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NYTimes.com: How badly did the Broadway producers of “The Audience,” a coming play starring Helen Mirren, want their first-choice theater, the Schoenfeld? Enough to brush off rival producers who were prepared to pay them $400,000 for dibs on the house.
This is a very interesting situation. I knew that open theaters are hard to come by on Broadway, but I did not realize that there was competition for theaters because of the architecture and other elements inside of the theater. What I am a little confused about though is that if the theater was booked by "The Audience" I am unsure why "It's Only A Play" did not move in a less over-the-top fashion because it seems like contracts should have been in place for this situation. I liked this article a lot because it highlighted how important the actual theatre space can be to the play itself.
It is very interesting to read this article after reading Ken Davenport's from the other side last week. After reading Ken's, I was thinking, "Well why shouldn't the other play go somewhere else? They haven't loaded in yet and clearly It's Only a Play is doing so well where it is." But after reading the The Audience perspective, I'm a little heartbroken for their team. How awful to have done all of those designs, drafted each and every technical element, and made all kinds of other time and financial investments just to be told, "Sorry, we're actually rocking it in the Schoenfield- go find somewhere else, kid." I think there ought to be a lot more respect toward the plans and contracts for this theatre, regardless of how successful the show trying to boot it is.
2 comments:
This is a very interesting situation. I knew that open theaters are hard to come by on Broadway, but I did not realize that there was competition for theaters because of the architecture and other elements inside of the theater. What I am a little confused about though is that if the theater was booked by "The Audience" I am unsure why "It's Only A Play" did not move in a less over-the-top fashion because it seems like contracts should have been in place for this situation. I liked this article a lot because it highlighted how important the actual theatre space can be to the play itself.
It is very interesting to read this article after reading Ken Davenport's from the other side last week. After reading Ken's, I was thinking, "Well why shouldn't the other play go somewhere else? They haven't loaded in yet and clearly It's Only a Play is doing so well where it is." But after reading the The Audience perspective, I'm a little heartbroken for their team. How awful to have done all of those designs, drafted each and every technical element, and made all kinds of other time and financial investments just to be told, "Sorry, we're actually rocking it in the Schoenfield- go find somewhere else, kid." I think there ought to be a lot more respect toward the plans and contracts for this theatre, regardless of how successful the show trying to boot it is.
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