Ten Broadway shows are scheduled to have closed by the end of January, including “Ragtime” (as of now January 10th) and, most surprisingly, “Finian’s Rainbow” (January 17th) which got ecstatic reviews. Yet there are also 17 new shows scheduled to open as part of the 2009-2010 Broadway season . “January is named for the Roman god of beginnings and endings,” Ellen Goodman wrote on January 1. “He looked backward and forward at the same time.”
The week in New York Theater straddled two different years — two different decades even — so there was as much looking back as looking ahead at theatrical intrigue and intriguing theater…as well as a few intriguing theater people. These are not just on the stage; consider the theatergoer who this week saw her 100th performance of “Rock of Ages” — and that, it turns out, is nowhere near her record.
Also a debate that transcends time: theater vs. theatre.
Monday, December 28, 2009
The sudden announcement that “Ragtime” is going to close (initially January 3, 2010) elicited much reaction on Twitter, in part because there had been so much online speculation in the previous few weeks about its closing that the New York Times had published an article just three days earlier about the efforts to fight the rumor.
From Kevin Daly (@kevinddaly, who writes Theater Aficionado At Large blog): “Now, was 1/3 the closing date all along, or did rumor-mill for the past month curb ticket sales for Ragtime…?”
From Lawson Taitte (@thatsbway, theater critic for the Dallas Morning News): “RAGTIME seems to be cursed. I love the score and enjoyed the revival. I am sorry to see it go so soon.”
From Broadway Spotted (@BroadwaySpotted, anonymous gossip columnist from BroadwaySpace.com): “Remember those rumors about Ragtime that we posted and no one believed? Now confirmed..”
From Nick Adams (@TheNickAdams, a Broadway performer who has appeared in “Chicago” and “Guys and Dolls” and was one of the Men of the Decade mention in last week’s Week of New York Theater Tweets): “Bad/no marketing KILLS. Damn. RIP Ragtime.”
From Bobby Steggert (@bsteggert, who plays Younger Brother in “Ragtime”): “Thanks to all who have shown support and love for our show.I am deeply sad but very grateful for such a profound experience.”
A playwright himself, Adam Szymkowicz (@AdamSzymkowicz) has interviewed 99 other playwrights over the last six months for his blog. 100 Playwright Interviews!
Off-Off-Blogway’s List of 10 Shows to See in 2010, including Chekhov Lizardbrain return engagement at CSV Cultural Center, January 7th -- 17th; Lear, new play after Shakespeare by Young Jean Lee at Soho Rep, January 7th -- 31st; Plays by Gertrude Stein as performed by David Greenspan at Foundry Theater Company at Atlantic Stage 2, January 9th -- February 7th
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Broadway producers Ken Davenport, Kevin McCollum, Chase Mishkin, and Daryl Roth discuss on Theatermania the economics of putting on a show in 2010. They are optimistic:”The funding for theater is still there, even in an economic downturn,” says McCollum (Ragtime, West Side Story, Avenue Q)
Jerry Zaks left ‘All About Me’ for ‘Addams Family.’ Now replacing him as director of “All About Me,” the show starring “Dame Edna” and Michael Feinstein is Casey Nicholaw, who directed and choreographed “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
The Guardian of Great Britain Noises Off blog lists the five best theater blogs, three of which are based in New York:
Isaac Butler of Parabasis
Gus Schulenburg of the Flux Theatre Ensemble
Matt Freeman of On Theatre and Politics
From Joshua Conkel (@joshuaconkel, playwright, and Tar-Hearted blogger): “I love all three of those blogs. I also love 99 seats”
Playbill’s top 10 NY theater stories of 2009, including Natasha Richardson’s death, the building of the new Henry Miller’s Theater, the collapse of the two Neil Simon revivals, and “Sushigate,” which started when Jeremy Piven dropped out of David Mamet’s “Speed-The-Plow” because he said he got mercury poisoning from eating too much fish. This was a story that went on and on (grievances, arbitration), and elicited so much reaction that selections were packaged as “The Piven Monologues” and performed at Joe’s Pub. Left out of Robert Simonson’s Playbill piece, though, is the most famous reaction, David Mamet’s line: “I talked to Jeremy on the phone, and he told me that he discovered that he had a very high level of mercury. So my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer.”
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Why are Hollywood’s elite heading to Broadway for work? It’s becoming more difficult to get plum movie roles. CNN.
Key Brand to buy Broadway.com Variety. So what impact will this have on the New York theater community and theatergoers?
From Ken Davenport (@kendavenport theater producer and The Producer’s Perspective blogger): “Holy game changer! Broadway producer and nation-wide theater owner buys Broadway.com!”
