Variety: "To call Los Angeles a nontheater town is wrong. Rather, it’s an audience-unfriendly town.
At the height of the Gotham theater season in late April, I took in 10 shows in one week, and my biggest hassle had to do with keeping straight my dinner reservations
L.A. is different. Seeing 10 shows in one month involves well over 200 miles of car travel (often in rush hour traffic) from my Hollywood home base, and the major decision isn’t where to eat but whom to invite."
6 comments:
I like that they compared the miles you had to drive with the shows theatre lovers were optioned with. You would think with all that space and that large community, live entertainment/theatre would be more popular. I think that with the installation of the new cirque show in LA, the county is trying to revamp there culture beyond just their business. For most of us, most of the theatres mentioned are unknown simply because they are overshadowed by studios. It's good to see the quality and diversity of the LA theatre scene.
Since I am from the West coast I understand when they compare a show to the distance you have to travel. For the longest time I would have to travel 2 hours to Tucson just to see The Lion King. Although most people do not consider people from the West coast as theatre goers, as Nicole pointed out this not at all the case. LA has been trying for years to redefine itself, but has even even with popular shows in town LA will not be able change everyone's opinion and problems.
Having lived in Los Angeles my entire life, I am familiar with all the theatre's mentioned and was overall pleased with the diversity provided by the writer. A few noteworthy mentions are the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles Opera, RedCAT, and Rogue Artists. I have never thought of the schlep between theatres to be exhausting, however, I am a LA native. I drive 80 miles round trip to just go to highschool...so seeing a show across town feels like nothing. LA is simply not known for it's theatre scene and therefore people assuming it is not well done don't take the time to investigate using distance as an excuse.
This makes me really happy!!! I am so glad someone wrote an article on the schlep that is getting to a theatre in LA, because even though I love the LA Theatre Scene, the driving is somewhat ridiculous. Getting to and from the Pantages (without traffic) isn't an issue, but going to the Center Theatre Group theatres is a pain in the ass. I splurged on Spamalot tickets this summer, and even though we left two hours early, we almost missed the show. I started crying in the car I was so upset, no joke. Reading about all these excellent shows, however, makes me really really sad that I can't see any of them! Ever since I read about Leo Frank, I've been dying to see Parade. Remember that time when no one knew who Jason Robert Brown was? I do. Great article overall!
Maybe it is just because I grew up in Houston, but it seems the writer is placing an insane amount of emphasis on the driving time. I don't understand why it is such a big deal to drive around the city. It seems to me that he saw a great variety of good/bad/cool shows and you didn't have to walk or stand in the rain anywhere. I guess we just come from different worlds.
I found this article really boring and I agree with Sarah. What is the big deal about this person having to drive to see shows. I think the article should have been more focused on what theatres there are to see shows and the shows offered this season. Instead it was all about the distance and how annoying it is. I chose this article to read because I though I would find out something interesting about the theatre industry in LA, not how far away everything is.
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