Many new plays, with many expected to fail. What small but important part of that is due to premium prices? I was ready to see the charming if overlong "Significant Other" again when it moved to Broadway, but you couldn't get a decent advance seat for less than $250. Two months later, the play was gone. The same producer is presenting "American Son," and the only decent seats in the first 10 rows are $250; for the bargain price of $169, one can sit on the outmost sides or in the back. Other producers are no different: It's a lost cause finding a good non-premium orchestra ticket across eight months of the (planned) run of "To Kill a Mockingbird." Do I want to see it? Not enough to spend $275 on a good seat or $175 on a bad one. Lots of premium seats are released at standard or even highly discounted rates a few days before the performance. But by that time, many of us have made other plans.
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@David K
Discount codes have been or are available for all of these plays except Network so far.
1
@JBC, I used to live those discount codes. But the last show I could get center orchestra (counting first two in on the sides as "center" as they’re great seats, too) with a discount code before reviews came out was first week of “Jersey Boys.” It all changed very soon after that, I think because around then, shows really started budgeting to potential investors with some premium in the forecast mix in case the show hits.
I could sit onstage playing with our dog for 75 minutes (maybe “Corgi and Fred?”), and no producers would let first 12 rows center be advance-discounted until the reviews came out, once they were 100% sure those rows would not have any potential to sell at premium. (TKTS, that they'd do, but no way to plan with TKTS.)
Puhleeze!!!!!!
Drama is truly available OFF-BROADWAY at a fraction of the cost and with STAGE actors!!!! The last year alone has produced "Paradise Blue" and "I Was Most Alive With You". The latter I had a second look at Playwrights last night for $20.
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@mvsusi, amen, and as a tax return prep person branching over into arts in life - the new tax law increasing standard deduction and getting people not to itemize with other deductions removed (state taxes) is having an effect I think even the GOP didn't really consider or want: Since there's no tax benefit for so many people to donating to non-profits like theaters, so many people who gave to Roundabout, Playwrights Horizons, MTC, LCT and Lincoln Center, the Public, other arts nonprofits, seem to be not doing it so freely without the tax benefit. (it was you gave $1000, it cost you $600 or so - but now it's give $1000, it costs you the whole $1000.
People who gave to church or shuls seem to still be doing that, likewise cancer and medical research it seems - but this can't have been intended even by the GOP for arts nonprofits, can it? I get the stated logic of the curb on state taxes deductibility, but that was what used to throw many people into itemizing rather than standard deduction. When we do 2018 forecasts and planning, zero value to charity now, except the good feeling.
5
this is exactly what they intended.
4
@fdav1, that's haunting, that they might have intended that. I get that they REALLY hated subsidizing high-tax states and cities - and $29-milliion subway station paint jobs in New York State colors with tax revenue weren't helping our side, to be honest. LOL - You could have done another "Moulin Rouge" production for $28-million of that, earn the profits from that one for the state coffers, and have a million of the $29-million left and that would paint those subway stations well enough).
I'm wondering if once rich individuals actually see on their 2018 returns in April 2019 that they got no tax benefit of charities, this could hurt medical research donations, too, not just the theaters. But certainly, corporations are on solid ground saying when they hand money to the community causes, it's for getting their brand or name out there, like American Airlines Theater - and we tax folk have been able to structure what they used to give, even tables they buy at benefits, legitimately as outreach to benefit their business name and sell their product (it likely really always was that anyway for so many).
If only these plays could be filmed and offered through streaming on demand!
There's a wide theatre audience beyond NY and CT that would love to see these plays!
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@Reflections, the problem seems to be that once the production is known to likely be available someday to see for $10 or $12, the need to see it live (for all but the smashes) for $60 to $200 and way up feels less urgent.
It feels like anything that's been video'd and filmed will end upon Youtube or Vimeo if you're willing to wait.
1
@Reflections
Out here in fly over country we are getting three National Theater plays this year. They are streamed at our theater and the tickets are reasonably priced. It isn’t live theater but it can be close if you squint a bit.
