"One thing that can be said for the more commercial shows like Wicked, Lion King, etc is that they bring in audiences that otherwise might not see theatre."
Said audiences, i.e. tourists and tri-state-area date-nighters, are then made accustomed to receiving enough (or more) bang (special effects, power ballads, crazy belting, bad projection screens, dumbed down plot lines, stunt casting, movie>stage transfers) for their considerable buck.
This precedent is perpetuated by producers looking to make back their investments and therefore gives us the sad, sad state of Broadway today.
Whilst papering for [title of show] I played a little game called "TV, Movie or Recognizable Commodity" with a friend. I walked down the row of posters in Shubert Alley and was horrified to see the overwhelming percentage of shows that fell into those 3 categories.
Theater only survives when there is an audience and unfortunately the audience to be catered to today is the people not fully immersed or educated in it. Huge productions => huge budgets => exorbitant ticket prices => theater is now a luxury instead of an everyday form of entertainment for a New Yorker who could at one time buy a ticket for a price lower than that of the new movies at the multiplex.
Of course, one can't solely blame Wicked or The Lion King for this entire issue, but using the excuse that we need to "break in" new theater patronage to excuse the completely desolate and lacking in creativity Broadway of today is way off the mark.
Updated On: 8/12/09 at 04:28 PM
