In The Paper

In this week’s edition of The Stage:

• Curtain up: Lalayn Baluch previews Jersey Boys, the hit Broadway show which transfers to the Prince Edward theatre next year

• TMA Theatre Awards: Coverage of last week’s TMA awards ceremony, celebrating regional theatre from around the UK

• Tony Hall writes on the Treasury’s decision to hand the arts a £20 billion boost over the next three years

• Dear John: “I need to get professional photos taken. How can I ensure the best results?”

• Mark Ritchie highlights some of the UK’s leading stage hypnotists

• Training: Alistair Smith visits the musical theatre writing workshops organised by Theatre Royal Stratford East

• Musical Theatre special: Mark Shenton looks at the state of new writing in musical theatre and how to develop it.

  • Can the West End take a lesson from Broadway, and rely less on jukebox shows, revivals and imported shows?

  • The Highland Quest, Perfect Pitch, Mercury Musical Development Fund and The Stage’s own Notes for The Stage are some of the schemes seeking out new musical theatre talent

  • Grant Olding, a judge for Notes for The Stage, talks about the scheme

  • Jeremy Sams, Fenton Gray and Joe Dipietro talk about their experiences of the problems facing new composers

• Controversial Celebrity Big Brother contestant Shilpa Shetty talks to Tony Cooke about her lead role in Miss Bollywood - The Musical, touring the UK from next month

• Stagecoach Theatre Arts Schools has ambitions to extend the company into Ireland. Marketing manager Jon Bennetts talks to Susan Elkin.

• Harry Venning and Moira Petty review the week’s TV and radio

• As actress Barbara Cook celebrates her 80th birthday with a special charity concert, Michael Darvell pays tribute to the legendary Broadway performer

• Backstage Focus: Nick Smurthwaite looks at Tate Modern’s current exhibition The World as a Stage, exploring the relationship between theatre and art

• Columnists: Maggie Brown on the BBC’s need for high standards; Arthur Smith says goodbye to his friend, Ned Sherrin; Clive Barnes resports on the state of Broadway; Flyman on ethnic minority representation backstage.

• Showpeople: Sarah Wildor, former principal dancer at the Royal Ballet and currently appearing in You Can’t Take It With You at the Southwark Playhouse; Neale Mittenshaw-Hodge, front of house manager for the British Shakespeare Company

Plus all the usual news, reviews, national UK theatre listings and recruitment ads.

The Stage is available from major newsagents, including most High Street branches of WH Smith, every Thursday priced £1.30. You can also subscribe and receive a copy by mail every week: more details and prices at http://www.thestage.co.uk/subscribe/.

Posted by Scott Matthewman at 11:37 AM | Permalink

The front page of this week’s edition of The Stage leads with pantomime producer Qdos becoming the third largest theatre operator in the UK regions, as well as noting the death of Ned Sherrin.

Inside:

• Special News Feature: Alistair Smith reports on the launch of the programme for Liverpool’s year of culture

• Insight: Advertising is becoming an area of conflict as ITV1 fights to lose its restrictions, while rivals claim the restraints remain fair and blame the channel’s dip in audience share on poor programming, writes Ben Dowell

• The new apprenticeship programme launched by the Theatre Royal Haymarket that gives aspiring actors, directors and technicians the opportunity to work alongside experts in the field is an example others should follow, writes Susan Elkin

• Dear John: How can someone transform childhood success into a viable adult career?

• Training: Special editions of drama scripts that put the work in context are available for pupils — but however insightful they are, watching a live performance is essential, writes Susan Elkin

• Strictly Come Dancing: With the fifth series about to start on Saturday, Matthew Hemley talks to judges Arlene Phillips and Len Goodman as they prepare to vet the next bunch of dancers

• Since Angelina Ballerina pirouetted into public view in the 1982 book, the heroine has been introducing ballet to generations of youngsters. Lisa Martland talks to choreographer Antony Dowson about how he’s interpreted the dancing mouse’s latest incarnation for the English National Ballet

• Back in the West End in a new stage version of Swimming With Sharks, Christian Slater tells Jeremy Austin about his welcome reunion with One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest producer Nica Burns, and why playing the role of Buddy Ackerman is the greatest challenge he has faced

• As the actors’ cooperative Stage Centre celebrates its 25th anniversary, Nick Smurthwaite talks to some of its members about the emotional and professional benefits of being part of a working team and support system

• Backstage Focus: Former employee Francis Reid reflects on how the extensive refurbishment of the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds has restored the venue to its original glory

• As Moonlight and Magnolias, based on the making of the 1939 film Gone With the Wind, comes to London’s Tricycle, Nick Smurthwaite talks to author Ron Hutchinson about his funny yet moving play

• Showpeople: Danny Lee Wynter, star of Stephen Poliakoff’s latest television dramas; Toby Hull, bringing Emu back to CITV; Anna Koval, recent RADA graduate and starring in The Changeling at Nottingham Playhouse; Fran Eyles, about to join Shakespeare’s Globe as press and communications manager

• Columnists: Ian Herbert on the Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds; Barb Jungr on the Australian cabaret scene; Barbara Eifler on negotiating between ‘yes’ and ‘no’; Patrick Newley on stage door keepers

Plus all the usual news, reviews, national UK theatre listings and recruitment ads.

The Stage is available from major newsagents, including most High Street branches of WH Smith, every Thursday priced £1.30. You can also subscribe and receive a copy by mail every week: more details and prices at http://www.thestage.co.uk/subscribe/.

Posted by Scott Matthewman at 4:39 PM | Permalink