Posted on 12/10/2008 10:07:10 AM PST by raccoonradio
America's economic woes have taken a heavy toll on Broadway, where the final curtain is coming down on 15 shows in the next six weeks.
Even some of New York’s most feted productions, such as the Equus revival starring Daniel Radcliffe, have been playing to half-filled houses while other shows have survived no more than weeks.
In one of many worrying statistics for the US' theatre capital, only two Broadway productions made money this season – a revival of The Seagull starring Kristin Scott-Thomas and another of Arthur Miller's All My Sons, starring Katie Holmes – and they were both limited runs.
Theatre-goers are not the only ones avoiding Broadway because of the financial crunch. Investment prospects are also bleak as producers shy away from all but the safest theatrical bets.
Multi-million dollar productions of Grease, Young Frankenstein, Hairspray, 13 and Boeing-Boeing will all close at the end of the holiday season on January 4.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I saw Yul Brenner in The King And I when I was a little boy at the Muni Opera in St. Louis. It was free.
Young Frankenstein and are new musicals, not revivals. Legally blonde, a musical based on a popular movie like Hairsray, is doing well. Other revivals do well too. The revival of Kander and Ebb's Chicago has been running since 1996.
BTW, I got young Frankenstein tickets for $46.50 and I'm getting spamalot tickets for $59. A $400 ticket is extremely rare, if it has happened.
Young Frankenstein and are new musicals, not revivals. Legally Blonde, a musical based on a popular movie like Hairsray, is doing well. Other revivals do well too. The revival of Kander and Ebb's Chicago has been running since 1996.
BTW, I got young Frankenstein tickets for $46.50 and I'm getting spamalot tickets for $59. A $400 ticket is extremely rare, if it has happened.
Where’d you get the tickets? I know I would love to see Spamalot before it closes, and I’d also like to see Lion King and Phantom of the Opera at some point. However, I’m kinda tight on cash, and while tickets aren’t $400, they’re usually out of my price range. I actually got to go see Rent for $20 almost 2 years back, but those were group, school-subsidised prices. Anyways, wasn’t there some kind of kiosk thing somewhere around Times Square that sold cheap Broadway tickets?
Hope that’s the case though the article seems to imply tough times are really making it tough on the Great White Way.
There are really good discount codes on www.broadwaybox.com
Did you know that Lee Adams and Charles Strouse, who wrote the music and lyrics for Birdie (and Applause, among others) also wrote the theme song for "All In the Family"?
You want to talk about no plot? Try Company or Cats. But they were successful.
Times are tough, and the cave-in after the stagehands' strike doesn't make it any easier. But people have been writing abotu the "death of Broadway" for decades. It hasn't happened yet, and there are some exciting new things happening. (I'm loking forward to The Addams Family.)
Times are tough, and the cave-in after the stagehands' strike doesn't make it any easier. But people have been writing abouu the "death of Broadway" for decades. It hasn't happened yet, and there are some exciting new things happening. (I'm loking forward to The Addams Family.)
George Cohan Hated Unions.
I'm not sure I'd rate Boeing Boeing a classic. It's a fun mid 60's film starring Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis, but, for me, Thelma Ritter steals the show.
Great. Thanks for the tip. Speaking of an old fun film (but mostly hilarious in retrospect, not the same kind of fun you are mentioning), Reefer Madness was on TV lastnight. Man what a transition from the old days to the new that one is. Thanks again.
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