www.broadwaynews.com: “My friend Serge has bought a painting,” the character Marc says as the opening line of Yasmina Reza’s play “Art,” translated to English by Christopher Hampton. “It’s a canvas about five feet by four: white. The background is white and if you screw up your eyes, you can make out some fine white diagonal lines,” Marc, played by Bobby Cannavale, continues with disdain. “He’s done very well for himself, he’s a dermatologist and he’s really into art. On Monday, I went over to see the painting; Serge had actually got hold of it on Saturday, but he’d been lusting after it for several months. This white painting with white lines.”
3 comments:
: Scratching the surface of it, this is just “stunt casting the musical.” That’s the immediate vibe I get just from looking at it. Producers wanting to make a quick buck by producing a show that has incredibly famous actors, from a late night host, to one of the most famous tony hosts. These stunt casts typically make a lot of money pretty quickly, especially because people want to stage door them and meet these famous folks, and be able to say “I saw Neil Patrick Harris perform on Broadway" over coffee with friends. Looking more into the story “Art,” it is actually is pretty interesting and not just the producers making a quick buck. They actually seem to want to produce a story, not some random IP or not just “oh we will have neil save the show from a terrible story.” Reading more into it, they seem to be doing awesome box office wise, so these producers and creative teams have proved you can have stunt casting and a good story at the same time.
Without being able to read the full content of the article due to a pay wall, I think that writing any show or work off as stunt casting is diminishing to all the artists involved. Will a famous actor be a better option than someone making their debut? Possibly not, but that’s part of the nature of the beast. People who may not be the perfect fit are put into positions and roles every day simply because they knew someone or had the money behind them. Stunt casting in the very small section of the industry that is explicitly for-profit isn’t egregious in my opinion. From the little bit that I was able to read of the article Neil Patrick Harris, Bobby Cannavale, and James Corden seem to have been a good option. I think the important part of the conversation is that a 30 year old work is being revived, and it is still poignant today.
This article really got me thinking about how people see art and what it’s actually worth. Of course, I do theater, so I know how much work goes into putting on a show, but that doesn’t always mean tickets should be super expensive. I recently saw Moulin Rouge and Chicago in NYC, and the difference in production quality was pretty big, even though the ticket prices were kinda close. It made me wonder how they decide what each show is worth. I liked how the article talked about how art isn’t just the final product — it’s also about the process and what it means to people. Broadway is amazing, but it’s still a business, and sometimes it feels like the money side takes over. I think it’s important that people keep asking what art is really about and who it’s meant to reach.
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