1
I saw "Ink" in London, I walked in having no idea what it was about, See it. The story will stun, it lays the groundwork for where we are now in media.
3
Wow!!! Just what America has been waiting for: a group of mediocre political plays where one can pay $100 or more for the privilege of being lectured to and harangued for two hours. My prediction is that, for the most part, the plays will be commercial failures, supported only by true believers and NYT critics. You seem to forget that Broadway plays are supposed to be entertainment. Hillary may be entertaining, but in a sad kind of way.
3
Catharsis can also be entertaining, and one person’s “mediocre” play may be another’s “gem.” (Eagerly ooking forward to Glenda Jackson’s Lear.)
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@luxembourg
Political plays? That is a generalization. They are much broader in scope and storytelling. Life is political and these plays reflect life, so political and social issues will be part of them. We are blessed to have so any supremely talented actors among their casts. I am one out-of-towner with an extra NYC trip scheduled so that I can catch more of these performances.
1
This is great news. Unfortunately, there is an absence of touring companies talking these plays to a wider audience. My local venue prefers to stage touring cheesy musicals that may have never been near Broadway or the umpteenth run of "Phantom" to straight plays, Of course, this also reflects the pedestrian tastes of local audiences as well as tourists in NYC, who would rather spend obscene amounts on tickets to musicals than attend dramas that might cost less to produce.
10
@arp - Except for some quieter experiences (maybe “The Dead” or “Once”), musicals and comedies seem to be pitched to sweep in the entire theater (and shows where you’re going to miss anything normally call the seats “partial view” when they sell them, but you’re still part of the electricity). Musicals and comedies with the laughing and the clapping (and now that I’m too old to jump up as easily, the during-the-show standing O’s), tend to be a shared experience, which can’t be quite be duplicated on video.
For dramas, once it got tough to get the really good seats to hits reasonably, even with planning (lots changed 2005-6 in Bway pricing), it took a while but I realized for dramas, I was getting as good an experience with how great writing on TV got, rather than a powerful drama from a bad seat. (Star events are just different; the thrill of being in the room can make where not matter, like nosebleed at a concert, though who’s a star varies, like concerts.).
For Broadway, and off-Broadway, it’s got to be the gross & the investors (to keep them wanting to invest the next time, and the arts going); I know the dramas don’t miss the discounted price I’d have been able/willing to spend. When I hear how so-and-so arched her eyebrow and I missed it, I knew I wouldn’t have felt it from where I could afford to sit in 2018 anyway. (I missed Laurette Taylor’s Amanda , but I was 6th row for Linda Lavin’s Kate Jerome, which broke my heart and made me more than happy enough.)
1
What's this? No "ho-hum" musicals out there "breaking barriers"?
The nation sighs in relief.
Now, after years of dazzle 'em showbiz brew-ha and social media cliick-clack, does the audience have the attention span for a drama?
Doubtful.
As for the screen actors, you might assume these are "soon to be a major motion picture."
A remake of "To Kill A Mockingbird"? Steel yourselves, everyone.
American theater has been trouble for ages. Not just New York. Some self-imposed, other, by changing of the audience.
How remarkable would it be to see a true humanity play without the usual film plots and devices.
Fingers crossed for Mockingbird.
3
@Razorwire, You said: “What’s this? No "ho-hum" musicals out there "breaking barriers"?
The nation sighs in relief.”
It looks when a Broadway musical breaks barriers, it somehow still needs the blockbuster marketing that makes costly musicals viable.
That “Evan Hansen” became a premium hit is a miracle - that it got commercially financed, was feasible for Broadway, that the audience made it be a blockbuster. The writers created (IMHO) a work of brilliance and great beauty, using such deceptively simple and accessible elements, by writers who are totally capable of complexity with the best of them when needed in their other shows. The staging, casts, have been superb!
But to market it as a blockbuster, they need to kind of miss the point in promoting it - Evan Hansen Polo Shirts - because we want anyone to want to be Evan???
http://www.playbill.com/article/official-dear-evan-hansen-polo-shirt-now...
