FiveThirtyEight: The first screenplay Jessie Nelson ever wrote was about a group of waitresses, a job she herself held for 10 years. But after the script was handed off to a team of men, they reworked it to make it “more and more misogynistic,” she said, and the script never made it to the screen. Two years ago, Nelson’s agent found out that the 2007 movie “Waitress” was being turned into a musical, and Nelson pitched her ideas. This time the entire process was different: When “Waitress” begins previews on Friday, it will be the first musical on Broadway to have women in all four of its top creative roles — book; music and lyrics; directing; and choreography.
6 comments:
This is one of the first articles about sexism in theater that I actually liked. I think that too many times authors just exploit the problem and love to give the stats on how bad the gender gap and not whats changing. An all female creative team on a Broadway show sound great. I am always surprised and disappointed that when past shows were so successful with a female creative team that it is not seen again for 10 years. I think this article really was well put together because they had the comparison to show that 52% of Broadway musicals were all male creative teams. With this Waitress show I hope they publish the names of who else is working on the show. I would be interested in seeing if the designers and management team is chosen with a similar demographic.
It's very exciting to see a group of women taking a new show by storm. My only hope for the show is that it succeeds, because I would absolutely hate to see the show be a total flop and to have the misogynistic executives at Broadway management companies and producing agencies give themselves congratulatory affirmation that men are the only ones who can steer a show to appealing to mass audiences. It's an absolutely ridiculous idea that women couldn't produce a show that would succeed financially, and it would really be fantastic for this particular group of amazingly talented women to show the world that women need to brought on to these types of teams so that balanced opinions and perspectives can be drawn when it comes to making the important creative decisions. Why would anyone want to work on a team where perspective and decision making is coming from one sole gender-which can't possibly have the experiences that the opposite gender has?
What is most exciting about this process and production is that it happened organically. These women did what they do best, look to make theatre. They were not focused on being an all women team or focused on changing the face of Broadway. I think that thought there is nothing wrong with making way for change, it is awesome that these women instead of separating themselves from the pack simply find themselves working beside others. They are focused on the work and creating a new piece of theatre.
Side note, I have never really noticed that men make up most of musical theatre, and Broadway in general. I, like Annie, am excited to read more about the show, and production. I am hopeful that the designers have also been included in this wave of new creative team dynamics. I know that Suttirat, designed the costumes, but I am intrigued to see who else the design team consists of. When it was at the ART the technical aspects of the production looked very exciting, I'd love to read more! #piecurtain
Sara Bareilles has been my favorite artist for years, and what I love about her is how organic her detailed lyrics feel, despite the careful word choice and melodic poeticism of all her songs. There is a compelling relatability and positivity to her work which has given me joy since first I heard "Love Song" on the radio a lifetime ago. The fact that she is a part of an organically, authentically, all-female creative team is no surprise to me, considering a lot of her success has come out of the unplanned and unpredictable. More so, I think there is something intrinsically enduring about this story as it pertains to its female characters which would not translate well from screen to stage without a team like this, and I don't know if audiences would be nearly as compelled to buy tickets without an all-female team behind the scenes. The struggles of the characters in the story are so uniquely female, and their relationships so heart-wrenchingly sisterly that I think it requires a special perspective to pull this off in the elevated setting of musical theatre. I could not be more excited to see what Sara and the rest of these talented women have done with a story I adore, and I cannot wait to watch their continued success. Congrats to all involved!
Well I am so excited for this show for a myriad of reasons. The first is probably my long time obsession with Sara Barellies and her music, but the second is absolutely the all female design team! As much as I hope that one day this will be common practice and that there won't have to be any articles on the PTM blog about all female design teams it hardly makes it less exciting. What I have found about watching things that are crated only or mostly by women is that it creates a very different perspective, on things that we think we know very well. Often we see the world in the arts the way that men see it, and in waitress I assume we will see it in a way more similar a woman. I am so excited to see waitress this summer when I go home to New York, but I am also excited for the great strides it will make in equality for women. I hope it will also shed some light for men on the way that women live their lives, and how it differs. The story of waitress is very specifically female, and so it sees only fitting that most of the people involved are not only sympathy to the struggles but also have first had experience with them. I don't know one woman who hasn't had to defend herself from a man over powering her, whether he was acting with intention or not. I am so excited to see this show and can not wait for more like it to hit Broadway.
I’ll be honest here: I click on almost every article relating to sexism and misogyny in theater, because it’s something I feel very strongly about, and I think more people should be upset about. Many people who I’ve shared this sentiment with would rather not read these articles because it just makes them upset, or they see no value in getting angry when they feel like they can’t do anything. One of my friends said that when she reads these articles she simply thinks, hey, I’m going to be a successful woman in theater, and that will prove all of them wrong. While I don’t think these sentiments are unjustified, after reading terrible statistic after terrible statistic about the huge gender disparity in the entertainment industry, I really don’t think people are reacting in a passionate enough way. All of these statistics, after a while, blend together, and I really don’t know if I’ve grown numb to them, or if I just feel so upset that I don’t know how to respond anymore. While it’s so exciting to read articles about shows like Fun Home and Waitress in which women are, in real-time, proving these preconceived ideas about women wrong, it’s easy to forget that these shows are anomalies, and that we still have such a long way to go. I try not to feel defeated but it’s definitely difficult sometimes. What are we supposed to do to stop this? I don't mean to be negative, but I think it's important sometimes to look at the facts and realize that one show does not mean the battle is over.
Post a Comment