Theatre Company ideas?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/29/06 at 3:37am

Hey everyone,

I was recently looking through older copies of Backstage and I came across a few calls for productions mounted by Inside Broadway.

For thos who do not know of Inside Broadway, they are an NYC Non-Profit theatre company that stages tours of NYC schools presently 50 minute adaptions of musicals.. very small cast (Cinderella and Bye Bye Birdie were considered large productions at 10 cast members..), a simple piano and sound system and the barest of sets that you fit in the back seat of a car.

Now, personally, I love the idea and mission behind the company, but a few thoughts occured to me.

I grew up in an area where you had to travel 45 minutes to see a non-eq tour and over an hour to catch most equity tours. we had productions from TheatreWorksUSA and American Family Theatre stop in town with a non-equity something or other based on a storybook and featuring a cast of 5 or 6. They would either do a few mid-day shows for just schools or maybe one public performance, but that was it.. the set would be something you fit in a minivan and the light cues would be 'on' and 'off'.

Now, we have projects like Inside Broadway bringing mini musicals to schools. We have performers going over seas to entertain troups. We have projects like VH1's Save The Music...

We always hear about how Broadway needs to reach new audiences and cultivate new theatre goers, etc etc etc..

What if there were a company that were able to produce a show with a full sized cast, musicians, and reasonable production values and using higher calibre NYC/LA/etc based performers and took a show someplace that might not have the easiest access to major theatre? Maybe 4 or 5 performances, using good unionized employees... perhaps a show currently or recently on Broadway.. maybe a classic.. something that would generate interest...

Just random thoughts floating around my head whenevr I hear about people talking about cultivating new theatre goers and coming from places where things just were not available or accessible to them and all that stuff.....