Well, it really did tempt fate with that title. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera sequel has posted closing notices in the West End and will come off in August after a disappointingly brief (at least for the producers) 18-month run. The show, which had seemed prior to opening to be as near to a sure-fire hit as you can get, never recovered from negative internet buzz during previews, including being christened ‘Paint Never Dries’ by influential theatre bloggers the West End Whingers
Photograph: Jonathan Hordle/Rex Features
Further evidence that there’s no such thing as a safe bet in commercial theatre comes from the annual accounts of Old Vic Productions, which reported a loss of more than £600,000 in 2010. OVP is responsible for shows such as hit musical Billy Elliot (seen here in its original West End incarnation with James Lomas). But despite performing well in the West End and on Broadway – where it cleaned up at the 2009 Tony awards – the US tour failed to perform as well, leading to the disappointing figures
Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Susan Boyle performs during a guest appearance in a concert of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, Japan, on 1 April 2010. The Scottish singer's life story is being turned into a musical – I Dreamed a Dream – which will tour from 2012
Photograph: Shizuo Kambayashi/AP
And if the idea of sitting through Susan Boyle’s life story doesn’t appeal, you can at least be comforted by the idea that your theatre seat won’t be a pain in the proverbial. Ambassador Theatre Group – the UK’s biggest theatre operator – is rolling out new ‘ProBax’ seating in its 39 venues across the country. The specially designed cushions are already used in Lotus cars, and they claim a reduction in backache and improved concentration levels Photograph: PR
To a slightly more artistic aspect of theatrical design ... The Prague Quadrennial, the Olympics of scenography and performance design, moved to a climax in the Czech capital this week. The Brazilian team has won the event’s overall prize, known as the Golden Triga. (Not just football they’re good at.) But at least us Brits didn’t go home completely empty-handed; a special jury prize for sound design went to the UK productions of Kursk and Harsh House Photograph: PR
But pity the Dutch. Not only did they go home empty-handed from Prague, but back in the Netherlands their performing arts sector is facing government funding cuts on a scale that makes the UK coalition’s reductions look positively generous. Proposals are afoot for a 34% cut, with annual subsidy reduced from €236m to €156m by 2013. Major national institutions – among them Nederlands Dans Theatre, pictured – appear to be protected for the most part, but there are fears for touring and youth companies Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Perhaps it's time to call in a superhero. Matt Smith, best known as a certain Time Lord, has been trying his hand as the Caped Crusader this week. Smith, who has been over in the States wooing Hollywood big-wigs during a hiatus from filming Doctor Who, returned to his theatrical roots and took to the stage for the Los Angeles charity event 24 Hour Plays. He appeared in a production called Gotham Autopsy, in which he played a rather confused Batman who has woken up in a mortuary
Photograph: Todd Antony/BBC
