theater

Stories 121 - 140 | << Prev   Next >>

Is Something Rotten in the Bard's Works?

Debate over who really wrote Shakespeare's plays rages on

(Newser) - Did William Shakespeare really write the plays attributed to him? The question remains the subject of an intense academic debate, NPR reports. Those who doubt the “man from Stratford” penned his plays point to a lame rhyming epitaph on the supposed bard’s headstone, and to lack of documents...

Holmes' Sept. Broadway Debut Already a Bust?

Tickets aren't selling, and producers fear the worst

(Newser) - Katie Holmes is not drawing the tickets sales for her Broadway debut producers had hoped for, the New York Post reports. "I bought 1,000 tickets to the show," one broker says of the September revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons. "I still have them."...

In the Heights Tops Tonys
 In the Heights Tops Tonys 
Jun 16, 2008 5:22 AM CDT

In the Heights Tops Tonys

August: Osage County wins best play

(Newser) - Last night’s Tony Awards featured an eclectic mix of new shows and revivals, an acceptance-speech rap from a first-time writer, and performances from a variety of musicals young and old. The winners:
  • Best Musical: In the Heights
  • Best Play: August: Osage County
  • Best Revival of a Musical: South Pacific
...

Paul Sills, 'Orson Welles of Improv'
 Paul Sills,
 'Orson Welles
 of Improv' 
Appreciation
Jun 3, 2008 2:00 PM CDT

Paul Sills, 'Orson Welles of Improv'

Second City co-founder, dead at 80, saw movement reach SNL heights

(Newser) - For a performer, Paul Sills kept a pretty low profile. But make no mistake: The Second City co-founder was a massive influence not just on improvisational comedy, but on comedy and theater in general. Without Sills, who died yesterday at 80, there would be no Chicago improv scene, no Saturday ...

150 Animals to Star in Massive 'Ark' Musical

Where? Where but Branson, Missouri?

(Newser) - Hold on to your camels, folks: A full-blown Biblical gala is opening tonight in Branson, Mo., in the form of Noah—the Musical. The show will feature more than 40 actors and 150 animals, half live, half animatronic, the Economist reports.

Katie Cruises to Broadway
 Katie Cruises to Broadway 
May 20, 2008 7:35 AM CDT

Katie Cruises to Broadway

Will make stage debut in All My Sons

(Newser) - Actress Katie Holmes is headed for Broadway, where she'll make her theatrical debut in the fall in Arthur Miller's Tony-winning play All My Sons, reports the Los Angeles Times. It's a risky step for Mrs. Tom Cruise, who hasn't appeared onstage since high school. She'll star alongside two-time Tony winner...

Verdi, Naked and Anti-American
 Verdi, Naked and Anti-American 
Apr 12, 2008 6:51 AM CDT

Verdi, Naked and Anti-American

Austrian Marxist uses opera to slam US capitalism

(Newser) - A German staging of Verdi’s “A Masked Ball” leaves Uncle Sam wearing little but a mask, Der Spiegel reports. In a rebuke of US capitalism, the production parades naked retirees on a set of the World Trade Center's ruins, and offers a female singer with a Hitler mustache...

'Potter' Star to Bare All on Broadway

Equus starts 22-week run in New York in September

(Newser) - Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe will strip down for American audiences on Broadway in a challenging dramatic role that has already wowed Brits. In a major departure from his famous boy wizard role, the 18-year-old stars in the dark psychosexual drama Equus as a troubled adolescent accused of blinding horses....

Critics Agog Over South Pacific
 Critics Agog Over South Pacific 
THEATER REVIEW
Apr 4, 2008 12:52 PM CDT

Critics Agog Over South Pacific

Show's first Broadway revival draws unanimous praise

(Newser) - The first Broadway revival of South Pacific opened last night, and the critics agree: It's outstanding. "Its brilliance hasn’t faded," Richard Zoglin writes in Time, calling the new production of perhaps the best Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration “surprisingly fresh, astringent, meaty and convention-defying." Writes Ben...

Troop Crams 118 Years of Shakespeare Into 2 Months

RSC mounts all 8 history plays with one cast in London

(Newser) - Shakespeare's eight history plays cover 118 years of English royal succession, but one troop of actors is going to present the entire span in just two months. The Royal Shakespeare Company has decamped from Stratford-upon-Avon to London, where they are mounting all the plays in repertory on a single set....

