Papermill in Trouble - Updates — Page 2

Papermill has been in trouble for a while now, so while this is bad news, it's not really new news.

Re: the odd, smaller shows they put on, a friend brought up a valid point. Being that Papermill has been struggling financially, it's more than likely that they have to elect to put on a smaller show - e.g., Harold and Maude or Romance/Romance - so that they can afford to put on the bigger shows - e.g., The Baker's Wife or PIRATES!!!!. It sucks, but it's reality.

That being said, Papermill has been really hit-or-miss for me over the past few years. They've had some wonderful productions - Baby, The Baker's Wife, Ragtime, Carnival!, even Godspell to an extent - and they've had some that I hope appealed to their customer base (i.e., the geriatric crowd), because I certainly slept through them - Hello, Dolly! off the top of my head.

If they can get a benefit together, I'll be there. It should prove to be more interesting than most of their current season.


Good luck, Papermill.

Ljay- you are a bit mistaken in your info and my intent.
I never meant that Two River and Surflight were taking business away from Papermill. The Geographic location of both of these theaters in relation to Papermill would make that impossible. Also as you noted the scale and product offering of these two would make that argument ridiculous.
The Strand is similar to NJPAC in its business model, but the scale is different. They host a variety of different forms of entertainment, including but not limited to, non-eq tours, TYA, and community theatre.
Two River is an Equity theatre that produces mostly newer plays and small Musicals. In the past ten years they have gone from renting space at the Algonquin arts theater in Manasquan to now being in residence in REd bank in their own theater.
Surflight is a Non-profit Equity Summer stock. It is not a community theatre. It got a contract with Actor's Equity in 1999 .Previous to that it was a professional Non-equity summerstock theatre for 50 years.
I only was comparing the fact that these two theatres have had some major growth over the past ten years in comparison to papermill's decline. Two River built a mulit-million dollar facility in the heart of Red Bank, and Surflight has doubled its subscriber base, aquired an agreement with Actor's Equity, changed the management of the theatre from for-profit to non-profit, and is now undergoing a major renovation. The fact that these two NJ theatres have been able to do this while Papermill (The gold standard of NJ theater at one time) is unbelievable.

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Yes like most theatres in the U.S. who employ Union actors(including papermill), Surflight uses non-eq actors in its productions.
Also -the 1200 non-eq New york actors who auditioned for them last week aren't really local(unless you consider a 75 mile commute do-able)
Also John Davidson, who works at Surflight, coincidentally did a highly regarded production of Will Rogers Follies at Papermill during the hihgly successful Robert Johannson years.
To label them a community theater is a little spurious.

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Updated On: 4/3/07 at 01:27 PM

I think this thread is getting into some trouble.
Let's clear somethings up-
NJPAC, The Strand, and the Count Basie are different than Papermill, Two River, and Surflight.
The first group is comprised of theaters that host product( tours, symphonies, concerts, community productions)
The second group is comprised of theatres that take on the producing responsibilities themselves. There is a big difference. It is very easy to stay solvent when you aren't assuming the majority of the risk.

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I know the difference between the theatres you mentioned.

I was just throwing the Count Basie's name in there because it's another theatre in need of saving. Although it's situation is not near as dire as the Papermill currently.

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^ Boy, you must get quite a nice paycheck from Surflight!

^ Well I appreciate that you acknowledged the fact you have an association with them.

I have an association with Two River as well. There are many theaters in the country that I have an association with and I am in no way embarrassed to admit it. I imagine it would be quite strange for me to have so much knowledge about a theatre with which I have no association, wouldn't it?
When I mentioned the theatre I neverhad any intention of this becoming a thread about a Summer Stock Theatre on the Jersey Shore.

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Updated On: 4/3/07 at 01:53 PM

While this is very sad news, it is not surprising. I have been going to Papermill Playhouse since the late 1960's and I have a very special fondness for this theatre, as it was my introduction to "professional" theatre; I saw a Papermill show before I saw a Broadway show. However, their productions over the past several years have really been disappointing. Dolly was awful, No, No, Nanette was very amateurish, Harold & Maude was a disaster. Something about their productions just looks cheap (I guess I understand why) and the caliber is not at all what it used to be. With the exception of Follies and Baker's Wife, everything else I saw was pretty lame. Papermill also is not attracting the stars that it used to ... Ann Miller (altho she came back triumphantly in Follies), Gloria Swanson, Shelley Winters, Bernadette Peters, Betsy Palmer, Vivian Vance, Chita Rivera ... going to Papermill in its heyday was just as good as going to Broadway, but that's not the case any longer. I can completely understand why subcriptions and individual tickets sales have fallen so drastically. I don't think it has anything to do with competition from NJPAC in Newark, I just think Papermill's audiences are not liking the choices of shows, and the quality of their productions has been pretty much second-rate.

The quality of Papermill productions (including the sets/costumes) has deteriorated since 2000, unfortunately. Poor Dolly coming down a cheap set of stairs with one feather in her hat! In an ugly dress to boot! Hardly represented the Grand Staircase that is so indicitive of the Harmonia Gardens. I agree, years ago Papermill was wonderful, but maybe due to leadership changes, their productions have gotten pretty shabby. I hate saying that, but I've seen the old Papermill, and the current Papermill and there is a HUGE difference in the quality.

No matter the current state of Papermill productions, I will ALWAYS remember Papermill with great fondness and admiration. I had some absolutely thrilling evenings there that are engraved in my memory. For a while it seemed like as soon as a show closed in New York, it opened at Papermill ... Twigs, Bubbling Brown Sugar, My Daughter, Your Son, Gamma Rays, Butterflies are Free, Mame, Dolly (w/Betsy Palmer ... not the cheap production w/Tovah). Ah, those were the days.

It makes me sad that Papermill might close. While I didn't see it there, they were the first ones to present "The Wizard of Oz" which was my first theater experience. And from what I remember, I was a great production.

Sad.

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