IS THIS INEVITABLE?

Paul Vallely writes in the Guardian:

“Apparently, sales of baked beans rise during a recession. It’s not just to do with the fact that beans on toast is cheap. It’s also a search after something reassuring from our childhood days. When times are bad people want the equivalent of comfort food in the theatre too. Hence the Bennett. And a revival of Tom Stoppard’s classic Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. And Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. Not to mention Rowan Atkinson’s queueing-round-the-blocks Oliver!.” Read More.

Isaac Butler posts on Parabasis:

“I really cannot see any non-financial justification for [The Roundabout Theater] doing “Bye Bye Birdie”. Not only is it bad, there’s no compelling historical or conceptual reason for reviving it. “Bye Bye Birdie” is a show a great number of Americans have experienced largely through lower-rent touring productions and their area middle schools and, not to sound like too much of a dick, but that’s a perfectly appropriate way to experience it. I doubt lavishing Roundabout’s considerable wealth on a production of “Bye Bye Birdie” is going to help audiences discover some new hidden something in the show. Read More.