Katie May Be Heading to Broadway
Katie May Be Heading to Broadway
Mar 29, 2008 10:09 PM CDT

Katie May Be Heading to Broadway

Holmes in talks to make her stage debut later this year

(Newser) - Katie Holmes may make a run for the door later this year—the stage door, that is. The actress known to some as Mrs. Tom Cruise is in serious talks to star in a revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons when it opens on Broadway later this year,...

Actor Paul Scofield Dead at 86
 Actor Paul Scofield Dead at 86 
Mar 20, 2008 7:25 AM CDT

Actor Paul Scofield Dead at 86

British star of stage and screen won Oscar for A Man for All Seasons

(Newser) - Paul Scofield, the British actor who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons, has died at the age of 86. His agent told Reuters that the actor, who eschewed Hollywood stardom for smaller film roles and a robust theater career, had been...

Allies. Warmongers. Lovers?
Allies. Warmongers. Lovers?
THEATER REVIEW
Mar 17, 2008 11:41 AM CDT

Allies. Warmongers. Lovers?

New satire depicts US-Britain alliance as a gay love affair

(Newser) - What if the "special relationship" were a sexual relationship? In Caryl Churchill's 45-minute play, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?, a codependent love affair between a reticent, adoring older Englishman and a young, brash, dominating American (called Sam, as in Uncle) stands in for a certain US-British alliance...

Putin's Newest Gig: Savage Theater Critic

Russian prez mocks cast, upbraids director after play

(Newser) - Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila caused a stir in Moscow last weekend when they paid an unannounced visit to the theater. After the audience gave him a standing ovation, Putin made a foray into theater criticism that stunned the cast. "Why did you show him crying?" asked the...

'Actors' Beat Smoking Ban in Minn. Bars

Owners exploit loophole that lets thespians light up

(Newser) - Stage performers are the only exception to the new smoking ban in Minnesota bars, so patrons are turning temporarily thespian and lighting up. The only props required at some of the 30 bars working the loophole are cigarettes and ashtrays—though some get more creative. "They're playing themselves before...

Ferrell to Stump This Fall, But Only Onstage

Comedian plans candidate character for upcoming solo show

(Newser) - Will Ferrell is working on a one-man show that could hit Broadway this fall, and he may focus the routine on an interactive bit starring a mock presidential candidate, Politico reports. The onetime "Saturday Night Live" George Bush doppelganger plans to incorporate a stump speech, question-and-answer session, and political...

Rent's Lease Up After 12 Years
Rent's Lease Up After 12 Years
Jan 16, 2008 11:51 AM CST

Rent's Lease Up After 12 Years

7th-longest-running Broadway show closing June 1

(Newser) - Rent is preparing to close up shop and move out of the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway, its home since 1996. The cutting-edge rock adaptation of La Bohème was written by Jonathan Larson, who died at the age of 35 of an aneurysm the night of the final dress rehearsal....

Curtain Rising on Anne Frank, the Musical

Creator compares teen's life to tragic opera

(Newser) - A first-of-its-kind musical adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank will take the stage in Madrid next month, the Guardian reports. The Spanish-language play gained the approval of the Anne Frank Foundation, which closely guards the rights to the story of the doomed Jewish teenager; a spokesman says the work...

London's Hot Ticket Gets Mixed Reviews
London's Hot Ticket Gets Mixed Reviews
NEW RELEASE
Dec 5, 2007 8:58 PM CST

London's Hot Ticket Gets Mixed Reviews

Fans shell out for McGregor's Iago, but it's the Moor who wows

(Newser) - The hottest ticket in London is for a production of Othello, starring Ewan McGregor in a 250-seat theater, with the price of tickets hitting $4,000 on the secondary market. Yet the play opened this week to decidedly mixed reviews. While everyone praised Chiwetel Ejiofor as the Moor of Venice,...

Farnsworth is 'Clumsy,' 'Shallow'
Farnsworth is 'Clumsy,' 'Shallow'
NEW RELEASE
Dec 4, 2007 1:10 PM CST

Farnsworth is 'Clumsy,' 'Shallow'

Critics are unimpressed by Sorkin's historical play

(Newser) - “West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin’s play The Farnsworth Invention, starring "Simpsons" stalwart Hank Azaria and Jimmi Simpson as rival television pioneers, opened last night to mixed reviews. The New York Post’s Clive Barnes finds it better suited to the screen and criticizes the business of the...

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