Is it a New Golden Age for Broadway?

[East Village]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:00pm

I heard Cheyenne say he thought Broadway was entering a new golden age. There certainly seems to be an audience for theater today that wasn't there say 10 years ago. What happened?

[B3TA07]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:02pm

Cheyenne happened. <3

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:06pm

"What happened?"

Movies being made into Broadway shows. These days people don't want to pop $125 per ticket for unknown material. They feel very safe that they won't be let down by going to see Mary Poppins, Young Frankenstein or Legally Blonde.

Updated On: 2/10/08 at 02:06 PM

[Effie]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:09pm

Legally Blonde, Mary Poppins and Young Frankenstein??? I guess it depends on what your definition of Golden Age is.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:11pm

With Xanadu!!!! Please! Hahahahaha

[scaryclowns223]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:16pm

Raul Esparza has said that too, he said it very passionately at Company's closing night. I think what's happening is that there are new, inventive ways to turn a profit on Broadway while presenting worthwhile material. I mean, with new-school producers like Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum, and Jeffrey RIchards, we are being given good, new, important material (August; Osage County, The Homecoming, November, Spring Awakening) and new original musicals that are well-done, funny (in some cases), and entertaining without being fluffy (In the Heights, Avenue Q, etc).

Add to that the trend of reinventing and improving upon musicals when reviving them (Think Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, Company, The Pajama Game) and you've got a Broadway that can remain artistic while still attracting tourists and making some cash.

The screen-to-stage trend certainly helps, as does the wave of Jukebox Musicals, but these lead to opportunities for new shows. Many tourists will come to New York to see Mamma Mia!, but might stay because they heard great things about "The 39 Steps."

Really, what's happening is that producers are learning how to make money and make art simultaneously.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:18pm

THE HOMECOMING isn't new... LoL

[scaryclowns223]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:21pm

Sorry, my bad, I got caught up listing Jeffrey Richards shows.
The point was that it's an important show, and it's on broadway, and it's got an A-list cast, and chances are Jeffrey Richards has figured out some way to make money on it. (Or at least not lose too much.)

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:21pm

Yeah. I think it's about the apparent wave of people trying new, inventive things. Granted, a lot of that stuff is still happening off-Broadway, but when you look at shows like In The Heights and Passing Strange, this season packed with great plays, and of course, the inventive revivals that have been happening, I can see the validity in the prediction. It's the ever present matter of the art versus the commercial, and somehow things that aren't particularly commercial are making it.

Here's what Raúl said, someone I know transcribed it:

"I know people talk about what's happened to Broadway, but what's happened to Broadway is, I think, we're heading for another golden age, and what I think is happening is there's room for everything, we are NOT on the way out, we are totally on the way in, and when people talk about this in the future, they will remember this time and they will say, 'I was lucky to be there.' We all are, and--and God bless it."

Updated On: 2/10/08 at 02:21 PM

[me2]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:21pm

My theory is that we are on cusp of it. We aren't there yet because the quality of the shows aren't there yet. But once the young pups get a chance to experiment, flop, and try again, things will really start cooking.

In the trip I made to NYC in August 2006, I saw a bunch of strong shows, most of which are not GREAT shows (in comparison to the great shows of the past) but were still enjoyable. The talent is there . . . We need the development and bookwriters to do it.
Broadway Blog: Broadway 2054

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:23pm

The automaton from Xanadu said this was a new Golden Age of Broadway? Lord.

[onstage06]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:36pm

I don't know that I would say that it is a "new golden age" yet, however, look at what has been done recently on broadway, Light in the Piazza, Spring Awakening (whether you love it or think it is trash), Grey Gardens, 25th Annual, In the Heights. We had fantastic revivals of a good part of the Sondheim rep. Other revivals: 110 with Audra, Gypsy with Patti (upcoming). Love it or hate it, Wicked has really helped renewed a mainstream interest in theater. Pop movie to musical shows have replaced jukebox shows so at least there is more original music being written. There is an amazing group of new composers starting to make their mark: Jason Robert Brown, Adam Guettel, John Bucchino, Salzman and Cunningham, Georgia Stitt, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Tesori, LaChiusa, Ricky Ian Gordon, etc. Plus there is a revived interest in movie musicals which will shed more popular light on musicals. That's not even talking about straigh plays... Ultimately the disney crop along with shows like BLonde and YF are a double edged sword, the keep money and new fans rolling into the theatres but they do prevent edgier more interesting work from being done... so what are you going to do, some of the commercial hits of the 40's weren't exactly high art either. It is really actually a pretty exciting time right now and I think we forget that sometimes.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 2:47pm

The availability of less expensive tickets will also help the theater audience expand. The idea of student rush is so appealing that the Metropolitan Opera adopted it to try to stem the tide of the greying of the opera audience. So let's hear it for TKTS, TDF, student rush and all other attempts to make theater accessible!

