2019-2020 Broadway Season — Page 6

bandit964 said: "Would A Soldier's Play fall under the revival category?"

I'd say yes. Debuted in 1981, won the Pulitzer. Would fall in the "classics" category that will allow it to be considered a revival.

Sigh,

I feel like the last couple seasons this board hasn’t had nearly as much confusion about what’s a revival and what’s original. We were doing so well! Nobody even batted an eye when the Tony committee stopped announcing when shows qualified for the Classics Rule.



But it seems like there’s suddenly a lot of confusion and mistakes around it again. Rule of thumb: if the producers are reviving the show, it’s a revival. Doesn’t actually matter much if it’s been on Broadway before.

It’s not about looking at press releases, it’s about looking at the context. We just have to look at the origin of the material and timing of the new production, and ask the question: what is being DONE here? Is someone (the producer) taking an established play and REVIVING it (i.e, bringing it back after the original production had been left for history) or is this a culmination of a show’s road to Broadway?

For example, shows like Hadestown and The Visit had been around in some form or another for over a decade before they came to Broadway. But every production along the way was a step on the same “road” that eventually led to Broadway. There was a progression that was very slow, but never abandoned. As opposed to shows like Three Tall Women or The Waverly Gallery, which had their premiers some time ago, then everyone went about their merry way, and later someone decided to take that material and create an all new production of that had no affiliation with the original. To continue the metaphor - the road reached its conclusion, then someone started a new road (sorry, not a perfect metaphor, but hopefully I’m making my point).

Or in the case of things like A Christmas Carol and To Kill a Mockingbird: is someone doing another adaptation of the same source material, or are they bringing back an adaptation that already exists?

Updated On: 8/20/19 at 11:51 AM

chrishuyen said: "Doesn't that put How I Learned to Drive in a very gray area though since it's the same director and original stars so we don't know if behind the scenes they just decided that now was a good time to remount that original production on Broadway (not saying that's what they're doing but could be a possibility).



I ageee that the remounting of the original staging makes it a tad confusing. And so in this case you’d have to look at the amount of time that has passed (too much to credibly call it a new play) as well as the fact that in the intervening time, play has entered the canon and become a modern “classic” (hence, the “classics” rule). In this regard, it also isn’t just about what the producers intend, so much as the context behind what they are doing. Even if these producers said they are trying to transfer this to Broadway as if it were new, everyone else would look at that and say “No you’re not, you’re reviving it,” because that’s just the literal nature of the circumstances.

It could also just be that many producers are taking the opportunity to bring celebrated off-Broadway works to Broadway more often now so there's a bit of change involved in adapting to that (ie allowing the playwright to accept the Tony for revival).”



I agree! We’ve been getting a TON of these “Broadway debut revivals” in the past few years, and I think it’s great that it has become a trend,

Slava's Snow Show in the Sondheim: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/theater/slavas-snowshow-broadway-holiday-shows.html

And word on the street is Company is going into the Jacobs, but no official announcement yet.

Lehman Trilogy http://www.playbill.com/article/the-lehman-trilogy-to-open-on-broadway

Plaza Suite revial http://www.playbill.com/article/matthew-broderick-and-sarah-jessica-parker-to-return-to-broadway-together-in-neil-simons-plaza-suite

Mrs. Doubtfire http://www.playbill.com/article/mrs-doubtfire-musical-set-broadway-cast-and-dates?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PlaybillPost

Found an interesting list of upcoming shows in consideration for participants of a summer teaching workshop to attend. Three shows on the list I have not heard announcements for. Do they know something we all don't?

MOULIN ROUGE, HADESTOWN, COMPANY (STARRING PATTI LUPONE), TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, JAGGED LITTLE PILL, MRS. DOUBTFIRE, SIX, WEST SIDE STORY, GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY, TINA: THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOLF, HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, TITANIC, THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL, THE LEHMAN TRILOGY, JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, BEETLEJUICE, ALMOST FAMOUS.

https://www.broadwayteachinggroup.com/about-btw

TITANIC & the London JOSEPH revival are coming next season.