Variety: "Showtime and Steven Spielberg want to put on a show about putting on a Broadway show.
DreamWorks TV and Showtime are in the early stages of developing a scripted series that will chronicle the development of an original Broadway musical, from its creative inception through its opening night. The intention is to then mount the tuner on the Main Stem after the series airs."
4 comments:
This article reminds me of a comment David Holcomb once said. "People who aren't in our business or do the jobs we do find our process fascinating, even the parts that are the worst kind of boring." So, I can only assume that this serious has either to be the potential to be really boring (well, to us) or over embellished and a comedy. Then that makes me think "isn't that what Noises Off was?" In addition, between shows like Chorus Line and Fame and such shows as Legally Blonde: The search for the next Elle Woods, wouldn't you feel this idea is a little overdone? Or perhaps they are just capitalizing on this performing arts craze that's hit pop culture again. If that's the case, then I wonder what happened to that 1980s Steven Speilberg we all loved.
I think that this is a great venture towards bringing a very closed process out into a more accessible form. The danger of course is falling into the reality show trap, where too much focus is put on creating new drama by the TV producers, but perhaps Showtime will keep things faithful to the drama that already exists in the process. The most difficult problem that the show will face will probably be staying faithful to the process from many vantage points, because there will be a lot of pressure to focus on the face of the production: the cast.
I have watched several documentaries on the processes of Broadway shows, from initial sessions with designers to performance, and i think that they are really interesting. I really enjoy hearing the back stories of how they got to where they are, what series of events made a particular show go all the way or die before performances. But i'm not sure how an entire series will do to keep interest in the long term.
Also, i think it is really cool (like Nicole said) for people to see how we do some of the things we do. Maybe young people will watch and become fascinated with the work and want to do it when they grow up.
This is a pretty brilliant idea. Theater is such a crazy but closed process, so it would be pretty cool to expose it to the general public. I personally get a lot of enjoyment out of describing theater to people who are completely separate from that community, because they are always so confused and fascinated. It's a relief that the show is designed to be scripted from the start, so it won't play as a typical reality show. The process of theater is also a great subject for a show because it's so different with each show, so it will be a while before the concept is tired.
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