French Theatre Today: The View from New York, Paris, and Avignon - by Edward Baron Turk
In 2005 literary and film critic Edward Turk immersed himself in New York City’s ACT FRENCH festival, a bold effort to enhance American contact with the contemporary French stage. This dizzying crash course on numerous aspects of current French theatre paved the way for six months of theatregoing in Paris and a month’s sojourn at the 2006 Avignon Festival. In French Theatre Today he turns his yearlong involvement with this rich topic into an accessible, intelligent, and comprehensive overview of contemporary French theatre. Situating many of the nearly 150 stage pieces he attended within contexts and timeframes that stretch backward and forward over a number of years, he reveals French theatre during the first decade of the twenty-first century to be remarkably vital, inclined toward both innovation and concern for its audience, and as open to international influence as it is respectful of national tradition.
French Theatre Today provides a seamless mix of critical analysis with lively description, theoretical considerations with reflexive remarks by the theatremakers themselves, and matters of current French and American cultural politics. In the first part, “New York,” Turk offers close-ups of French theatre works singled out during the ACT FRENCH festival for their presumed attractiveness to American audiences and critics. The second part, “Paris,” depicts a more expansive range of French theatre pieces as they play out on their own soil. In the third part, “Avignon,” Turk captures the subject within a more fluid context that is, most interestingly, both eminently French and resolutely international. The Paris and Avignon chapters contain valuable and well-informed contextual and background information as well as descriptions of the milieus of the Avignon Festival and the various neighborhoods in Paris where he attended performances, information that readers cannot find easily elsewhere. Finally, in the spirit of inclusiveness that characterizes so much new French theatre and to give a representative account of his own experiences as a spectator, Turk rounds out his survey with observations on Paris’s lively opera scene and France’s wealth of circus entertainments, both traditional and newly envisioned.
With his shrewd assessments of contemporary French theatre, Turk conveys an excitement and an affection for his topic destined to arouse similar responses in his readers. His book’s freshness and openness will reward theatre enthusiasts who are curious about an aspect of French culture that is inadequately known in this country, veteran scholars and students of contemporary world theatre, and those American theatre professionals who have the ultimate authority and good fortune to determine which new French works will reach audiences on these shores.
INFINITE STEPS, authored by Gavin Larsen and Gene Schiavone, offers an intimate look into the lives of 33 ballet dancers. Scheduled for release on March 17, 2026, by University Press of Florida, the book combines compelling stories with striking portraits.
Author and Broadway star Andrew Keenan-Bolger is making YA debut with Limelight, a poignant coming-of-age novel about identity, first love, and the power of the arts to help young people feel seen.
On the eighth anniversary of the 2018 Hawaii missile scare, the musical THIS IS NOT A DRILL, inspired by the event, is now available for licensing to theaters. The production, which premiered at The York Theatre Company, explores the intense 38 minutes of the false alert through a blend of humor and drama.
BroadwayWorld is now accepting nominations for the BroadwayWorld Stage Recording Awards, celebrating outstanding achievements in theatrical and performance-based recordings released during the 2025 calendar year.
Jack White has officially published Jack White Collected Lyrics and Selected Writing Volume 1, available now at Third Man physical storefronts, online, and booksellers in the United States.
Puscifer has expanded its universe with the launch of the band’s first comic book series, “Tales From The Pusciverse.” Issue #1 centers on Bellendia Black, a character first seen in the band’s “Pendulum” video.
Song Sung Blue, starring Tony Award winner Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, will be available to buy or rent on digital platforms on January 13, 2026, and on Blu-ray and DVD on February 17, 2026.
The cast and creative team of Broadway’s current revival of Ragtime had their first listen of the show’s official Broadway cast album at a listening party.
Blue Moon, Richard Linklater's portrait of Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart, will be available on Blu-ray on January 27 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
The audiobook of Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories from a Sore Winner, a memoir written by Marc Shaiman, is slated for release on the same day as print publication.
Writer, composer, and producer T.J. Armand has announced the release of Happy Hour Blues – Volume 2 (Demo Sessions), the latest chapter in his three-volume recording project.
Considering Our Town playwright Thornton Wilder's life and work through a queer lens is the theme of a new collection of essays by D.R. Lewis, the American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association and Foundation ATCA's 2024-2025 Helbing Fellow.
Grammy-winning producer, guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli will celebrate the centennial of iconic singer Tony Bennett with a pair of heartfelt tributes.
The weather outside might be frightful for a while, but what better time to stay in and snuggle up with a great Broadway read? This season, Broadway's best have put pen to paper to turn out theatre page-turners of every kind. From theatre biographies to theatre fiction; theatre books for kids to theatre history; check out our collection of 20 new Broadway books for every theatre lover's winter reading list.
The Broadway recording of Good Night and Good Luck, starring George Clooney, will come to DVD and Blu-ray on December 30 from Magnolia Pictures. Pre-orders are available now.
A new sing-along karaoke edition of the Wicked: For Good soundtrack has been released, allowing fans to belt out their favorite tunes, including 'No Good Deed,' 'As Long As You're Mine,' 'For Good,' and more. Check out the new soundtrack here.
Julie Benko - the singer and actor who rose to national prominence in Broadway's Funny Girl - will release Euphonic Gumbo, a vibrant new album steeped in the musical and cultural histories of New Orleans.
Get your voices ready! This Friday, a new sing-along edition of the Wicked: For Good soundtrack will be released, allowing fans to belt out their favorite tunes, including 'No Good Deed,' 'As Long As You're Mine,' and 'For Good,' which is available now.
PENTATONE will release Vesper, an album from trailblazing guitarist Sean Shibe, featuring three major contemporary voices who have each reshaped the expressive possibilities of the instrument: Thomas Adès, Harrison Birtwistle,and James Dillon.
With Christmas right around the corner, Michigan-born tenor Glenn Seven Allen is spreading holiday cheer with his debut of 'Michigan Christmas', a song written and originally recorded by Broadway star and Saginaw native Brian d'Arcy James.
Center Stage Records has announced the release of The Lightning Thief: Original London Cast Recording on CD. The album is also available in streaming and digital formats.
Center Stage Records has released “Fly High” – the new single from Chloe Tucker Caine of the Netflix show “Owning Manhattan” – in digital and streaming formats.
Center Stage Records has released Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical – Original Cast Recording in streaming and digital formats. It is set to be released in CD formt.
Center Stage Records will release the original cast recording of Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical, the TheaterWorksUSA production based on Dav Pilkey’s book series. BroadwayWorld has your exclusive first listen of the album with a new single, 'My Sister, Naomi,' Watch the video!
On Friday, February 6, 2026, the two-time GRAMMY Award-nominated Neave Trio will release its eighth commercial album, In Her Hands. The ensemble will present a program of piano trios celebrating three women composers in the early modern era: Clara Schumann, Dora Pejačević, and Cécile Chaminade.
The cast album of THE ONE: The Life of Legendary Boxer Muhammad Ali, written and directed by David Serero, is now officially released across all major music platforms.
Darius de Haas joins The Roundtable for a gorgeous, soulful conversation about his brand-new holiday album “Let Me Carry You This Christmas.” We talk about the heart behind the project, the family love that inspired it, and how this music became a tribute to connection, healing, and joy.
Writer, composer, and producer T.J. Armand has released Happy Hour Blues: Lyrics, Notes & Reflections, the companion book to his three-volume recording project.