A workshop?
Geez, just do the dang show already.
The title of this show is taking on a new meaning.
This is like a joke now.
I bet they'll get it right by the 2041 workshop; but Bobby will probably break his hip attempting the tap dancing.
It'll be the hit of te '16-'17 season.
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/21/06
This is the same one announced a few months ago, guys. And I believe the first since the rewrite, correct?
Calm down. Musicals take 10 years to write and produce nowadays. And with the unlikely commercial prospects of this one, it's like an independent film making the festival circuit.
The workshop will run from October 24 through November 17, 2011.
How does Equity treat these repeated workshops? Do the actors receive simple salaries when they work on them? Or do they receive salaries and percentages of future profits?
This is purely conjecture, but by looking at the producers listed on the show's website, it appears that many of them have little-to-no experience producing a commercial Broadway run. Could it be that the producers found themselves in over their heads and are stalling with endless "workshop productions"?
I thought at one point they were trying to get Roundabout to produce the show. Now The Old Globe is getting involved. Maybe they're trying to get a NFP interested in order to alleviate a financial burden? Again, this is all purely conjecture based on the information available.
PJ--I'd assume that a workshop of that length would be required to operate under an Equity Staged Reading Contract. Maybe someone with more experience can expound on the particulars of such a contract.
It didn't take 10 years to develop HELLO DOLLY!
I said shaking my cane at the youngsters on my lawn.
I think because of the re-writes that have occurred, they can get away with continued workshops as long as there is interest, which miraculously, there still appears to be.
Swing Joined: 4/10/11
Hello Dolly was based on a pre-existing play. Yank is not. It is exceptionally difficult to create a piece from scratch.
It's good they are taking their time.
Yank is a cute silly piece of fluff with no more depth than any episode of The Guiding Light. Saying it needs 10 years of development is disingenuous at best, witless at worst.
If, however, you're saying that it takes 10 years to get people to invest $$ in it, you may be right on the nose.
'Yank is a cute silly piece of fluff with no more depth than any episode of The Guiding Light. Saying it needs 10 years of development is disingenuous at best, witless at worst'
I sometimes wonder why you watch theatre at all
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/23/05
^ This.
"I sometimes wonder why you watch theatre at all"
Really? I had no idea that you were sitting there thinking about me all this time. How sweet.
I have to confess, I don't use my spare time to think about you, but if I did, I might wonder why you ever leave a theatre, except of course when the piece goes way over your tiny head.
Oh, newintown.
The Freida Claxton of Broadwayworld.
I wonder who's going to kick the coffin at the funeral.
Arcane reference there...
And hey - I'm not the one who first insulted someone personally just for expressing an opinion (in this thread).
Oh but you were, Blanche:
"Saying it needs 10 years of development is disingenuous at best, witless at worst."
For someone with the breadth of knowledge that you clearly have, I'm surprised that you don't realize just how misanthropic and joyless you come across in your posts. Or maybe you do realize, and you just don't care. Which is fine. But don't clutch the pearls when people react to your tone here.
I have no pearls to clutch - I gave 'em to the poor ages ago.
I can see how you might think the comment about 10 years of development for Yank (which I acknowledged to be cute, which isn't entirely an insult) was personal insult. However, I was directing that more at the production team, rather than any one specific person here; it certainly had nothing to do with songanddanceman2.
If you're so negative as to only focus on one aspect of my (or anyone's) posts, that's your character flaw; I've said many positive things on here as well as negative. But you seem to be one of those Gloomy Gerties who only like to focus on the negative. Or maybe it's just your mood today.
Saw it off Broadway, and loved it... well, not IT, loved it's potential... wish I could get my hands on the script and make my own changes, lol. At the York it was staged with no set, as an intimate musical... but it really should be a 42nd st style big tap dancing musical...
Not sure how the hell you'd sell it to a tourist.... Not even things like Priscilla last very long... It would probably be smarter for them to open at New World Stages.... , transfer to Broadway for a month.... then go back to New World Stages, lol.
I've said many positive things on here as well as negative.
You have?
I see you're in one of your bitchy moods again, Mitchell.
Oh, I'm far more a C*nty Connie than a Gloomy Gertie.
But I did enjoy your rather remarkable attempt to deflect and turn the negative critique right back 'round on me. I mean...it didn't work...but I appreciate the effort.
As for Yank, I think it needed quite a bit of work, but contained a lot of strong ideas and some really exciting musical work. It's an important story to tell, as many feel the seeds for modern gay rights movement were planted during and after WW2, with young men free of the constraints of their former provincial lives and forging new identities after seeing death...and the world.
It's also, in a way, a companion piece to South Pacific, showing just another way in which people fall in love and take chances (somewhat foolish ones) when it seems that the end of the world is near. The cuteness, as you describe it, was one thing that I hope they keep in check. It undercut the central love story, which I found compelling and moving. And Steggert was simply magnificent. There is certainly a place for lightheartedness, and the Nancy Anderson role really added to that in a way that didn't detract. And, unlike everyone else in NYC, I loved the dream ballet. And I'm not afraid to admit it.
I appreciate your appreciation of the piece; I wish I could share your enthusiasm. I found it cute, superficial, occasionally entertaining, and rather shallow. The topic, of course, is none of those negative things. The writers' exploration of that topic, however, seemed to me to be jejune. If you think I'm a terrible person for holding that opinion, so be it; I certainly wouldn't call you indiscriminate for liking the show.
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