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 6:57pm

No high-faultin theater folks today will admit it, but I think so. Look at theater today as compared to twenty years ago. There have been so many phenomenal shows in the last decade and obviously Broadway is in much better financial shape than it was for a very long time.

There are so many shows from the last 15 years or so, many of which I don't even like, that will be classics.

[fflagg]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 7:04pm

Oh please. The Golden Age of Broadway ended in 1966. Stop kidding yourself.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 7:05pm

I would also like to say, I don't think this will be referred to as a golden age per se, but it will be remembered in the future as a great time for Broadway.

[sally1112]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 7:09pm

THE HOMECOMING isn't new... LoL

But revivals can be part of a new Golden Age. It doesn't have to mean that every show playing is new. In fact, a new staging of a classic could play a huge role in winning back (or new) theater fans.

[snl89]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 7:15pm

I don't know that I'd call it a GOLDEN age, but I know that I personally am really loving Broadway right now :) Granted at this particular moment, a lot of the shows I love most have either closed, are closing, or are on limited engagements off Broadway. But in general, the last few Broadway seasons have been amazing imo, and the next few are looking to be wonderful as well! I love that Broadway is becoming less and less "for fun and entertainment only". Don't get me wrong, the classics a la King And I, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, Oklahoma, etc. are fun. I don't NOT like them. But I don't have any kind of attachment to them either. I find that I personally connect more with the modern shows that use music and stories I can really relate to. And it's cool because Broadway is really becoming much more well rounded than it ever has before I think. Not necasserily BETTER, but there's a wider variety available, so it reaches a wider range of age groups. There's still the more "classic", big spectacle, family-oriented type shows, but then there's also the smaller more intimate rock/pop shows emerging like Spring Awakening, Bare, and Next to Normal. And then there's the "period comedies" like Wedding Singer, Xanadu, and Legally Blonde that may not be everyone's cup of tea but are tons of fun, especially for a younger more teenager/20-something audience.

So yeah, are we in a golden age? Probably not, how do you even judge those things anyway? But are we in a very COOL, broadening age of Broadway and musical theater in general? yeah, I think so!

[jv92]

Posted: 2/10/08 at 8:41pm

Well, for me The Golden Age began the night Cabaret opened and ended the night Bob Fosse died, but that's not what most folks consider THE Golden Age (1943-1965). Anyway...
There are about three shows from the last ten years that I would call Golden Age calibur- Ragtime, Piazza and Grey Gardens. We've had fun, amusing shows- DRS, The Producers, Curtains, but they aren't R&H calibur. Sorry.
Updated On: 2/10/08 at 08:41 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 3:13am

This site and Broadway.com are part of the reason I believe Broadway is once again entering a golden age. The marketing for Broadway is so smart these days and I think some of the material - Gray Gardens, Spring Awakening, Lion KIng, Ave Q, Light In the Piazza (even though everyone knows I hate Adam Guttel's music) and the lightweight shows like Hairspray and Xanadu and Legally can hold their own with the best of the original golden age.

It's a great time to love the Great White Way.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 10:33am

I think Broadway is in a good financial state, but I wouldn't call it a new Golden Age. It implies that the current state of Broadway resembles that of the 1940s-1960s, which it doesn't.

It could be the Bronze Age. Perhaps.

[twogaab2]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 10:40am

No. Even tho' I find much to enjoy. But....no.


Just my opinion, it would be nice if I were wrong.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 4:27pm

And I think you are....

[truman]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 4:32pm

I think in 10 more years, Broadway isn't going to Broadway anymore, which is really sad.

[jv92]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 4:57pm

It will never die. Sure the corporate bullroar will keep going on and sure the more artistic shows will not hit home with tourists and theatregoers looking just to have "fun", but it will never die, at least not within ten or twenty years. With Guettel, Frankel, Korie, Tesori (sp?), Marx and Lopez (when they decide to write another show) and Yazbek writing, it'll go on. And I'm sure there will be plenty of new people after them. It won't die. Besides, I don't think it can get much worse than the 90s.