Will Arena Stage’s revival of “Oklahoma!” make it to Broadway? In an unusual move, Washington’s Arena announced on Tuesday that it will resume performances of “Oklahoma!” on July 8 at its in-the-round Fichandler Stage, more than six months after the critical hit closed in December. The reprise is scheduled to run through Oct. 9.

Directed by Arena’s artistic director, Molly Smith, “Oklahoma!” opened in November to strong reviews and went on to smash several box-office records for the 60-year-old theater company. Yet the show closed less than two months later because of previous commitments by the actors and Arena’s subscription schedule of productions.

A three-month return engagement is relatively rare for major theaters, but Arena’s “Oklahoma!” drew some interest last fall as a future Broadway prospect given the reviews and the fresh take on the familiar 1943 musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Ms. Smith staged the show in the round, placing the bandstand, a windmill, and the doors to Aunt Eller’s farmhouse over the exits from the stage, and cast black actors in the key roles of Laurey and Eller and a Hispanic actor as the cowboy Curly to reflect the multiracial landscape of the Oklahoma territory of the early 20th century (not to mention today’s Washington). White actors played the key roles of Jud Fry, Ado Annie, and Will Parker.

Executives at Rodgers & Hammerstein: An Imagem Company, which holds the rights to the songwriting duo’s catalog and often helps shepherd revivals to Broadway, praised Arena’s revival last fall and encouraged producers to see it. Yet a transfer to Broadway this season proved impossible because its only in-the-round theater, Circle in the Square, has been booked with the play “Lombardi,” which is now scheduled to run through at least June 19. The reprise this summer gives producers and investors, among others, another chance to see it.

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times The producers of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” have brought on a consultant to help improve the production and may again delay the official opening.

The producers of the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” have brought on a veteran musical supervisor and conductor, Paul Bogaev, as a consultant to help improve the performance, vocal and orchestration arrangements, and sound quality of the songs and numbers, a production spokesman, Rick Miramontez, confirmed on Monday.

The hire comes amid growing expectation among “Spider-Man” cast and crew members that the show’s official opening, now set for March 15, will be delayed for a sixth time — perhaps for a significant period of time — to undertake a significant revamping of the $65 million show, which drew near-universal condemnation from theater critics in reviews this month. The show began preview performances on Nov. 28 and has already had one of the longest preview periods in Broadway history (hence the critics’ early reviews), although it never had the usual out-of-town tryout first.

With much of the critics’ invective centered on the script and story-telling, the producers of the show have recently been speaking with one possible script doctor, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, although he has yet to be hired. The New York Post reported on Sunday that the producers had decided to hire a co-director to work with Julie Taymor, the director and one of the writers of the script, and that they had reached out to Philip William McKinley, who directed the Broadway musical “Boy from Oz” and has worked on circus shows with aerial numbers like this musical’s; Mr. Miramontez said that no one had been hired and “there is no truth to the rumor of a co-director.”

Mr. Bogaev has specialized in collaborating with rock musicians-turned-Broadway composers, like Phil Collins (“Tarzan”), Elton John (“Aida”) and now U2’s Bono and the Edge, who are making their debut with “Spider-Man.” He has also worked on other technically complex shows, such as serving as musical director and conductor of the 1987 roller-skating musical “Starlight Express,” and was also musical supervisor of “Bombay Dreams” and “Chess.” Mr. Bogaev was retained about a week ago, and his presence at the Foxwoods Theater was shared by two people involved with the production and confirmed by Mr. Miramontez.

Bono and the Edge are writing new music for “Spider-Man” now, but Mr. Miramontez said that Mr. Bogaev’s role was far greater than adding that music once it is ready. No significant additions have been made to the score so far. Read more…

Egypt has reopened many of its museums and historical sites, which were hit by sporadic looting during the uprising that led to President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, Reuters reported.

On Sunday, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which is just off Tahrir Square and which served as an embattled backdrop during the protests, opened its doors again, and museum workers handed roses to the few visitors who came to see its treasures. The galleries of the museum, which are usually bustling, were nearly empty throughout the day, however, as tourism continues to suffer in the wake of the unrest, Reuters added.

“It was very important for us to open the museum to stop the rumors like ‘the mask of King Tutankhamun was stolen’ or there had been an orgy of looting,” said Tarek El Awady, the museum’s director. “This is a chance for visitors to see for themselves.”

During the protests and in the days after the government’s fall, there were conflicting accounts of how much damage the museum and other sites of ancient art had suffered. Egypt’s antiquities minister, Zahi Hawass, initially said that most of the country’s treasures were secure, but he later changed that account, announcing on his blog that 18 valuable artifacts were missing from the museum after a break-in on Jan. 28. Among the most important items were a gilded wooden statue of Tutankhamen and a limestone statue of the god Akhenaten, which Mr. Hawass said was later discovered near a trash bin outside the museum. He also announced that tombs at Saqqara and Abusir and storage buildings at Saqqara and at Cairo University, among other sites, had been broken into.

