped Broadway, New York and nationwide

(Newser) - Gerald Schoenfeld, American’s most influential theater owner, died today at 84. The New York native ran the powerful Shubert Organization for 36 years, heading 17 Broadway theaters, doling out millions, and co-producing Cats, Amadeus, and Les Miserables. Though his cherubic face put observers in mind of a teddy bear,...

Recession, Losing Bush as Muse Will Hurt US Artists

Economic woes will put creativity in the red

(Newser) - The end of the Bush era could mean tough times for the arts, the Morgan Falconer writes in the Times of London. Not only will artists, filmmakers, and writers lose the muse who has inspired critical works, but the economic crisis will drain financial support. John McCain already implied he...

Holmes Holds Own on Stage
 Holmes Holds Own on Stage 
theater review

Holmes Holds Own on Stage

Supporting performer is center of attention in Broadway production of All My Sons

(Newser) - In a perfect world, stars John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest would be the center of attention in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. “In this world, however, Mrs. Tom Cruise is playing a supporting role,” writes Natalie Finn of E!. So with tabloid-lovers watching...

Rock Opera Humanizes 'Deep Throat'

Bumpy life of Deep Throat star hits LA stage

(Newser) - Slut or victim? Porn star or feminist? A Los Angeles stage production tackles the contradictions of Linda Boreman—better known as Linda Lovelace, of 1970s hit Deep Throat, the Los Angeles Times reports. The creators of Lovelace: The Rock Opera “wanted to know Linda as a person, beyond the...

Broderick to Return to Broadway

"The Philanthropist" opens next April

(Newser) - Matthew Broderick will return to Broadway next spring in a revival of "The Philanthropist," a comedy by English playwright Christopher Hampton. Broderick, in his first Broadway appearance since the 2005 revival of "The Odd Couple," portrays Philip, an insular college professor. Directed by David Grindley, the...

5 Reasons Dirty Keeps Dancing
 5 Reasons Dirty 
 
Keeps Dancing 
OPINION

5 Reasons Dirty Keeps Dancing

With musical version making way across US, a look at its ageless appeal

(Newser) - Baby is back, but her teen spirit never really left us. With the stage version of Dirty Dancing already a hit in London and starting a US tour this weekend, the Chicago Tribune runs down 10 reasons why fans are still having the time of their lives.
  1. It features "
...

Revealing Radcliffe Carries Equus


 Revealing 
 Radcliffe 
 Carries 
 Equus 
theater review

Revealing Radcliffe Carries Equus

Harry Potter star delivers 'intense' performance

(Newser) - Daniel Radcliffe takes on a “mothball-preserved, off-the-rack part” as a teenage stable boy who blinds horses in the Broadway debut of Equus, and “wears it like a tailor’s delight,” writes Ben Brantley of the New York Times. Radcliffe’s “beautifully understated” acting and his “...

Wyo. Changes Sluggishly Since Shepard Murder

10 years after gay student's murder, authors revisit Laramie

(Newser) - The creators of The Laramie Project have returned to Wyoming to explore the legacy of Matthew Shepard’s murder 10 years later, the New York Times reports. In revisiting the people whose words make up the script, the theater company found that there has been progress —albeit slow.

Kushner First to Win $200K Prize for Playwrights

Unusually large purse will allow him to spend less time in Hollywood

(Newser) - Tony Kushner will be the first recipient of a new biennial prize for playwriting, with a whopping $200,000 purse the benefactors hope will allow recipients to focus full-time on not-so-lucrative theater. Although Kushner is widely regarded as one of America's greatest dramatists, he has spent the past several years...

It's Curtains for Rent After 12 Years

Hugely popular musical takes a break from Broadway

(Newser) - Twelve years and 5,124 performances later, Broadway bids adieu today to Rent, the New York Daily News reports. The beloved musical, which follows a group of bohemians and street folk through AIDS-ravaged, early-1990s East Village, “speaks to people's hearts," an original cast members tells the AP. It...

Stories 101 - 120 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser