In The Paper

Actor, presenter, expert panellist — not only has John Barrowman got every angle covere on television, he’s also a musical theatre star and has returned to the West End in La Cage aux Folles. Describing himself as an entertainer, he tells Alistair Smith about how his busines approach to showbiz has created such a successful career.

I hate these… people [he spits out the word] who think musical theatre people can’t act. It drives me bananas. They think it’s all tits and teeth and smiles. It’s not. There’s a huge emotional content when you sing a song. In a way, I look at it as trying to break down some barriers, some boundaries, for my mates, my colleagues in the musical theatre world.

The interview is also available as an audio podcast on this website and in iTunes.

Also this week:

• Director Lucy Bailey, who has worked with the likes of Peter Hall and Terry Hands and whose Dial M for Murder is currently running at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, explains why she’s drawn to plays that have been made into films

• Seventeen years after English National Opera gave Le Grande Macabre its UK premiers, Catalan theatre group La Fura dels Baus is bringing the production back to the company’s repertoire. The show’s co-director Valentine Carrasco tells us why Gyorgy Ligeti’s “anti-anti-opera” is made for theatre

• South African theatre company Isango Portobello returns to London with a new version of its successful show The Mysteries - Yiimimangaliso. We meet director Mark Dornford-May

• While most businesses are simply trying to stay afloat during the recession, Rank’s G Casinos brand is expanding. Operations director Richard Edwards exaplins why live entertainment is a fundamental part of the chain’s business plan

• Insight: Britain’s seaside resorts face challenging times, having to balance heritage with reinvention

• Maggie Brown reports from the Royal Television Society’s annual Cambridge conference, where the picture looked bleak for TV drama

• Dear John: “I’ve been developing a live variety act. What’s the best way to market it in today’s industry?”

• Backstage Focus: We look back at this year’s PLASA show

The Stage is available from major newsagents every Thursday for £1.40. For subscription details, visit http://www.thestage.co.uk/subscribe

Posted by Scott Matthewman at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Was Paul Daniels correct when he said that Blackpool was past its best, recently describing it as “rough, tasteless, bawdy and scruffy”? Marc Etches, who helped develop the resort’s bid for a super-casino, returns to the town to investigate for The Stage.

Also this week:

As the West End gets giddy at the prospect of Anna Friel starring as the dazzling Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, James Dreyfus is preparing to play it straight as agent OJ Berman.

He’s not a camp Hollywood agent - he’s quite tough. It’s early days yet so we haven’t quite finalised what he is, but I can assure you it won’t be camp… He’s a very ebullient character, he’s very direct, he’s quite rude, but he does like Holly a lot — he’s the only one that helps her up to the end… But he does go on rants quite a lot, which should be quite fun.

Claire Skinner has a string of theatre and television credits behind her, including hit BBC1 comedy Outnumbered and an award-winning performance in The Glass Menagerie. As her new TV series, ITV2’s Trinity, prepares to air, she talks about her love of the stage, juggling parenthood with a career and her concern over the lack of roles for older actresses

It does worry me, especially with regards to thinking about rols where you are being partnered with other actors. Actors I was partnered with before I might no longer be considered right for now. I would be too old, but they would be fine… You can sound quite twisted, but it’s noticeable that men have to have younger partners on television and film. It’s incredibly frustrating.

In our Aspects of Dance supplement:

• Meet The Place’s artistic director Robert Cohan
• We talk to with award-wining South African dancer Dane Hurst, who is rejoining Rambert after two years with Phoenix Dance Theatre
• Choreographers Zoobin Surty and Minnz explain how their artistic heritage has influenced their own, unique dance styles
• We take a look around the Jerwood Centre for Prevention and Treatment and Dance Injuries at Birmingham Royal Ballet
• We look at the wide range of events, performances and workshops running at dance agencies around the UK

Insight: With patchy teaching standard in specialist performing schools and the government now looking for cashless sponsors with appropriate skills to play a key role in their governance, is it time for arts organisations themselves to get involved?

As a team of under 26-year-olds take over the running of York Theatre Royal for three weeks, TakeOver09 festival producer Robbie Swale puts the case for launching ismilar schemes across the country as a way to get young people actively involved in the industry

Maggie Brown: Profound changes are coming to TV, with product placement and advertiser-funded programmes back on the table

Colin Blumenau, artistic director at Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, on the mid-sized theatres that punch above their weight

Dear John: “I’m appearing on a TV talent show. How can I make it work for me, whether I win or not?” With advice from former X Factor finalists Rowetta and Niki Evans

Backstage: Sharing a site with medieval and 18th-century building, Shrewsbury’s new Theatre Severn, with its wide range of facilities including two auditoria and a dance studio, is both well equipped and welcoming

As Belfast’s Lyric Theatre prepares for its new venue (opening Spring 2011) artistic director Richard Croxford talks about the company’s temporary accommodation, surviving the economic storm and developing new projects

The Stage is available from major newsagents for £1.40. For postal subscription prices, go to http://www.thestage.co.uk/subscribe/

Posted by Scott Matthewman at 12:13 PM | Permalink

As a host of stars including Kylie Minogue and Elaine Paige celebrate the music of Abba in London’s Hyde Park this weekend for a live Radio 2 tribute concert, former band member Benny Andersson talks about the Abba phenomenon and his plans to revive Chess on Broadway

When I heard that Chaka Khan was going to sing [The Winner Takes it All] I was like, “wow”. I listened to her in the seventies and thought she was so great - an icon. That she is familiar with what we have done and wants to participate is kind of great…

…We were sincere about what we were doing [with Abba]. It didn’t look like that because we had such funny clothes and we were part of the seventies pop culture, but when it came to writing the stuff, it was totally sincere. If not, there is no point being in this business at all.

