Blog Stage - Acting in Film, TV, Theatre - Backstage

'Oliver!' Kids Sing "Don't Stop Believin"

The new Walnut Street Theatre production of Oliver! opens tomorrow in Philadelphia. The musical's cast includes 70 actors total, with 40 children (two casts of 20) and one dog.

In the video below, the kids of Fagin's gang sing Journey's "Don't Stop Believin''' during a rehearsal break. (Sure, the song might be played out at this point, but come on, kids are cute! Plus, one of the young actors even provides piano accompaniment.)

Oliver! runs Nov. 10, 2009-Jan. 10, 2010 at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, PA.

-- Daniel Lehman

Playwright Mike Bartlett Thinks Theater is "Really Bad"

The Guardian's Hermione Hoby spoke with playwright Mike Bartlett before his new play, Cock, opens at London's Royal Court Theatre. Cock stars Ben Whishaw as "a happily partnered gay man who falls in love with a woman."

Thing is, Bartlett doesn't seem to like theater very much, as shown in Hoby's story "Most theatre is still really bad":

"We've got to get away from the idea that it's good to go to the theatre," Bartlett tells Hoby. "It isn't church. There's nothing innately good about it. Most theatre is still really bad... It has to appeal to people who do jobs and have lives. Theatre about theatre is the most awful, terminal nonsense."

Rob Ashford Appointed New Associate Director of London's Donmar Warehouse

Director-choreographer Rob Ashford has been appointed as new associate director of London's Donmar Warehouse.

The transfer of Ashford's Donmar Warehouse production of Parade is currently running through Nov. 15 at the Mark Taper Forum in L.A. Back Stage spoke with Ashford before the L.A. opening of Parade.Watch the video interview below:

Congratulations, Rob!

WSJ Names Steppenwolf Theatre Co. a "Top Small Workplace"

Congratulations to Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, which was just named one of the top 15 places to work by the Wall Street Journal's "Top Small Workplaces 2009."

With over 400 full- and part-time employees, the theater is artistically led by an ensemble of 42 members (including co-founder Gary Sinese and John Malkovich). The company offers 401(k) matching plans to all employees and helps cover healthcare costs, encourages its artistic apprentices and interns, and generally works to improve the morale of its employees. The Wall Street Journal asserts that while "professional theaters aren't known as stellar workplaces... Steppenwolf Theatre Company, on the contrary, gives its employee practices a lead role."

Like What You See On Stage? Buy It!

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports today that before every performance of Cabinet of Wonders: An Impossible History, a new play opening tonight in Philadelphia, ticketholders can purchase a variety of items in keeping with the theme of the play. Much of what's on stage is also on sale, meaning it might not be on stage the next night -- and in your home instead.

Cabinet of Wonders, a Gas & Electric Arts production, finds Leopold and Christina Carcass "on the edge of eviction from their decaying family mansion, dusty heirlooms and all. Christina, hoping against hope that an estate sale can raise enough to save the house, sorts through family artifacts, revealing specious memories and a shocking secret."

One hour before each performance, a "tag sale" allows audience members to uniquely interact with the production by participating in the fictional estate sale and choosing from "the kind of intriguing objects one might come across in an old house whose owners never threw anything away - vintage tablecloths, children's hankies, men's hats, ladies' gloves, Photoplay magazines, paint-by-number ballerinas, and 78-r.p.m. records."

Better get your tickets fast then, because this is a case where even if the show itself doesn't sell out, the set and props just might.

Is It Really Possible to Write About Acting?

The Guardian's theater blog asks today: "How do you describe great acting?"

Andrew Haydon finds it curious that theater critics (at least in the U.K.) tend to focus on the play itself -- whether the script, the content, the stage direction, the lighting -- rather than the performances of the actors on stage.

From "How do you describe great acting?":

Something I've been finding fascinating recently is how hard it is to write about acting, to put into words what an actor's performance is like. There just doesn't seem to be an appropriate vocabulary...

There are those old examples of Kenneth Tynan spending 90% of a review describing just one performance – say, Olivier in Shakespeare. If anyone wrote that sort of review now, I suspect they'd prompt a few letters to the editor asking what the rest of the play was like...

I would argue that the reason for this lies in the very nature of our culture and language. We are predisposed to talking about ideas and politics; we have a lot of words for doing so. Acting, on the other hand, is full of intangible qualities. Little wrinkles of the eye, the faint hint of a smile – it's a series of tiny moments that would take an entire newspaper to describe. There are a few shorthands for style: acting, like porcelain, tends to be fine. Sometimes it can be "broad" or "rough", while individual actors may even merit a couple of adjectives for their characterisation.

It's an odd problem, and I don't have any kind of solution. But it is intriguing to think that at the heart of writing about theatre, there is this strange void in language that means we can't ever say what we've seen. 

'TOLD' Performances Showcase Storytellers

On Monday, Sep. 21, in a basement far, far away from Broadway, performers will take the stage for a free evening of storytelling and music.

 

The Horse Trade Theater Group hosts "TOLD," a free storytelling show, the third Monday of every month. This month's theme of "The Mix Tape" promises to up the ante with Peter Aguero's band BTK improvising songs based on the evening's tales.

 

With Seth Lind hosting, storytellers James Braly, Juliet Wayne and Burke Heffner will share "wild autobiographical stories involving music" at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1^st and Avenue A) beginning at 7 pm.

 

-- Hilary Tuttle

Pantoliano Won't Be Making 'Mistakes'

Joe Pantoliano has reportedly withdrawn from Hartford Stage's upcoming production of Mistakes Were Made due to "commitments to his film career." A replacement will be announced soon.

Craig Wright's play "centers on show-biz veteran Felix Artifex, a low-brow theatrical producer infamous for his production of Medea with Suzanne Somers. A desperate Felix gets in way over his fast-talking head when he takes on Mistakes Were Made, the first world premiere of his long and checkered career." The production runs Oct. 29-Nov. 29 at Hartford Stage in CT.

Bart and Hensley Back for 'Young Frankenstein' Tour

Roger Bart and Shuler Hensley will reprise their Young Frankenstein roles for the touring production of the Broadway musical comedy. Bart stars as young Dr. Frederick Frankenstein and Hensley plays his Monster.

The cast also includes Cory English as Igor, Tony Award nominee Brad Oscar as Inspector Kemp/Blind Hermit, Beth Curry as Elizabeth, Joanna Glushak as Frau Blucher, and Anne Horak as Inga.

Green Day Adds Creative Team to 'American Idiot' Musical

Green Day is developing a stage musical based on the band's 2004 rock opera American Idiot, and a few big names have just been added to the creative team. Rolling Stone reports that previously announced director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) has been joined by choreographer Steven Hoggett (2009 Olivier award for Best Theatre Choreographer, for the National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch) and music supervisor Tom Kitt (Next to Normal, 13, High Fidelity).

Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong said in a statement:

"We’ve been working with Michael Mayer and the show’s creative team for quite some time, so we know how super-talented all of them are. Each and every one of these people has gone above and beyond for this show, and we can’t wait for our fans to see it.”