On the eve of the opening of "Jubilee" in July 1981, its sky's-the-limit producer, Donn Arden, told a journalist, "(T)hey allow me enough budget that no one in this decade anywhere in the world will be able to top what we've done, because of inflation and the moneys that are required to do major productions."
In 2004, Tony-winning lighting designer Ken Billington did lighting updates on Bally's "Jubilee," and mused, "Shows like this don't exist anymore. Could anyone even afford to do one nowadays?"
1 comment:
My friend Kaylee left New York around a little over a year ago after she got a job dancing at the Jubilee. That show took what was a very talented and very high spirited girl already and turned her into a firecracker. She has become more confident, happier in her personal and career life, and just an over all more positive person. As someone who has only seen the closing of this show play out over Facebook I am still pretty confident that the people involved are very sad for the era to be over. It has been very touching for me to get to see the older women come back, and look at the progression of the show, or even see some videos of the work that goes on backstage. The crew of that show has a lot on their hands, there are so many quick changes in that show I wouldn't even know how to begin organizing all of it. I would imagine that there are people who have worked on that show since its inception, or pretty close to it, and while shows ending are sad enough, the end of a career can be devastating. Shows like Jubilee that stick around for a long time become a constant in the community and the lives of the people around it. I am saddened to see this show go, not only for my friend Kaylee but for the hundreds of people who work on it now, and the thousands that probably have in the past forty plus years.
Post a Comment