2008-2009 Season: (Possibly) the weakest for new plays?

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 11:07am

As of now, there is one new play (To Be Or Not To Be) scheduled for a Broadway run this season.

Given the recession, and the five recent productions postponed/cancelled, is it safe to assume that the 2008-2009 season might might be one of the weakest ever for new plays?

(considering The American Plan and Dividing the Estate, I have a feeling they'll be classified as Revivals)

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 11:17am

Wow. Didn't even realize that.

It's a very strong year for musicals though...I hope some good plays find their way to Broadway this year.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 11:17am

I wouldn't say weakest because we don't know what is coming in the spring, but I would agree that it is one of the sparsest thus far for new plays.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 11:20am

Dividing the Estate will most likely be classified a new play. And Neil LaBute's Reasons to Be Pretty has already announced a move to Broadway. As has Impressionism, starring Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen. There you go: the Tony Awards Best Play category is filled.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 11:45am

"Given the recession, and the five recent productions postponed/cancelled..."

Nice Work, Brigadoon, Colored Girls, Godspell...what am I missing?

[Smaxie]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 11:47am

Angels - that musical with Robert Cuccioli that was going to be trying out in Shreveport, Louisiana.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 12:01pm

Thanks Smaxie!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 12:02pm

I can also think of one additional positive aspect about the potential new plays this season. If Neil Labute's Reasons to be Pretty, Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate and Michael Jacobs' Impressionism are Tony-nominated, at least three of the four new plays would be by American writers. (I think Nick Whitby who has adapted To Be or Not to Be is British). It's a reverse of the situation last season, although the American play went all the way to the big prize. Then again, if the rumored transfer of the acclaimed Pitmen Painters makes it over here from the National this spring, that could be the new play to beat.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 12:24pm

But this thread is about new plays. There are plenty of play revivals this season: Equus, All My Sons, The Seagull, A Man for All Seasons, Hedda Gabler, American Buffalo, Speed-the-Plow, Mary Stuart, Fences, Accent on Youth etc.

Updated On: 8/16/08 at 12:24 PM

[Smaxie]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 12:36pm

Bit of a threadjack, but what the hell. The press release about the Fences revival refers to it as Wilson's "masterpiece". It certainly was an entertaining play and his most successful and commercial. However, I'd give the title of Wilson's masterpiece to the less-heralded Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Delroy Lindo's performance in the original Broadway production was one of the best performances I think I've ever seen and the play got under my skin and stayed with me for years.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 1:29pm

Well, i think this past season was so successful for new plays that it only makes sense. 39 Steps and August are still running, which is an accomplishment. Usually the plays that win are from the non-profits, so I think that says something. Last year, I thought, was a bad year for musicals, so maybe it's just making a switch.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 1:37pm

Although both August and 39 Steps are running on Broadway as commercial productions, they were both developed/initially produced here by the non-profits. August was first produced by Steppenwolf Theatre Company and the US premiere of 39 Steps is courtesy of Boston's Huntington Theatre and the Roundabout Theatre Company.

[scaryclowns223]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 4:06pm

You know- I was thinking about that. It really is going to be a weak season for new plays.

And two new plays that were rumored for Broadway mountings- 50 Words and Farragut North- went off-Broadway after the big stars involved (Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Jake Gyllenhaal, respectively) dropped out.

But we have a profusion of new musicals, so I guess that's where the slack is being picked up.

And also- I can't imagine that DIVIDING THE ESTATE will be classified as a new play. I haven't seen it, but it seems to me that revisions to an existing script would not classify it as new. Musical revivals routinely add new material-and they are never called new musicals. I think they were peddling it as a new play because Horton Foote wanted a Pulitzer.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 4:15pm

Horton Foote would disagree with you. And if A Bronx Tale could be considered a new play last season, Dividing the Estate should have no trouble qualifying as the same.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 5:18pm

Horton Foote withdrew the play from consideration after the Lortel awards classified it as a revival. I'm sure he'll fight to have the show considered as a new play for the Tonys as well. If there is a dearth of new plays come time for the nominations in May, I doubt the committee is going to argue.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 8/16/08 at 5:22pm

Don't forget, a revival of Sam Shepard's BURIED CHILD that ran in the 1995-1996 season was classified by the Tony committee as a new play, for the reason that more than 50% of the dialogue had been revised by the author (therefore - technically - 50% of the play was put in for consideration.)

So who knows, DIVIDING THE ESTATE could sneak in there.