From left, Will Swenson, Nick Adams and Tony Sheldon in a spot for the It Gets Better Project.

The It Gets Better Project, an online video campaign to cheer up gay teenagers who have been victims of bullies, has joined with the stars of the new Broadway musical “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” to produce the project’s first public service announcement, which will begin airing on Tuesday on the CBS affiliate in the New York region.

In the 30-second spot, the actors Nick Adams, Tony Sheldon, and Will Swenson take turns offering encouraging words — “All the greats were ahead of their time,” Mr. Sheldon says — and urging viewers to sign on to a pledge on the project’s the website. The pledge asks people to spread the message that “everyone deserves to be respected for who they are” and promise to “speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work.”

“Priscilla,” which begins preview performances on Monday at Broadway’s Palace Theater, centers on two drag queens and a transsexual whose trek across Australia includes comical moments and performance numbers as well as encounters with prejudice and ignorance (which, for the most part, end on uplifting notes). The show, based on a 1994 film, has had popular runs in Sydney, London, and Toronto.

The marketing team for “Priscilla” proposed the idea of the public service announcement to CBS and the It Gets Better Project, which the writer Dan Savage and his partner Terry Miller began last year amid a spate of suicides by gay students who had faced bullying or harassment at school. Read more…

Molly Sweeney will soldier on after all. The widely praised revival of Brian Friel’s play about a blind woman who recovers her sight was scheduled to close at the Irish Repertory Theater on West 22nd Street on March 13, but after a little actress-shuffling it will be extended through April 10, the theater announced Monday.

Geraldine Hughes, who plays Molly, was unable to remain in an extended production because she is joining the cast of Jez Butterworth’s “Jerusalem,” which is rehearsing in London and is scheduled to open at the Music Box Theater on Broadway on April 21. So the Irish actress Simone Kirby, who portrayed Molly in a revival at the Curve Theater in Leicester, England, in 2010, has signed on to play the role for the show’s final month beginning March 9, joining Jonathan Hogan and Ciarán O’Reilly in the cast.

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Geoffrey Rush in “Diary of a Madman” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Readers were wildly split over two recently opened shows: Rinne Groff’s play “Compulsion,” starring Mandy Patinkin, and a new adaptation of Gogol’s “Diary of a Madman,” starring Geoffrey Rush. Following is a sampling of reviews selected from the Theater section of nytimes.com.
Read more…

Attentive ArtsBeat readers must have noticed by now that we can’t resist any excuse to mention our recent Top 10 Composers project. Here we go again.

Dean Rader, an English professor at the University of San Francisco, is doing for poets what our chief music critic, Anthony Tommasini, did for composers: He’s picking history’s 10 best. Writing on SFGate.com, the Web site of The San Francisco Chronicle, Professor Rader says he will “spend the next two weeks taking suggestions, lists, nominations, and justifications for the 10 greatest poets.” Then, he says, he’ll post his own list.

Professor Rader takes on this obviously impossible task in a playful spirit, proposing what he calls a “ridiculous and futile project” to explore a serious question: What makes great poetry great?

His readers are already jumping in.

The management of the debt-burdened Detroit Symphony Orchestra canceled the rest of its season on Saturday, after executives and the players failed to resolve a strike that has lasted four and a half months.

The players had voted to reject what orchestra executives had said was their final contract offer, calling it unacceptable. The players pointed to large increases in health care costs, a requirement that musicians pay some travel costs, a one-member reduction of the orchestra roster and greater authority by management in determining community and educational concerts. The proposal also included large pay cuts. The musicians had said they were open to lesser pay cuts.

Negotiations went on last week and included mediation by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan and Dan Gilbert, the owner of Quicken Loans. In a press release posted on its Web site, the orchestra’s management said it had “reluctantly released artists and conductors from their contracts and suspended all remaining orchestral concerts through June.”

But executives left open the possibility that some concerts could be rescheduled and that the summer season could go forward “pending a settlement.” The orchestra said patrons could request refunds, donate their tickets, ask for vouchers for future concerts or exchange tickets for other musical events at its Max M. Fisher Music Center.

James Levine, the music director of the Metropolitan Opera, withdrew from a matinee performance of “Don Pasquale” on Saturday because of illness, the house said.

It was the third performance — including a concert at Carnegie Hall — that Mr. Levine has missed since Jan. 24. Successive health problems in recent years have caused the Met conductor to miss an unusual number of performances.

The Met provided no details on Saturday but indicated that his latest ailment was not serious.

Bill Cooper/Royal Opera A scene from the Royal Opera House’s production of “Anna Nicole” in London.

More Photographs

A slide show of photographs of cultural events from this week.