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David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

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#1

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/10/22 at 10:43pm

Friday's episode of 'Real Time' featured playwright David Mamet interviewed by host Bill Maher. Of course, they talked about theater and Mamet's contribution to theater with his challenging works. At one point, Maher acknowledged that Broadway has become 'Disney Land', while works like what Mamet gave us over the years are sparse - which is why Maher rarely goes to the theater anymore. There is nothing there to 'challenge' the audience, just 'entertainment'.

Mamet agreed (though he did mention his 'American Buffalo' has been revived with a stellar cast and currently playing on B'way).. Mamet said that years ago, 75% of theater-goers were 'middle class' and wanted to be challenged, not just entertained. That has changed over the years. Today, the middle class is gone from B'way, and that 75% has been replaced by NYC tourists who don't want to be challenged at all, they just want to be entertained. Maher completely agreed.

I never thought of it that way, but it does explain the majority of shows which have taken the stages of B'way over the past 20 years. Nothing too challenging - just 'entertaining'. So where did the middle class go over the last two decades ?



Updated On: 4/10/22 at 10:43 PM

#2

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/10/22 at 10:58pm

The audience for Mamet's own plays in NYC are very likely NOT the 75% tourists. Those are New Yorkers/tristate people, which is the case with most plays. A sizable tourist audience doesn't kick in til the 6th-12th+ month of a show usually.

The NYC middle class moved to the suburbs to get more space for less money. Theatergoing is a cultural thing, and if you don't grow up with those experiences, it can be hard to "convert." Middle-class Jews have often flocked to the theatre; we know from data that the same is not true of Black and Latinx audiences, and NYC is becoming increasingly less white (though the highest levels of upper-class are largely white).

Mahr sounds typically ignorant by your description, since in this season alone we have an embarassment of riches when it comes to serious musicals and plays. The majority of new shows aren't Aladdin or Moulin Rouge or Mrs. Doubtfire. And I don't really care about what Mamet –– a Trump apologist and election-validity-questioner –– has to say these days

Updated On: 4/10/22 at 10:58 PM

#4

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/10/22 at 11:03pm

It'd be easy enough to make a crack about the guy whose latest original offerings were China Doll and Bitter Wheat complaining that audiences were avoiding his stuff due to a fear of being "challenged", but it's also worth noting that when American Buffalo premiered on Broadway in 1977, the big successes at the Tony Awards were Annie and a revival of Porgy and Bess. Mainstream entertainment has always been big business.

#8

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 8:39am

Listening to David Mamet talk is kind of breaking my heart. I know he's just a standard old man conservative, no more problematic than the average grandparent, but hearing these ideas out of the mind who wrote some of my favorite plays stings.

Mamet: Political discourse should be civil, we should be able to explain the other side's argument in a way that the other side can endorse.

Mamet five minutes later: The left is a death cult.

#10

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 9:54am

The only challenge Mamet offers these days is to your patience.

And it’s rich for him to complain. In the 14 years I’ve been in NYC, there’s been 10 Broadway productions of his work. And if he weren’t David Mamet, his terrible newer works wouldn’t be getting produced at all.

#11

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 10:00am

Alex Kulak2 said: "Listening to David Mamet talk is kind of breaking my heart. I know he's just a standard old man conservative, no more problematic than the average grandparent, but hearing these ideas out of the mind who wrote some of my favorite plays stings.

Mamet: Political discourse should be civil, we should be able to explain the other side's argument in a way that the other side can endorse.

Mamet five minutes later: The left is a death cult."

He called the left a death cult? Must have missed that. I struggle with his admiration for Trump, but he ain’t wrong on a lot of other stuff. Guess that makes me another “standard old man conservative.”

#12

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 10:00am

Alex Kulak2 said: "Listening to David Mamet talk is kind of breaking my heart. I know he's just a standard old man conservative, no more problematic than the average grandparent, but hearing these ideas out of the mind who wrote some of my favorite plays stings.

Mamet: Political discourse should be civil, we should be able to explain the other side's argument in a way that the other side can endorse.

Mamet five minutes later: The left is a death cult."

He called the left a death cult? Must have missed that. I struggle with his admiration for Trump, but he ain’t wrong on a lot of other stuff. Guess that makes me another “standard old man conservative.”