Broadway trends in 2000s from Variety: “a return to popularity of American musicals after a fallow period”; the rise of the premium ticket; the redemption of “jukebox musicals”; non-profit theaters arrive on Broadway; producers multiply; movie/TV ties etc
Cheryl (@lstbutifulgrl) has seen ‘Rock of Ages’ 100 times. I asked her if she’d seen any other shows more than once. “Yes: ‘Rent’ 175 times plus a ton of older shows. I’ve been going to Broadway shows since I was about 5, so for almost 25 years.” The breakdown?
Altar Boyz five times
Les Miserables six times
Story of My Life eight times
In The Heights at least 10
Next to Normal, at least 20 “if you count Second Stage & DC”
I asked her how she could afford this.
“I jokingly say I work to support my Broadway habit. I rarely pay full price, I usually do lotto or rush if i can.”
Lotto?
Some show conduct a lottery on the day of the performance. Next to Normal for example, has “a lotto for 26 seats 90 min before the show.”
I asked her whether she gained any more insights into these shows than people who only saw them once or twice.
“I don’t know that I have any more insight into the shows,” she answered (this time via e-mail). “Do I catch little things that an ensemble member may do, yeah, sure…When I see a show multiple times I like to try and focus on one character throughout the show, particularly in ensemble numbers.
“With Rock of Ages for example there is a group of us “regulars” I would say. We go fairly frequently. We all notice different things, we notice when a cast member adlibs, when they mess something up, or when they’re being goofy. It makes it fun for us, but that’s part of live theater. “
I suppose she’s also memorized the whole show.
“Of course I have the lyrics memorized, but with Rock of Ages that isn’t hard, I grew up on that music.”
Ragtime is now NOT closing on January 3. The closing has been delayed until January 10th.
Now it’s Finian’s Rainbow! Finian’s Rainbow will close January 17th! Its producers say “the economic realities of Broadway today” do not allow the show to play at the St. James Theater as long as they had hoped. This comes as more of a shock than Ragtime, especially since the reviews were so positive. My review was considered mixed, even though I call it an “extraordinary theatrical experience…thanks to an unusually talented cast of comic actors, singers and dancers, and 13 songs that are either evergreen favorites or rousing revelations.”
Thursday, December 31, 2009
My Top 10 Top 10 Lists Of The Decade, updated to include Roger Ebert’s actual top 10 films of the decade. While we’re at it, here’s Favorite New York Theater of the Decade again, chosen by Twitterers in a contest I held.
New York theater 2009 in images via Playbill, from the Obama’s night out through Cate Blanchett to new TKTS.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attending a performance at the end of May, 2009 of the Broadway revival of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come And Gone.” Despite the attention, the play closed two weeks later after 69 performances.
From Playbill: “Kiril Kulish, Trent Kowalik and David Alvarez (pictured L-R at top) shared the Broadway spotlight as the title character in the Tony Award-winning musical Billy Elliott then shared the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.”
Sienna Miller made her Broadway debut in “After Miss Julie.” Jude Law returned to Broadway in “Hamlet.” Neither were well-received in their roles, but (a theme for the year) welcomed heartily for their celebrity status. Once a couple, there were amply recorded sightings that they got back together in New York.
Erica McLaughlin (@ezmac99) and Alli Houseworth (@AlliHouseworth), who work at the TKTS ticket booth in Times Square, reminisced about their experiences this year:
Saying 100 or so times a day we do not sell Billy Elliot, Wicked, Jersey Boys and Lion King at the booth at this time
Escorting people from the Main line to the Play-Only line like they were VIPs for seeing a non-musical
Being asked “Is this the line to pay to get onto the red steps?”
“What is Broadway?”
“Is Hair Hairspray?”
The woman who asked me about “Mary Poppins” and “Puppetry of the Penis” in the same breath
All of the people this summer who asked me if this was the line for the bus
The repeat weekend customers who come back, who liked something new I recommended them the day before
The many talented show promoters (with aspiring theatrical dreams) who each are working on their scripts for TKTS the Musical
Friday, January 1, 2010
From Harvey Fierstein (@HarveyFierstein, currently on tour with “Fiddler on the Roof”): “Fifteen years without a drink and I still feel hungover on New Year’s morning. Who said it’s not all in your head?”
Schedule for Under The Radar Theater Festival, January 6th to 17th — Chautauqua, etc.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
01-02-2010 is the same read backwards or forwards — a palindrome — we ARE looking backward on previous decade and forward on new.
