After growing frustrated with the business of Broadway, a team of determined theatre professionals set out to establish a new paradigm for the creation and presentation of musicals. Their new company, Streaming Musicals, films and distributes new shows across the globe in 4K resolution for less than what a Broadway show spends on marketing each month.
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This reminds me of the live shows that are being broadcast on TV recently like Grease and Jesus Christ Super Star. I feel like they would be equivalents in our industry. It is important to recognize that this is a different genre entirely than live theatre or film. You cannot compare it directly to Broadway or any live theatre like this article does, because they are inherently different things. The beauty of theatre is that it is right there in front of you. It is the reason it has even survived in the age of film and TV. No matter how good it is, it is not a substitute for anything on a screen. And a recording of a play or musical is not a substitute either. It is a fine medium to use if that is the audience you want to reach and the message you want to send, but it is not theatre.
I thought this article was very interesting and I am not quite sure how I feel about the topic. I very much like the idea of making theater more accessible and affordable for everyone. This, however, seems less like theater to me and more like movie making. I do not know very much about filmmaking but I do know that it is completely different from putting on live theater; cameras pick up lighting in a very different way and sets can be completely different because the audience does not need to see the whole picture. I commend the creators of this business for making cheaper theater that everyone can experience but I do not think it completely qualifies as theater because the process by which it is made is just so different from the process by which live theater is produced. I would like to see if this business is profitable and if it takes off because I do think that theater should be more accessible.
I, for one, don’t think it’ll be possible to replace the feeling of going and sitting in a theatre to watch a live performance with something you can watch on the screen. The mood and the experience you get from being there to witness the storytelling in person is very much unlike what you can get from looking at it through a computer. When it’s live, you’re completely surrounded by what’s happening onstage and in the show, while elsewhere you could be facing numerous distractions. The way the sets, costumes, lights, etc. look when viewed on camera can be completely different than how they were made to look in person as well. I do think that for some who can’t afford to spend the money to see all these live performances, that it would be nice to be able to access them through streaming. They should be able to hear these stories as well. But at that point, doesn’t it become more a part of the film industry than the theatre industry?
Oh what a dangerous concept, oh what a devious plan. I hate every part of this, to some extent. They are playing with fire and potentially diluting a centuries old art form. People are lazy, especially Americans, and the fact that they do not have to dress formal and “drag” themselves to a theatre to see a show is even more alluring then the movies, but it is far more detrimental to the art form. No matter if it is on a stage or not, if it is not in front of a live audience it is not longer by definition live theatre, and therefore not Broadway. What blows my mind is their “support” is that actors no longer have to memorize an entire show. That is crazy, because that is entirely what seperates a theatre performer from a film/television actor. This just makes me angry, I was drawn in by the allure of Netflix, my best hope is that it fails to get an initial audience and fizzle out so I can return to my regularly scheduled big budget commercial theatre.
Hmmmm. I’m not sure how I feel about this one. On one hand, everything is getting their own streaming service, so I’m completely understand having to address a totally different audience like musical lovers. On another hand, I don’t know what this falls under. Is it just another ‘Whatever The Show Name LIVE!’? Or is it a movie musical? So many questions for this one. Like Mira said, I’m all for making Broadway more accessible and affordable, but not like this. It’s never going to be the same experience as live theatre, no matter how great the sound quality is on my TV. Again, I understand the point behind it, but it just feels like it’ll make the artform lazy. Getting to go out and see a show live is a wonderfully different experience every time. Seeing different shows on the same platform, through the same medium takes away so much of the effect that seeing it live gives to the audience.
The topic of recording and distributing online keeps coming up again and again in the industry, but this article looks at a different phenomenon than the usual “how ethical is it to record and sell Broadway”. When a show does something like this- where the point of the show is to be recorded and streamed, rather than watched live- I think it becomes another category from live theater altogether. The experience of seeing live theater is unique enough that it can’t really be replicated by sitting in bed staring at a screen. The way this show went about recording and producing their stream left little to differentiate it from a TV show other than the set being whole and less interesting camera angles. I’m glad that the producers of this show were able to make their project work and bring their show to a larger group of people without needing to lose money, but I don’t think this is a model most places will or should adopt.
Having musicals performed online is an interesting take. One might argue that they are trying to get more into the core of what the art is, however I would argue that part of theater is just the experience of going to see it. I love this for its convenience, it brings high quality theater to people of a more varying financial situation, however it takes away from the thrill of this being the only time a show is ever run exactly the same. This makes theater into this cut version, which an audience member will assume was filmed at different times, pre cut so all the “best” takes are put together. Part of theater is sitting in a dark room with only these real people on a stage trying to prove to you that they are someone else, and the personal and almost meditative aspect of that is something which would be lost in an at home viewing. You don't need to pay as much attention, you can rewind, and although thats a useful feature for when you didn't understand a certain part, it can also be abused by not giving the art your full attention.
I have very mixed emotions on the subject of streaming live theatre. One one hand, theatre draws a boundary from television and film in that the audience watches it live and in person, breathes the same air as the actors and becomes part of the world of story by default. I would feel like the entire atmosphere of theatre could be diminished if I were watching it on a screen. On the other hand, I am a forty minute drive from Washington DC, a five hour drive from NYC, and I am in a financial position to be able to travel this distance maybe once every two years and pay for a live show ticket. Commercial theatre is Expensive, with a capital “E.” If someone doesn’t live near a major city and if ticket prices are out the roof, their access to theatre would be greatly improved by a streaming service. It is also so much more convenient in general to stream a production to your own home. I know I was psyched when “Falsettos” and “She Loves Me” were shown on PBS a few years ago. My dilemma with streaming is that the digital industry has overtaken everything from movie theatres to department stores, and it would be devastating to see this eventually happen to live theatre.
I chose to read this article thinking it was just a bunch of people getting freaked out for no reason and my thoughts were completely confirmed. I agree with Ari that the magic of live theatre can't be replicated and so there will always be a demand for it. As someone who saw that Off-Broadway show being streamed, I felt the magic of the show being lost. I think the idea of recording Emma is great but also I think that the out of town set not working isn’t a reason for a show to not go to Broadway. I feel like if the producer really wanted to tell the story on Broadway they would make the necessary changes. Of course, this is a point of view made completely from the outside but there are some shows that I’ve had the fortune of seeing at Carnegie Mellon, Broadway and at an educational stage level and the well directed and written shows still make me feel the same way at any level. I think this software will be cool as it makes art more accessible but I think the need for live commercial theatre and non-commercial theatre will not die out because of this software
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