#13

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 10:26am

I've gotta wonder what Mamet and Maher have been doing lately to try to challenge themselves, because it sounds like maybe they've just been seeing Phantom of the Opera over and over again and then complaining that there isn't anything challenging on stage. In the last couple of Broadway seasons (with a pause in the middle, of course), I've seen, among other things, Slave Play, Choir Boy, King Lear, the reimagined Oklahoma!, What the Constitution Means to Me, A Soldier's Play, American Utopia, Clydes, Is This A Room, The Lehman Trilogy, Pass Over, Caroline or Change, Company, and Take Me Out. Coming up soon are A Strange Loop, How I Learned to Drive, for colored girls, and Between Riverside and Crazy.

I've seen a lot of shows that have been just purely for entertainment. But if they're trying to claim there are no shows that make people think or explore new concepts and ideas, they're just lying.

#14

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 10:35am

austinyourface said: "And it’s rich for him to complain. In the 14 years I’ve been in NYC, there’s been 10 Broadway productions of his work. And if he weren’t David Mamet, his terrible newer works wouldn’t be getting produced at all."

And here's Mamet on Fox News this weekend, talking about how teachers are inclined to pedophilia...

Updated On: 4/11/22 at 10:35 AM

#17

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 12:19pm

MasterThespian 2 said: "Alex Kulak2 said: "Listening to David Mamet talk is kind of breaking my heart. I know he's just a standard old man conservative, no more problematic than the average grandparent, but hearing these ideas out of the mind who wrote some of my favorite plays stings.

Mamet: Political discourse should be civil, we should be able to explain the other side's argument in a way that the other side can endorse.

Mamet five minutes later: The left is a death cult."

He called the left a death cult? Must have missed that. I struggle with his admiration for Trump, but he ain’t wrong on a lot of other stuff. Guess that makes me another “standard old man conservative.”"

He said it on Joe Rogan, and also in his new book.



Per someone else's comment on his plays not getting done anymore: Counting total number of performances, David Mamet is the most-performed playwright on Broadway in the 21st century, ahead of Terrence McNally, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller.

#18

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 12:21pm

"And with that Fox News clip, American Buffalo falls out of the Tony race for Revival of a Play." David Mamet used to refuse to have anything to do with revivals of American Buffalo because all residuals go to his ex-wife. Has that changed? I've been following his recent tour of right wing media and he hasn't made much effort to promote the current revival the way almost any other personality would if they had something similar to promote.

"He called the left a death cult? Must have missed that. I struggle with his admiration for Trump, but he ain’t wrong on a lot of other stuff." He did, on Joe Rogan's podcast just last week.

Jesus saves. I spend.
#19

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 12:23pm

Did we actually need EITHER Mamet or Maher to tell us that? Pretty sure most of us already were aware.

If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#20

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 12:49pm

dramamama611 said: "Did we actually need EITHER Mamet or Maher to tell us that? Pretty sure most of us already were aware."

They didn’t position it as a blockbuster revelation. Just an observation on the current state of Broadway. Guess since everyone is angry at Mamet, his every accomplishment is now immediately dismissed.

Updated On: 4/11/22 at 12:49 PM

#21

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 12:55pm

His Fox interview with Levin is likely to cause far more of a stir. He goes after teachers in a specific way. It's all over the internet today, including Twitter. And very disturbing. Will leave it there.

"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
#22

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 1:23pm

MasterThespian 2 said: "dramamama611 said: "Did we actually need EITHER Mamet or Maher to tell us that? Pretty sure most of us already were aware."

They didn’t position it as a blockbuster revelation. Just an observation on the current state of Broadway. Guess since everyone is angry at Mamet, his every accomplishment is now immediately dismissed."

Who's dismissing his accomplishments? He wrote some very good plays, made some good films. Decades ago. But he has provided little of value in the recent past- plays that feel at best half-baked and self-indulgement, along with warmed-over contrarian political and cultural commentary. He doesn't get to ride the Glengarry acclaim train forever.

"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#24

David Mamet on Bill Maher's REAL TIME: 75% of theater audiences are NYC tourists

Posted: 4/11/22 at 2:11pm

Auggie27 said: "His Fox interview with Levin is likely to cause far more of a stir. He goes after teachers in a specific way. It's all over the internet today, including Twitter. And very disturbing. Will leave it there."



Quite disturbing, to say the least. Oy.

If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.

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