NPR: When I was a teenager falling in love with the theater, I picked up a book called Broadway's Greatest Musicals. The sole criterion for inclusion was that a show run for at least 500 performances, which translates to about a year and a quarter.
How quaint.
3 comments:
That truly is the magic of theatre - no two productions of a show are the same, and not even two performances of any show are ever the same. There is always something slightly different because it is artists who are involved: artists who push boundaries and dare to explore and try something new. It is exactly these qualities that make theatre the ideal career path. Who would want to sit in a cubicle doing exactly the same thing over and over every day? Theatre provides diversity and new challenges every day. It keeps people on their toes and discovering new things about the industry and about themselves.
As interesting as this article was, it reinforces the idea in my mind that I really do not want to hold a position on a long running show that would require me to do the same job for years on end. While I certainly would not turn down a job like that, I really would like to be working on new shows on a regular basis. While the challenge of maintaining a show would be interesting, the types of problems that occur aren't really the ones that I have an interest in solving.
This is great and inspiring to hear and to read the dedication that people have to their art. I am sad to say though I do not have the dedication to do the same thing for 1000 performances let alone 10. I struggle with watching the same thing over and over again. The main reason I entered into theatre was because of the ever changing and challenging environment. For this reason I will not pursue positions that put me in a place to repeat the same process for many nights in a row. I am supper pumped to be able to now that people out there love what they do and love doing it again and again. THEY LOVE TO MAKE THE CHARACTERS THEIR OWN AND LOVE SINGING NIGHT AFTER NIGHT!!! That drive keeps this business going and I want to be apart of it and I want to build great things that will last for 1000 or more runs. So the future Hugh Panaro (whoever you are) can SING his HEART out for years to come and trust the platform he is standing on.
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