CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Why Broadway Is Full of Brainy Plays This Season

New York Magazine: "The names on Broadway marquees this season read like homework for a seminar in high-flown dramaturgy. At Studio 54, a revival of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is replacing Pal Joey. At the Broadhurst, Equus is being replaced by Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart. Henrik Ibsen, Noël Coward, and Eugène Ionesco are also on the new syllabus. Shrek, meanwhile, isn’t selling tickets. Do producers think theatergoers have been given brain transplants?"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm actually quite looking forward to this season of plays. It's much different than the previous trends. I wonder what it is about a recession that makes these "brainy plays" more appealing to producers? Surely there's a middle grown between spectacle and the intelligentsia. Why not Mary Stuart with huge production values? Why not a new production not based on a movie?