The Banks Prize is an annual prize awarded to two up-and-coming Canadian musical theatre performers, one man and one woman, who receive $1,000 and a year of mentorship and performance opportunities in the Acting Up Stage Company season. We caught up with the 2015/2016 winners, Colin Simmons & Brittany Banks and chatted about their experience. More

The Tony Awards are just a little over two weeks away!

I love Tony night. It’s my Super Bowl or Stanley Cup or whatever other kinds of sporting events make straight men slap each other on the back and yell expletives at the top of their lungs.

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There is a famous saying in our industry:

You can’t make a living in the theatre, but you can make a killing.

According to a recent article in The Hollywood Reporter, anyone lucky enough to be involved in Hamilton is now making a killing.

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Ever since I was in my early 20s, I loved any excuse to borrow my parents’ minivan. Equipped with SiriusXM radio, it was my opportunity to roll down the windows and blast showtunes from the “On Broadway” station. (I’m certain you can’t imagine anything cooler than being seen in your parents’ minivan with “Ol’ Man River” blaring).

Looking back 40 years, Broadway music wasn’t always relegated to a very exclusive, expensive spot on the airwaves. In 1975, “Send In The Clowns” hit Number 36 on the US Billboard charts in a cover by Judy Collins. In 1971, “I Don’t Know How To Love Him” reached Number 12 on the Billboard charts in a cover by Helen Reddy. The Beatles recorded Meredith Wilson’s “Till There Was You” in 1963 and they sang it on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964. Barbara Streisand’s version of “People” from Funny Girl reached number five on the Billboard charts in 1964 (four years before the movie came out). The list goes on and on. The farther back in time you go, the more closely aligned Broadway music was with the popular taste.

Looking at 21^st century musical theatre, 90% of the time the genre either:

• Uses existing pop songs that hit big on the radio decades ago
• Creates original scores that don’t resemble anything that could have been on the radio in the last 40 years.

It’s a fascinating divide given the origins of the form. More

In December 2010, the New York Magazine sat down with five Broadway experts to determine “The Greatest Musical” of all-time. They successfully got the list down to 23 candidates and then proceeded to discuss the merits of each piece. While they never arrived at a single winning-show, the discussion is very interesting to read.

Most significantly, the only musical of the 21st century that was on their short-list for “The Greatest Musical” of all-time was Caroline, or Change. Read the article here »