theatre

Enron Tale Makes Beautiful Music

Filed under: Art

Can a play about accounting really deliver? Well, according to a review in Bloomberg News, "Enron" really adds up. Close to a decade after the company that was once #7 on the Fortune 500 list collapsed, bringing accounting firm Arthur Andersen with it, Lucy Prebble has brought it to the stage in London, now at the Neal Coward Theatre. Singing, dancing and slapstick are mixed with a healthy dose of realism to guide the audience through rise and fall of Enron.

Dinosaurs and light sabers are brought into the action to illustrate the work of then financial wizard Andrew Fastow (played by Tom Goodman-Hill), whose off-balance sheet companies, called "raptors," came to life as named and a project called "Death Star" led to the crossing of weapons a la Jedis.

The performances are said to have become profound, with Samuel West's Jeffrey Skilling showing the horror of the fall and Amanda Drew's Claudia Roe (fictional) adding a human touch as the character who represents the opponents Skilling pushed out of his way.

It's been a while since Enron dominated the headlines, and we've since had the mortgage-precipitated financial crisis to remind us of the power of greed. But, Enron kicked off the new millennium, a single company that destroyed vast amounts of value ... and now it's all set to song.

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Tags: Andrew Fastow, AndrewFastow, england, Enron, Jeffrey Skilling, JeffreySkilling, london, stage, theater, theaters, theatre

Nonprofit Theaters Making Cutbacks

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Charity

Opera isn't the only cultural institution that has hit difficult times. Bloomberg News reveals that nonprofit theaters are struggling as well. A new survey by the Theater Communications Group finds that out of 210 member theaters, a full 77 percent are taking another look at the expenses for the coming year and making cuts where they can, often by replacing big scale productions with more modest efforts. Many expect to hit cash flow problems this year as the economy leads to a decrease in ticket sales and a donations shortfall. Theater salaries which are already low are expected to dip even further. So far around 10 U.S. theater companies in the U.S. have either shut down or sent out a distress call. One of the largest was the American Musical Theatre of San Jose, which had its first show back in 1935 filed for bankruptcy protection on December 23.

Gallery: Culture in Trouble