And if you’re interested in getting into the music industry, this week, we include a free guide to music training. Whether you’re interested in becoming a performer, a producer or working on the business side, there are courses which can give you the skills you need.

Also this week

With an award-winning new musical at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and a forthcoming concert of his work being staged at London’s Apollo Theatre, there has been no stopping Michael Bruce since he won The Stage’s Notes for the Stage competition in 2007. The composer gives an insight into the challenges involved in forging a future in musical theatre writing

• Listen to Michael Bruce and other MT professionals discuss the state of musical theatre in our latest podcast: The Stage @ Adam Street

Insight: As the Republic of Ireland struggles to dig itself out of a financial hole, cost-cutting is threatening to strike at the very heart of the country’s arts and culture. Anthoney Garvey examines both sides braced for the battle over funding cuts

And as this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival approaches, we look at the Irish theatre scene. Theatre in Ireland tends to be more ideas-led, the performing community is closer-knit and there are opportunities that might be rare in London — but there are limitations too, as Louise Finn finds out

Many would regard being a TV boss in the current financial climate as an unenviable job, but ITV’s drama supremo Kieran Roberts is holding his nerve and looking to the future, relying on established shows such as Coronation Street and police drama Blue Murder

Explosive Productions provides acts and shows for holiday operators, ships and hotels and hopes its new facilities will help it expand even further, commercial director Sid Sims tells The Stage

As the British Film Institute celebrates a season of stage plays transferred to television, Natalie Lambracos talks to the team involved to find out what the small screen’s perspective can bring to theatrical performances

Backstage Focus: Staffordshire’s New Vic Theatre offers a mix of in-house productions, tours and one-night shows. Barbara Eifler visits the stage management team and discovers the venue is as well designed as the programme

As Bayreuth 2009 closes, Penelope Turing, veteran of every performance there since the Second World War, talks to new joint director Eva Wagner-Pasquier about her creer and her family’s commitemt to the world’s most famous opera festival

Dear John: “I’m playing a music legend in a new production. Should I focus mainly on the look, the voice, the character or a combination of all three?”

Showpeople: Q&A interviews with actress/writer Katie Bonna, We Will Rock You swing Alan Kelly and Irish musician Duke Special

The Stage is on sale in major newsagents for £1.40. For details of subscription rates and savings, go to http://www.thestage.co.uk/subscribe/

Posted by Scott Matthewman at 5:45 PM | Permalink

Since deciding that she’s too exhausted to carry on her theatre work, Julia Mackenzie hasn’t been putting her feet up. The new Miss Marple talks to Matthew Hemley about taking over one of the country’s most famous and popular roles

[Eight shows a week] tires you physically. I have got to the age now where lying down all day Sunday in order to do it all again on Monday — well, there is not enough life left. I am going to smell the roses.

I sort of got disenchanted, I suppose. I never thought I would hear myself say that, but I did not realise how much it would take out of me physically as I got older…

…Replacing someone as fine as Geraldine [McEwan as Miss Marple] was very difficult. Even just walking on the set was hard, let alone all the extra fuss that goes with replacing somebody. It’s not an easy thing and viewers don’t like it.

Also in this week’s issue of The Stage:

• Insight: Figures show that the UK music tour revenues rose by 30% last year, but as audiences choose which tickets to splash out on, a gap between bands at the top level and the rest of the pack is widening

• And actor’s performance is often described as ‘definitive’ with little though to the implications of what that actually means — that it is the final version and there is no point in anyone else playing the role. Producer Richard Jordan argues that plays evolve and we should choose our words more carefully

• Maggie Brown reflects on James Murdoch’s MacTaggart Lecture, in which he railed against the twin terrors of the BBC and Ofcom

• Producer Andrew Fishwick on his experiences producing theatre in America

• Dear John: “I’m touring and working constantly as a singer. I can’t afford to turn down work, but how can I take care of my voice while I’m doing it?” With guest advisors Kim Chandler and Katy Setterfield

• In Zimbabwe, “community arts” is no mere phrase but a vital tool for providing training, education and inspiration. Siyaya Dance Company director Saimon Phiri talks about the long journey to bring Zambezi Express to the UK. Also Giles Ramsay, director of Developing Arts, talks about the charity’s success in fostering international schemes and apprenticeships to nurture drama within the country

• Over the past year, three aspiring directors have been attending seminars and workshops on the first Living Pictures director training mentoring course. The charity’s co-founder Elen Bowman and its patron Ian Rickson explain how the course provides an affordable and accessible opportunity to work with established directors, actors and theatre staff

• Backstage Focus: Assistant stage manager Bryony Rutter’s job path has seen her criss-cross the country, gaining hands-on experience at all manner of venues and companies, before finding herself travelling the world with all-male group Propeller

• It is 20 years since the death of Samuel Beckett and his work remains as influential as ever, with Waiting for Godot proving a recent commercial success in the West End. However, copyright demands that any theatre company wanting to stage one of his plays must adhere strictly to the author’s original script, as Louise Finn investigates

The Stage is available from majore newsagents for £1.40, or via postal subscription. For subscription rates and other information go to http://www.thestage.co.uk/subscribe/

Posted by The Stage at 12:04 PM | Permalink