How Long Running Plays Make It on Broadway

[tazber]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 8:34am

Interesting perspective from Treachout:


But the fact remains that Broadway's longest-running plays are all period pieces—and that, I suspect, is the main reason why most of them are no longer well remembered. A great play transcends its moment, but a popular one merely epitomizes it. Go to the Broadway revival of Horton Foote's "The Trip to Bountiful" and you'll be struck by how immediate it feels. I doubt that anyone will ever again say such a thing about "Barefoot in the Park," with its kooky-naive heroine and stale sitcom plot. Like most Broadway shows, it was built to amuse, not to last, and that's as true today as it was in 1963.

So try not to get bent out of shape by the second-rateness of so many of the shows playing on Broadway in any given week. Remember that it's always been that way. Like the man said…that's entertainment.
Link

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 11:41am

I always wondered why plays don't run longer, obviously it will never come close to a hit musical but I don't think many last more than a year anymore. I have not seen that many plays but "Doubt", "Fences" and "Torch Song Trilogy" were my personal favorites.

[DEClarke]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 11:44am

I love plays. Musicals are great, but plays really motivate and stir me emotionally. They just aren't the cash cows that musicals are.

[dreaming]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 12:01pm

August: Osage County managed to run quite awhile and isn't a period piece. It was an excellent play with broad appeal. I think plays, more than musicals, need to be well written and have a really broad audience base.

[Jonwo]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 12:31pm

War Horse did over a year as did God of Carnage, Broadway doesn't have a long running play currently running like The Mousetrap and The Woman in Black. I'm sure in the past, a play would have done 2 years or more.

[followspot]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 2:36pm

Some "recent" long runs, stats (including previews) via imbd:

GOD OF CARNAGE — 476
DOUBT — 550
ART — 620
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY — 666 :o
WAR HORSE — 751
PROOF — 933

Updated On: 7/19/13 at 02:36 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 2:54pm

However, a lot of the "Golden Age of Drama" era plays (whatever/whenever that was) that had pretty substantial runs and were pretty big theatrical events, weren't period pieces, nor light comedies. Streetcar, Picnic, Salesman, Virginia Woolf...

[newintown]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 3:07pm

"Even more interesting is that most of these once-popular plays are largely forgotten today."

Do you think that's true? That Harvey, Born Yesterday, Barefoot In The Park, Tobacco Road, Deathtrap, etc. are "forgotten," just because they aren't revived in a tiny geographic spot in New York? I've seen more than one production of each of these in regional theatres, where audiences still eat 'em up.

"But the fact remains that Broadway's longest-running plays are all period pieces."

Of the 10 plays he cites, all except one (Life with Father) were contemporary, not period pieces. (He may not be quite sure of the meaning of "period piece," which I take to mean "set in an era different than that of the time when it was written.")

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 7:29pm

I think straight plays suffer more from competition with films and TV shows.

Obviously, this is a subjective opinion, but to me, a film musical bears little resemblance to a stage musical. So if I'm going to spend $100 bucks...
Updated On: 7/19/13 at 07:29 PM

[howardbf]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 7:37pm

I'd be interested to know how plays make it on Broadway. I didn't know plays made it at all. I mean, how does a play have sex anyway?
I guess they do, that's how they get all those playlets.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 8:32pm

I do think for a lot of (casual?) theatre goers, part of the appeal of going to a play on Broadway now--if it's not to see a celeb--is to see live singing, dancing, often splashy sets, etc.

Back in the 40s and 50s, Broadway plays dealt with "adult" subjects that film and TV couldn't go near, but that's completely changed now.

And Newintown--while I didn't think Tobacco Road was ever performed anymore, to be honest, I agree completely with your other points.