Friday, October 30, 2009
New York theatres: Leaner the better
The Economist: "MANHATTAN’S West 40s have always been a battleground: between tourists and locals, musicals and plays, adults and children. Around 65% of the tickets for Broadway shows are bought by tourists from outside New York’s metropolitan area. A reliable choice for a family on the town has long been a splashy musical with some hearty laughs. But the recession is bringing about changes, some of which may be for the better. These days, the expensive tickets are for maudlin Danish princes, not singing mermaid princesses."
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3 comments:
This news is excellent. The recent recession is forcing the parameters within the theatre functions to be smaller and surprising forces artistic production teams to work more creatively. By shrinking the box, we are learning to think out of it. Perhaps in the upcoming years, the most popular shows on Broadway will be ones of substance rather than a few good laughs and sheer fluff.
its unfortunate the the recession is forcing shows to close due to low ticket sales but on the bright side, the new shows that are being produced can step in different directions, also even though productions such as shrek may not have stayed on the radar as long as dreamworks would have wanted its still really great that the show was produced and running at some point and benefits dreamworks in ways that make their investments seem worhtwhile
It is unfortunate that a lot of shows are closing, but it does allow new shows to open that maybe don't rely on so much spectacle. That being said, having never seen a show on Broadway, I would prefer to see a "splashy musical" before anything else, just for the spectacle. Another shame I see with this is that things like Hamlet and A Steady Rain have such limited runs, because something like that would be far superior, I would assume. However, I understand that due to the big names starring in each, they couldn't be expected to stay on Broadway for very long.
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