A New Translation of Uncle Vanya From Heidi Schreck Is Broadway-Bound — Page 2

Kad said:

The dinosaurs need to be phased out. That's not to say that people CAN'T be at the top of their games over 75, but there's a lot of Broadway power held by people in their late 70s to 80s: Andre Bishop, Lynn Meadow, Carole Rothman, Robert Wankel, Charlotte St. Martin, Cameron Mackintosh, Daryl Roth, Jeffrey Richards, Roy Furman, Nelle Nugent, Robyn Goodman, writers & directors like ALW, Jerry Zaks, Jack O'Brien, Dan Sullivan, David Mamet, James Lapine (almost)....etc."

Seeing this play out these last few years post pandemic.... woof. I think we'll continue to see a changing of the guards happen just due to age. Most people who have made their name in this industry would rather die in their role than admit their time is over.

inception said: "Here's a question for forum members,: if you were in the position to program the theatre & looking to choose a "classic" piece to revive - that is expected to sell tickets - what would you go with?"

Being that there's no "classic piece" that would sell mass numbers of tickets on title alone, it would all be about plays with good meaty roles for STAR actors which haven't been revived in New York in the past 10-15 years –– or in the case of LCT, large-scale plays that aren't as feasible to do commercially.

I don't know the answer to the Schreck part of your question, but it's possible that she's been wanting to tackle Chekhov for a while. She was originally supposed to be adapting THREE SISTERS for NYTW that never panned out.

sinister teashop said: "It's official, Vanya is nyc theater's hollaback girl.

The problem with Lincoln Center is the age of the audience and the scale of the auditoriums, not its artistic directors. Yes, you can put new leadership in Lincoln Center like Shanta Thake (who led the audience of the performance I last attended in a guided meditation that was deeply stupid) but the scale of the auditoriums are a daunting task to fill with new audiences that have not been built.

The old audience that is dying out took generations to build, through equal parts cultural aspirations of families, governmental programs and private foundations. It will take many generations if we want to build a new audience of that size for the non-commercial performing arts."


In terms of size, the Beaumont only sits 1080 –– about the same as the Schoenfeld and Jacobs and JEJ.

There isn't a sustainable audience in the current member base and in catering to an aging UWS crowd. Look at the laundry list of shows that have sold abysmally there over the years. Offering catnip to the member base is well and good, but that doesn't fill the house and it only lasts about 8 weeks. The other problem with a membership model is that a season needs to have like 5 shows a year that appeal to the same demographic of people because they're still making individual purchasing decisions about each show. Anecdotally, some of the altercockers don't like the so-called "new direction" of theatres post-covid (bark bark racism bark bark), while a lot of younger folks simply don't care about the work. So now they're producing for an audience of zero.

The Met and the LC parent organization have found success in broadening and diversifying the programming, and the "Summer in the City" festival has been largely successful, especially in bringing in young people. Broadening the work and the audience base and not relying on any one group of people is basically the only way forward.

Updated On: 9/15/23 at 05:00 PM

I forgot the Richard Nelson translation! That means there have been 3 recent hyper-intimate Vanya's. We're forgetting about the Soho Rep semi all-star production translated by Annie Baker!

RippedMan said: "I don't think it's so much racism as it's audiences not being interested in the subject matter, which I guess, as I type this, you could say is racism... but I mean look at the hit shows of the past season The Lehman Trilogy, Leopoldstadt, even something like August Osage County."

It's systemic if not overt, baked into the culture –– and there isn't a sustainable Black buyer base for a Broadway show without also appealing to larger masses of white buyers (and lord knows we've seen people try to reach an audience that isn't there, especially post-covid). People go for what they want to see.

We also don't talk enough about the racial undertones of the NINE vs DREAMGIRLS year.

ANewBrainn said: "ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Kad said: "I love Heidi Schreck but man hasn’t NYC had enough of Uncle Vanya for a while?"

I loved the OTHER hyper intimate production (Richard Nelson/Jay O. Sanders), missed the Cromer one.

I’ve always thought it might be interesting with an all female cast, which I’m sure has been done someplace.

On paper this does not change my view that LCT is in a baaaad place right now, though perhaps it will be a joyous surprise like SKIN OF OUR TEETH."

What do you mean LCT is a baaad place? Flex was one of the best shows of the season. I'm very excited for this new Vanya"

Considering they referred to Skin of Our Teeth as a "joyous surprise," I think they're saying financially and not creatively.

This cast! William Jackson Harper? Incredible. And thanks for the title of this thread, as the other one is ridiculously long and an unnecessary duplicate as usual. Lolz.

Updated On: 11/14/23 at 11:07 AM