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Broadway closes 13 showsBroadway’s electric bill is going way down this month as almost half of the theaters go dark when 13 — count them, 13! — shows close before the end of January. (Stupid recession!) Although it’s ironic that one of the shows that’s closing is titled 13, it’s pretty depressing that so many shows are closing at once. Now, some of these shows have already overstayed their welcome. I doubt anyone is crying about the demise of the reality-show revival of Grease. Similarly, I suspect the end of Katie Holmes’ (All My Sons) Broadway debut will not be mourned. And I’ve been waiting for Young Frankenstein to close ever since it opened, despite the casting of Megan Mullally and Sutton Foster.
And then there’s Spamalot. The recent addition of Clay Aiken to the cast strongly suggests that the show had run its course and then some. But I will always be grateful that it gave us Sara Ramirez in a Tony Award-winning turn as The Lady of the Lake. More importantly, though, are the shows whose ends all thinking, feeling people must mourn. Gypsy Patti LuPone’s turn as Mama Rose was the best thing to hit Broadway last year. The show is so frickin’ good that it is an absolute crime that it is closing two months early. (Again, stupid recession!) If you’re in New York this week and haven’t seen the show, run, don’t walk to the St. James Theater to snap up a final opportunity to be in the presence of pure genius. Spring Awakening Now, I’m not a huge fan of rock scores, and I was not blown away by Spring Awakening. But this musical got legions of teenagers to want to see live musical theater, and it provided a context for parents to discuss difficult issues of sexuality and sexual behavior with their children. (There’s even a parents’ guide website.) Any show that hooks kids on musical theater and facilitates parent-child communication about sex is a keeper in my book. Hairspray Finally, there’s Hairspray, the best new musical of the new millennium thus far (except, perhaps, for Urinetown). With this show, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman established themselves as the best composer/lyricist team since Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Marissa Jaret Winokur was perfect as full-figured heroine Tracy Turnblad, and Harvey Fierstein, unlike John Travolta, got that Edna Turnblad existed somewhere between woman and drag queen. The show tackled size discrimination and race relations and, as John Waters noted, will lead to high school productions in which “finally, the fat girl and the drag queen will get the starring parts.” Sigh. I will now observe a moment of silence and tip my hat to the mass departure of the greats and not-so-greats. And I will patiently wait three months until 9 to 5 arrives to breathe a little life back into Broadway.
Which of these shows have you seen? And which will you miss? Submitted by on January 8, 2009 - 11:00am. |
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Being an absolute Broadway
August: Osage County...
That show completely rocks. I saw it last year and I was just completely BLOWN AWAY. The performances are so unbelievable you just have to go see it if you live in NY. Seriously, one of the best plays I have seen in my life. And some of the best acting too. I also really liked the writing.. Estelle Parsons' performance as the matriarch of the family left me with my jaw on the floor. Funny tidbit about Estelle, I auditioned for her last year for a play she was supposed to direct (I think it fell through and was never staged) and she kept calling me back for this one role that was in my opinion, too old for me to play, but she kept insisting on me reading for it and was just a force of nature to audition for. She kept me in the callback for over an hour (callbacks usually don't last that long) and just kept working with me on different angles and was so intense and passionate about what we were doing. It was such an awesome experience, most people just want you in and out of a room, but she wanted to get the best out of the actors auditioning for her. She is a real actor's actor, she worked with all the greats.. So it was such a treat to go from seeing her as a director, to seeing her as an actor. Truly tour de force performance. The woman who played her eldest daughter was also amazing. Just go see it if you can! It's worth the money, trust!
Anyway I got sidetracked--another thing I also wanted to add is that in addition to many Broadway shows closing, a lot of Off-Broadway is suffering due to the economy. I have some friends who's shows were Off-Off Broadway, who's shows were being picked up and being moved up to Off Broadway, but because the economy tanked, now those shows are not being moved to bigger stages where more people can see them...so it's not just Broadway suffering, but Off Broadway (where some people argue the better theatre comes from) is also suffering a great deal. It's all trickling down. It's also kind of ironic to me (hope I use the term properly) that many of these theatres are located right in the same area as many of the big investment firms that were involved in all the financial meltdowns--Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers etc...I used to work at one of those firms and walked by many of the shows that are closing now on my way home. Just sad when art has to suffer due to the greed in the financial community.