Chris Caggiano (@ccaggiano, Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals blogger) offers other palindromes — e.g. “Degenerative? Evita reneged”
52nd Street Project, where theater pros like Edie Falco work with Hell’s Kitchen kids, finally has its own theater. NPR
Theresa Rebeck: Young playwrights who think “conventional is not cool” wind up saying nothing. (Adam Szymkowicz’s 101st playwright interview)
Director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray, La Cage) offers six secrets of a great musical: e.g. give audience hope
From Audra McDonald (@AudraEqualityMc, four-time Tony Award-winning actress and singer, one of the stars of the original production of “Ragtime”): Saw Ragtime 2day & went on an emotional trip down memory lane. Beautiful. So proud of everyone. So sad it’s closing. Go see it if you can.
Theater vs. Theatre
Why do so many theater people (even American theater people) spell it “theatre”? They don’t spell play “plya.”
From Chris Caggiano: Because pretense knows no bounds
From Kelly Cameron (@broadwaybabyto Broadway Baby blogger from London, Ontario): That’s the British and (by default) Canadian spelling, so I use it! You Americans…always changing our spelling.
From “DoggieDog” (@DoggieDog, an anonymous Twitterer who mostly writes about pets and theater): Because, in 20th Century, “theatre” meant the live venue; “theater” meant the movie house. No pretense. Not complicated.
From Joshua Conkel: I think that’s inaccurate, actually.
From Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater, that’s me): So why when I type “movie theatre” into the search box, I get oodles of results?
From DoggieDog: Cuz, apparently, my (and others’) simple understanding was maybe not so simple; or that distinction has since dissolved?
From Kelly Cameron: Wikipedia actually has an entry on it, perhaps this will explain?
From Jena Tesse Fox (@jenatesse, Broadwayworld.com journalist): I heard that “theatre” meant the institution, while “theater” meant the building.
From Jonathan Mandell: If “theater” is the building, then why are most of the Broadway houses spelled “re”. My Playbill says “Walter Kerr Theatre” (To be consistent, shouldn’t they make it “Waltre Krre Theatre”?)
From Jena Tesse Fox: ‘Cause, clearly, the architects and owners of those theaters didn’t read the same book I did! 
From Kelly Cameron: Amazing how such a small thing like “er” vs. “re” can cause so much discussion! I was raised with “re”, so I’ll stick with that!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
From Michael McKean (@MJMcKean, star of Superior Donuts, closing today): The last scene of the play takes place 1/3/10. That’s today. Symmetry, thy name is Tracy Letts
(Seven hours later): Adieu, Superior Donuts! “Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened” -- Dr Seuss
From Paul Broussard (@paulbroussard, host of Stage and Screen at WTUL New Orleans): Seeing Anna Deavere Smith in final (sold out) performance of Let Me Down Easy at 2nd Stage Theatre. No fewer than 7 asked to buy my ticket!
From George Forbes (@GoToOffBroadway, president of League of Off-Broadway Theaters and Producers, in charge of offbroadway.com): Shows close, shows open… Eight shows completed their Off-Broadway runs today
From Broadway Girl NYC (@BroadwayGirlNYC, an anonymous blogger with “a fan’s perspective”): Sad for the shows that are closing today, but celebrating their great runs and feeling EXCITED for the new shows that will now get homes!
Stephen Sondheim at 79: “I went right from avant-garde to being old hat..” Pleased with all the revivals, he is also hoping to do a new musical. NY Times
2010 Broadway Preview here and here
—-
A Week of New York Theater Tweets appears every Monday in The New York Theater section of The Faster Times. To sign up to the New York Theater Twitter account, click on this link.
Past round-ups
A Week of New York Theater Tweets, 12/28
A Week of New York Theater Tweets, 12/21
A Week of New York Theater Tweets, 12/14
A Week of New York Theater Tweets, 12/07
Jonathan Mandell
Jonathan Mandell, who tweets as New York Theater, is a native New Yorker and third-generation journalist with diverse experience on newspapers, magazines and websites.He has ...
Read more about Jonathan Mandell ->
More on these topics:
2010 Broadway Season Preview, 52nd Street Project, Adam Szymkowicz, Audra McDonald, Bobby Steggert, Broadway, Casey Nicholaw, Chase Mishkin, Chautauqua, Chekhov Lizardbrain, Daryl Roth, David Alvarez, David Mamet, Finian's Rainbow, Flux Theatre Ensemble, Gus Schulenburg, Hairspray, Harvey Fierstein, Isaac Butler, Jerry Mitchell, Jerry Zaks, Joe's Pub, Ken Davenport, Kevin McCollum, Kiril Kulish, Lear, Matt Freeman, Michael McKean, Ragtime, Rock of Ages, Superior Donuts, The Piven Monologues, theater vs theatre, Tracy Lett, Trent Kowalik, Under the Radar Theater Festival
