Sunday, April 04, 2010
Meet Me at the Sondheim
WSJ.com: "Stephen Sondheim, who turned 80 last week, has been given an unusually fancy birthday present: Henry Miller's Theatre, the 92-year-old Broadway house that was taken over last year by the Roundabout Theatre Company, will be renamed after the songwriting genius who gave us 'A Little Night Music' and 'Sweeney Todd.' When I heard the news, my first reaction was to say that I couldn't think of anyone as deserving of the honor."
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6 comments:
It's very interesting that no broadway theatre has been named after a director, but I can find it completely understandable. First of All, I think what people remember most about especially musicals on broadway is their music. We remember the music so strongly it only makes sense the theatre would be named after the creators of this music. Obviously however there are so many people who deserve this kind of honor and recognition, and I hope we find a way to also recognize them. Like the author of this article said, we don't want to forget the people who created such wonderful pieces of theatre in American History.
I never realized it but the author is right. No directors have their name on any Broadway marque. That really strikes me because it is essentially the director that fails, or succeeds a musical. It is striking to me that they are over looked but find it interesting that the ones who are mentioned and have their names in lights are culturally famous, relevant and are more marketing ploys I believe then in the actual choice, although there are many deserving men and women who deserve their name in lights forever.
The author makes a valid point, we should be using our most visible and valuable asset, the buildings in which we work to honor those who came before us and helped blaze the trail of American theater. It is interesting that, not only are theaters rarely named for theater artists, but they are rarely named for people. I would imagine that if the theater was not dedicated to a particular playwright, star, or composer, then it would bear the name of the biggest financier. It is equally strange why no directors have their names on a theater marquee, or, for that matter, any designers. Surely there are individuals in both of the categories who are worthy of being recognized for their talent. An interesting thought...This is also mirrored somewhat in our schooling very rarely do we study the works of a designer or director (at least in the classes I have taken), it is always the collection of this playwright or that composer.
It is intriguing that no director has a Broadway theater named after them, since as the author noted, it's often the work of a director that is pivotal in the success or failure of a production. It is interesting that a lot of the major players within Broadway's past have been overlooked. As others have noted, it would nice for the theaters of Broadway to have names of some of the greats of American Theater as a walk down memory lane type of concept.
I would consider it a huge honor to have a theater named after you, and therefore this honor should only be given to the best. I think that Stephen Sondheim definitely deserves this honor, but I agree with the author that it is odd that no theater is named after a director. I think that if we are going to have this system of naming theaters after some of the most significant individuals in our industry, there are directors who definitely deserve this honor, and there should be a more equal spread of directors/actors/ playwrights/etc. who receive this honor.
I do agree that the whole lack-of-director thing is weird, (yay repetition), but I'm not surprised at all by the fact that most broadway theatres are named after the person responsible for the finances. How is that at all unordinary? I mean, it sort of sucks I guess...because working in a theatre named after an iconic theatre legend would be way more inspiring and fun, but naming it after the person who helped create the actual building is sort of how it's done, right? So yeah, it's lame, but I don't see what can be done about that. They are providing the actual money after all. The article makes some good points, but at the same thing, you have to look at the enormity of the situation and realize that it's all a matter of time, place, money, and chance. We don't have an infinite number of theatres we can name after people, despite all the deserving nominees. I know this sounds obvious, but it's like asking why Johnny Depp never won an Oscar for Edward Scissorhands. There are probably so many different reasons why there is no theatre named after Hammerstein...so I think this article was a little pointless to a certain extent if you think about it that way.
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