Democracy...how's it doing?

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 9:35pm

I haven't heard much about the show...there is not yet a scheduled closing date. Has anyone seen it lately?

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 9:38pm

I saw it for the third time a week and half ago. The performance was about 80% full. When the show opened to mostly great reviews in November, it was doing great business. For about a month, it was hardly ever on TKTS. Business has cooled a bit and it's on TKTS a lot now, but I don't think it is going anywhere any time soon. I think it will definitely last till the Tonys.

[Plum]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 9:40pm

A straight play doing this well in February should last a while, I think.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 9:44pm

For a man who writes straight, usually serious plays, Michael Frayn does pretty well. "Copenhagen" had a nice, healthy run, and "Noises Off!" was a smash in the eighties. The revival played for a year, too.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 9:44pm

It's down (like everything else this time of year) but still better than break even. It'll certainly last until the Tonys and probably well into summer and beyond.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 9:45pm

Now that good plays are few and far between, serious theatregoers have to go where the good stuff's at.

[Plum]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 9:56pm

I'm still mourning Gem of the Ocean, which I liked better than Democracy.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 9:58pm

I don't know, we're doing pretty well for straight plays these days. On Broadway, we have 12 Angry Men (which is doing very well), Democracy, Brooklyn Boy, Doubt is transferring and coming up is Pillowman, Passion Play, Glass Menagerie, Virginia Woolf, Steel Magnolias, On Golden Pond (worth it for Jones), Julius Caesar and Glengarry Glen Ross. Off-Broadway is packed with Hurlyburly (which may be transferring), Mamet's Romance (Atlantic), Shinn's On The Mountain (Playwrights), After Ashley (Vineyard), Gurguis' The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (The Public), Thom Paine, LaBute's This Is How It Goes (The Public), Coriolanus (The Duke), Vogel's Hot 'n Throbbing (Signature), The Controversy (The Public) et al....

Not a bad slate.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 10:03pm

Good point. Off-Broadway has always been a bastion for great plays, seeing that the normal Off-Broadway theatregoer usually wants something different from the latest Broadway megamusical.

This has been a good season for plays so far. "Democracy" and "Brooklyn Boy" are both excellent, and "Gem of the Ocean" had brilliant performances.