NYT: How Hollywood Glamour Is Reviving the Endangered Broadway Play

 

How Hollywood Glamour Is Reviving the Endangered Broadway Play
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/10/theater/broadway-plays-hollywood-stars.html?unlocked_article_code=1.B04.6Q7u.CjGuFQ22-8lC

Updated On: 8/10/24 at 06:44 AM

iirc the Tennant rumor was for a (new?) musical, not a play.

And whatever happened to the Nicolas Cage rumor? Wasn't he supposed to be in a "major revival" of some sort? I suppose his being in London to film the Spider-Man Noir series might put the kibosh on that.

This is not new!

Scott Rudin and Stuart Thompson and Sonia Friedman and Jeffrey Richards and Roundabout and others did it for years, and others before them, going back to the days of David Merrick and Alex Cohen.

If anything, it's a sign that the newer crop of producers (Greg Nobile, Wagner & Johnson, Tom Kirdahy, Brian Moreland, etc) have continued that trend and are producing plays by directors & writers who are attracting stars, and agents continue to push their clients towards the theatre.

Sometimes scheduling is also coincidental. These plays can be in development for a long time and then suddenly someone is available and it can go this season instead of next, or something that was supposed to happen 2 years ago is finally happening now.

It is virtually impossible to sell tickets to a Broadway play without a bona fide star, with the twice-a-decade exception of something like Stereophonic, The Humans, and Curious Incident where the play becomes an event.

As always, I wish more of these stars were flocking to new plays.

Updated On: 8/10/24 at 11:18 AM

The hills of California doesn’t have stars and jezz butterworths last play the ferryman was a hit.  Leopoldstadt was also a hit and again, no stars

John Mulaney is doing a new solo play directed by Alex Timbers 

Broadway Flash said: "The hills of California doesn’t have stars and jezz butterworths last play the ferryman was a hit. Leopoldstadt was also a hit and again, no stars"

You've named 4 shows from the last 6 years that have manages to overcome not having big names. Good for you. How about The Kite Runner, Life of Pi, Ain't No Mo, Ohio State Murders, The Shark is Broken, Pass Over, Chicken and Biscuits, Dana H, The Minutes, For Colored Girls..., The Little Prince? And that's not even including revivals or non-profits. For every anomaly that overcame not having big stats, there are at least 10 that can't.

I was mentioning plays without stars that were hits.  And doomsday prophesies??  You must be thinking about someone else like Broadwaynyc2, he’s the negative one.