Cara Joy David News

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is January 23, 2024 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed in the last 24 hours: 

January is often a rough month in the theater industry - there are fewer shows running, audiences are reluctant to venture out into the winter weather, there is typically a slate of Broadway closings, and companies are taking stock of their financial situation following the closure of (typically) popular holiday productions.

Last week, the Broadway League announced that Charlotte St. Martin would be “retiring” after 18 years. An email went out to League members shortly before the release. And I’m not sure I’ve ever received quite so many theater-related communications before noon.

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is January 17, 2024 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed in the last 24 hours.

Cara Joy David explores the concerning trend that suburban audiences are less willing to travel into the city center to see shows due to a perceived increase in crime in the city, leaving audiences feeling less safe getting in and out of shows. In the UK, funding cuts force theatres to innovate in ways to stave off closure and grow their audience.

Over the years, I’ve heard several black actors complain about how their preferred hair plan was dismissed by producers. Now one is suing producer NETworks Presentations, 1776 Touring, and several of their employees, claiming that increasing tensions led to her being terminated after she expressed a desire to submit a written racism complaint.

Many folks have read in the last couple of weeks that Broadway is suffering from a suburban theatergoer drought. That is true. Two things are important to note related to that. First, this impacts more than simply pure overall attendance numbers. Second, this isn’t totally unique to New York.

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is January 9, 2024 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed in the last 24 hours.

Cara Joy David looks at the stage door experience at the musicals currently running on Broadway, we check in with various insiders hopes for Broadway in 2024, and we look at Dallas and Denver - where the recovery has taken different paths. Across the pond, the National Theatre Wales deals with a complete funding cut from their arts council.

Last year, I spent a lot of time at stage doors. I wanted to write about what it was like. I wrote about my experience at the stage doors of straight plays and the installment about musicals was supposed to follow quickly thereafter but kept getting bumped. I could not let it sit too far into 2024 however, so here it is.

Almost everyone in North America has heard of Cirque du Soleil. The Canadian entertainment company that produces an odd hybrid of circus, acrobatics, and dance performance has several touring shows and resident productions in Las Vegas. But there is only one Cirque du Soliel dinner theater experience and it is in Mexico.

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is December 19, 2023 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed in the last 24 hours.

A few exciting data points to close out the year - the first being that Broadway audiences this past season were younger and more diverse than in seasons past. This is a bright spot in a season that saw a bumpy box office. A new study from SMU DataArts also looked at the amount of funding that went out to arts organizations during the pandemic.

Late last season a musical came to Broadway from an unusual tryout city with a marketing campaign tied to a fruit. Shucked will leave Broadway in a month, though seemingly not because of either of the oddities I just mentioned.

The transformation continues to be global - after US based writers and actors won concessions from the film industry, stage performers in Australia are looking to increase their own pay. In response to funding changes at the government level, the English National Opera is moving out of London and heading to Manchester.

We all know regional theater is in trouble. One of my favorite companies, the Lookingglass Theatre Company, is in the middle of a semi-pause while it assesses how to produce live theater in this new world. But this coming Friday, its Lookingglass Alice will air on PBS.

The 'Fans First Act' has been introduced in the Senate promising consumer protections for ticketed events.

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is December 5, 2023 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed in the last 24 hours.

Cara Joy David dives into the eligibility decision surrounding Gutenberg!, and some good news on the regional front - success in one of the emergency fundraising campaigns at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Not only were they able to save their season, but exceeded their goal in a way that makes future planning possible and the full staff has been retained.

Gutenberg! The Musical! has been one of the few 2023-2024 season bright spots at the box office. And I admit, it has outpaced my expectations. But, it’s almost 20 years old, and so the Tony Awards Administration Committee has deemed it should compete in the Best Revival category.