Staged Readings and Concerts

I have noticed an interesting phenomenon of which I was unaware till recently: Instead of producing a play or musical, the producer tests it through a series of staged readings or concerts, to get audience input regarding the final version. I will be reviewing a world premiere play at the very fine Coachella Valley Repertory, in Rancho Mirage, California, that started with two series of staged readings. Gavin MacLeod, who stars in the play and whom I interviewed after one of the staged readings, said that he thinks the cost of producing a play or, especially a musical, will lead to staged readings being used more often -- sometimes without any intent to progress to a fully staged production.

I'm curious what the folks on this board have noticed about this phenomenon, and what you think about it.

I've been attending and participating in staged readings (as a playwright and a director) since the late 1970s. So, yes, it's about the economics, and, no, it isn't anything new. It sucks for playwrights and actors, especially the former who may have spent years writing the play only to see it "tested" by actors sitting in chairs with their noses in their scripts.

But such is the world in which we live. Many if not most people no longer read for themselves anything longer than an internet post. So a staged reading saves them the "chore" of reading a 120-page script (and the expense of hiring somebody else to read it).

The only good I've seen come from a stage reading is that sometimes a playwright who thinks his/her every word is golden will be convinced otherwise by a lack of response to a reading. But even that is rare.

Since, in my experience, most actors don't sight-sing very well, one may assume a concert or reading of a musical involves some minimal rehearsal. Not always so with a straight play.

I admit I'm biased in favor of content over style, but if CATS and PHANTOM had been done first in the West End and on Broadway as concerts, we might have been spared 35 years of treacle. Give me a bare stage and a creative lighting plot (i.e., A CHORUS LINE) any day.