Where's Gerard Alessandrini? Can he take some time “Spamilton” for “Dear Evan Handsome,” maybe, starring that guy? Those models would be great for "Step out, step out of the sun if you keep getting burned" sunscreen and beachwear!
Maybe Tyrone family money-saver light bulbs for the next “Long Day’s Journey.” (I won’t dare argue that the authors’ language reaches O’Neill, but “DEH” at its devastating heights with Ben Platt as Evan & Rachel Bay Jones as his mom totally crumbling in front of us could compete with O’Neill emotional stakes.)
@Razorwire, You said: “What’s this? No "ho-hum" musicals out there "breaking barriers"?"
It looks when a Broadway musical breaks barriers, it somehow still needs the blockbuster marketing that makes costly musicals viable.
That “Evan Hansen” became a premium hit is a miracle - that it got commercially financed, was feasible for Broadway, that the audience made it be a blockbuster. The writers created (IMHO) a work of brilliance and great beauty, using such deceptively simple and accessible elements, by writers who are totally capable of complexity with the best of them when needed in their other shows. The staging, casts, have been superb!
But to market it as a blockbuster, they need to kind of miss the point in promoting it - Evan Hansen Polo Shirts - because we want people to want to aspire to be like Evan Hansen???
http://www.playbill.com/article/official-dear-evan-hansen-polo-shirt-now...
Where's Gerard Alessandrini? Can he take some time off from “Spamilton” for “Dear Evan Handsome,” maybe, starring that guy? Those models look like they would be great for "Step out, step out of the sun if you keep getting burned" sunscreen and beachwear. :)
@Razorwire,
You said: “What’s this? No "ho-hum" musicals out there "breaking barriers"?
The nation sighs in relief.”
It looks when a Broadway musical breaks barriers, it somehow still needs the blockbuster marketing that makes musicals viable.
That “Dear Evan Hansen” became a premium hit is a miracle - that it got commercially financed, that it was feasible for Broadway, thatvthe audience made it be a blockbuster. The writers created (IMHO) a work of brilliance and great beauty, using such deceptively simple and accessible elements, by writers who are totally capable of complexity with the best of them when needed in other shows. The staging, and casts, have been superb!
But to make it marketable as a blockbuster, they need to kind of miss the point in promoting it - Evan Hansen Polo Shirts - because we want anyone to emulate Evan???
http://www.playbill.com/article/official-dear-evan-hansen-polo-shirt-now...
Where's Gerard Alessandrini? Can he take some timefrom “Spamilton” for “Dear Evan Handsome,” maybe?
Those models would be great for "Step out, step out of the sun if you keep getting burned" sunscreen and beachwear!
Perhaps Tyrone family money-saving light bulbs for the next “Long Day’s Journey.” (While I won’t dare argue the authors’ language reaches O’Neill, “DEH” at its emotional heights with Ben Platt as Evan and Rachel Bay Jones as his mom totally crumbling in front of us could compete with the O’Neill emotional stakes-wise.)
Don't forget about Be More Chill—from Jersey to Broadway!
If that picture doesn't perfectly capture the problem of representation on American stages, then I don't know what would. We can do better, and we must do better. #blindedbythewhite
16
The best plays are often written when contemporary politics and culture are most contentious and troubled. That was true in Elizabethan days, and it's sure the case now.
18
@Richard M. Waugaman, M.D. - There's always going to be a delay for movies and theater, which TV doesn't seem to have. Even if a playwright wrote about an issue happening right now, and could get the play top in a few months, the story would be out of date, wouldn't it?
Thinking today about the passing (in his 70s) of Ira Gasman, who spent a long long time getting his best-known show "The Life," (which was for Cy Coleman a very rare serious-minded show) which got Mr. Gasman his Tony nomination, to Broadway. And the show felt to some mire than a bit old-news in the VERY recently "cleaner" New York, though often emotionally powerful and an award nominee and (for acting) winner.
But he's cherished also for his constantly updating work "What's a Nice Country Like You Doing in a State Like This?" which went over a decade and kept changing and being rewritten as can be done only with minimal production values, and felt like they could get subjects in even faster than the weekly SNL back then.
But with big budgets, can it be done at all?
1