August: Osage County
I agree that August: Osage County is fantastic. I saw it last year on Broadway with the original Steppenwolf cast and was blown away. (And as an added treat, I saw Stephen Sondheim in the audience. :-)) I've heard that Estelle Parsons does a phenomenal job, and there's a fairly good chance I'll see it again with her as my wife wants to see the show but did not go with me last year.
I'm also going to look into seeing Pal Joey -- which just got extended -- because Stockard Channing is in it. And I love her.
So sad
As someone who works on Broadway I can tell you just how sad this is. Just a few years ago there were no theatres available for new shows to go into and now they are being emptied left and right.
It is a sad day when America loses its grasp on a huge part of our culture. I'm sure the dramatic rise in ticket prices over the last 4 years hasn't helped the situation any either.
Thankfully we do have some new shows to look foward to: Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, 9-5 ( which I saw in Los Angles and enjoyed very much).
It's a new era on Broadway and hopefully the economy won't be able to keep us down for too long.
Estelle Parsons is
Estelle Parsons is PHENOMENAL! You have to go see it again!
We do have some shows to looks forward to, I can't wait to see Guys and Dolls.. especially since I've had a long running crush on Lauren Graham.
Lauren Graham...
From what I hear she is pretty good in the role. That will be a change of pace for one particular producing company who tends to cast big names with little talent.
I can't wait to see it as well!
In The Heights
Haven't seen any of those shows (I know I know...), but I would like to see In The Heights, which was nominated for 13 Tony Awards and won the Tony for the best 2008 broadway musical.
I hope I could see some of these shows next time I visit NY, if they still running that is. :-)
Guys and Dolls
Somehow I managed to miss that there's a new revival of Guys and Dolls until yesterday when I saw the marquee at the Nederlander. (I work around the corner from the theater and happened to glance that way when I was grabbing lunch.) I'm happy to hear about it, though, as I've -- bizarrely -- never seen a production of Guys and Dolls.
I'm also looking forward to West Side Story and, of course, 9 to 5.
I've seen Hairspray and
I've seen Hairspray and Spring Awakening and I definitely loved them both so those would have to be the 2 I'll miss the most. I kind of wanted to see 13 just to see what is was like, but I never got the chance.
And I'm kind of excited about the Guys and Dolls revival. I really want to see that. I'm so glad something horrible (well I hope this won't be horrible) or stupid isn't replacing RENT because that is my all time favorite and I can't wait to go back to the Nederlander again.
WSS
Rumor mill is that WSS is a mess. They tried to make it edgier but it falls flat. I also hear they will need to probably do some recasting before it comes to NYC from DC.
We'll see.
As for Guys and Dolls it was in the works for a LONG time but it was hush hush. Then all of a sudden it just burst onto the scene. My sources say they wanted Anne Hathaway in the role but it just didn't happen.
BTW the removations they did to the Nederlander are gorgeous! It took a lot of time and work to get that place cleaned from Rent.
:(
i am kicking myself for not seeing gypsy over the summer. saw spring awakening 3 times, though. sucks that its closing- i love that show too much! at least i can see it one last time on the broadway tour. i hope they will make an awesome spring awakening movie...
musicals
LuPone!
RIP Xanadu and [tos]
But of these, and having seen all but a couple, Gypsy will be sadly missed, even though it was a limited run. Patti and Laura Benanti were just brilliant, and the ensemble was sublime. One of our favourite cast recording to "rock" out to.
[tos]
As disappointed as I am, I'm
As disappointed as I am, I'm still kind of excited. This does open up theaters that have been occupied for quite some time and hopefully we'll see some great new shows open. There are also still some pretty great shows open and opening soon. I'm taking my girlfriend to see In the Heights for her birthday on Thursday. I really want to see August: Osage County and Shrek (I've heard some pretty good things about it). And I'm definitely looking forward to Guys and Dolls, Hedda Gabbler (with Mary-Louise Parker), and 9 to 5 (even though it's going up in the jynxed Marquis Theatre).
You'll have to let us know
Love Mary-Louise Parker, but...
sorry, I just saw her playing the title role of "Hedda Gabler", and it was very disappointing. True, it was only a preview, and they do have time to work out the kinks. I felt as though I was watching an episode of "Weeds" if they went back in time to the 1800s and were all wearing period costumes. Peter Stormare was also irritating in his role as Judge Brack. Very smarmy and smug.
