Sunday, March 24, 2013
Broadway Tryouts Move Closer to Home
Variety: It used to be that when a Broadway show booked an out-of-town tryout, it actually went out of town.
Not anymore. The world premiere of Rialto-targeted musical “Honeymoon in Vegas” premieres this fall at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J. — less than a half-hour ride from midtown Gotham — and that proximity is the mark of a major shift in the way commercial producers think about legit creative development in the new media age.
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4 comments:
From an outside perspective, I see starting up a show close to "Gotham" and further away as having both pros and cons. Starting a show in a place like Paper Mill is great because of the establishment of security that the older company already has. And it is convenient to be able to run back to the city if needed. And sometimes a little extra hype can be good to promote the show. However, if the show is still one that needs a little work or is maybe a questionable idea that not all audiences may be fond of, a quieter and further location could be beneficial. I guess what I find impressive is the elasticity of show and how many ways it can travel.
I think that staying "in town" so to speak, so shows is fine. One of the things that always comes to mind about show's really going out of town is that the audiences that see the show might have very different values then those who are likely to see the show. Also in a place like Paper Mill that is so well established, it offers a show a nice place to tryout without being to far away from the city. Thats not to say that show's shouldn't tryout in far away place. Aladdin for example is doing it's tryouts in Canada. I think it really just depends on the type of show and it's intended audience.
To me, the location of an out of town tryout does not seem that important. This could be my relative ignorance to the commercial theater world speaking, but I really don't think the location actually affects the realization of what the tryout's goal is, which is to further hone and polish the work being presented on stage. It is indeed easier and cheaper to do a tryout closer to New York City. Other than a purely financial reason, I don't see a huge difference.
I really love that shows have began trying out in Boston, MA, which is close to home for me...Tryouts in areas close to NYC are great because of the ease of transport if they are able to continue! However, one of the downfalls of tryouts closer to NYC is that the show could play to most of the audience members that the show would play to in NYC. I am always amazed at the turnout for broadway shows and I am perplexed by the places that all of the audience members hail from. When KINKY BOOTS tried out in Chicago, it was an easy transfer to Broadway because they knew they were going to Broadway. That, in my opinion, is the way to go.
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