Anyway, maybe the revival of "West Side Story" and "Hair" in March will be worth seeing.
P.S. The set design for "Hedda Gabler" sucked too. They were constantly moving the furniture around for each and every scene, which was very disorienting. Made it hard to concentrate on the characters when the damn couch keeps moving.
So it was basically just
So it was basically just her playing her character in Weeds, but in the 1800"s? LOL that IS disappointing! Also curious to know how you visualize Judge Brack as a character? I think he is next to Hedda, the best character in the play...so curious to know how you think the character should be played. I tend to think of him as a smarmy character, but smarminess can be played in different ways, so wonder how Peter Stormare played it?
That sucks that the set design was bad, I think the set is one of the best ways (for that play at least) to sort of reveal the way Hedda feels inside.
Someone told me they saw Hedda done with Peter Dinklage playing Jorgen (her husband) and that the entire set was done to his proportions so that everything was too small for her and she was like this giant monster in her own house... to me that is just absolutely brilliant..wish I could have seen that.
In the Heights was
There's a moment you know, you're ...
I am very sad to see Spring Awakening go. I just saw it in December, not on Broadway but through the traveling show, and it was amazing. There is just such a great message that is being told through the music, and is getting a different generation interested in the show. When I went there were parents with their teens and during the intermission they were actually talking about what was going on, it was just something that was glossed over. There were also some elderly folks there that couldnt believe what they were seeing and decided to go. For a show that pushed the broundries, had amazing music, and an all star cast its time on Broadway was much too short.
Here's hoping that the next batch of shows will be even better.
=(
it always makes me sad when shows i like close. i literally cried when rent closed-it's my favorite show of all-time.
i loved spring awakening. my friend and i had unbeleivable seats--first row dead center--so we got spit on by jon groff (who is totally adorable and such a sweetheart-we met him afterwards and then again over the sumer when he was in hair) and got a very nice view of lea michele's boobs during the sex scenes =D
i saw hairspray the first night harvey fierstein was back, and it was fantastic. he's fabulous. john waters was there that night too, which was awesome. i liked spamalot, it was quite entertaining. i would have liked to see young frankenstein but i'll survive having not seen it, and i want to see gypsy but i'm sure it will be back at some point. i saw grease last time it was on broadway (with rosie o'donnell as rizzo, how ironic), but had no desire to see it this time around. 13 was supposed to be pretty good, but oh well. i'm looking forward to guys and dolls though, cause i totally have a crush on lauren graham.
at least wicked is still playing (my number 2 all-time favorite)!!
West Side Story
Here's the Variety review for anyone who's interested:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939302.html?categoryid=33&cs=1&nid=2562
Gypsy...
Gypsy, Gypsy, LuPone...
...I died and went to Theatre Heaven that night. Lord was that show amazing. I've realized Patti LuPone is God, in It's most purest form. More luminous than all other angels is she. Okay I may have taken it too far there but Wow. What a show!
I finally saw Spamalot...
goodbye, shows
It's definitely a sad couple of weeks on the Great White Way. The closings earlier in the season hit me harder, though - [title of show], Xanadu, Rent, Tale of Two Cities. Most of these shows have had good runs (with a couple of exceptions, of course), and to me that isn't as sad as shows like [title of show] and Tale of Two Cities that hardly got off the ground.
I'll be at the closing performance of Gypsy, and I fully expect to be blown out of my (nosebleed) seat by Patti LuPone. When I saw it in August, Laura Benanti was the real standout for me, but I definitely recognize the magnitude of LuPone's performance.
And at least there's some new blood coming in the next couple of months! Saw the first preview of Hedda Gabler with Mary-Louise Parker this week, and it's at least got potential (though it could DEFINITELY use a little tightening). Excited for Hair (though not as much now that Eden Espinosa chose not to do it), 9 to 5, Guys & Dolls, and most especially Blithe Spirit! Broadway is far from dead - it's just undergoing a whole lot of turnover. ;-)
Wickedly Relieved
Glad to see my favorite Wicked is not amongst the casualties on Broadway. I saw Stephanie J. Block as Elphaba in it and she was AWESOME! She is now going to be in 9 to 5 so I am looking forward to catching her in that show. I think it should be a fun entry to the Broadway fare.