What Is The Best City In The USA (New York excluded) For Theater? — Page 2

LA small theater is pretty hit and miss. Some great work being done here but also a lot of "showcase" stuff where people are just trying to get agents or on a tv show.

But that's true of New York, too, unless things have changed a great deal.

I don't think the number of shows a city sends to New York is a good barometer unless your taste runs to large, commercial pieces. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Finally, any city that holds a "William Finn Festival" gets my vote. I still say Chicago.

I think you've phrased your question in a way that makes it impossible to answer satisfactorily. I'm not sure "evidence"--objective facts--can be supplied to support one's conviction that a given city is "the best"--a largely subjective evaluation.

In terms of shows that end up on Broadway, Chicago has a long track record of supplying shows to NYC. In my years as a Goodman subscriber, I saw Chita in 'The Visit', 'Bounce', 'The Rabbit Hole' and 'Hollywood Arms' in Chicago before seeing them in NYC. If I were better about saving Playbills, I would doubtless be able to list others.

It's also about having a community of performers large enough to be able to provide top-quality talent for smaller, local productions of shows in smaller venues. The casts in the Porchlight productions of the Finn shows were uniformly good to excellent. We take that for granted in NYC, but it doesn't happen everywhere, as the tryouts in 'Waiting For Guffman' illustrate so beautifully.

---

@owen22-

while the noho arts district has LOTS of theatres ,the EL PORTAL is the only house in the noho arts district that seats around 400... EVERY other venue in NOHO is 99 seats or less.

Has anyone mentioned La Jolla?

It doesn't have the name recognition of, say, San Diego, which is close by, but the La Jolla Playhouse produces a lot of try-outs of shows that have eventually made it to Broadway. My brother drives up there with his wife a lot to see new stuff, and usually reports to me the stuff he liked, which has been a good number of shows.

That said, I agree with Gaveston in that I'm not sure number of shows that make it to Broadway is a good measure of that city's theatre scene. But I also know that a city having a bunch of 99 seat theatres that produce all sorts of stuff, typically features about one or two great productions among them. So quantity isn't usually a good measure either.

I instinctively chose Chicago because there seems to be a healthy theatre culture there. It certainly did give me a strong impression of that when I visited back in 2007. There were both big and small shows playing on every other block. I also know productions that are very expensive to stage, usually make it a point to book Chicago as one of the first cities they visit, and they book for lengthy engagements. I've also known Chicago to get several sit-downs of big shows. At least more than most other cities in the country. Again, that translates to a city who still values theatre-going, whereas the rest of the country has that one first run house and one or two touring venues. And that's it. :S

---

Updated On: 12/25/12 at 05:56 AM

Chicago. They have sitdown productions, they get the tours right away, and they often have the out-of-town tryouts.

I lived near Memphis and it was a huge disappointment. Maybe you have to be in the theatre scene there to know what's happening, but as I recall it, the Orpheum Theatre was the only theater and they had very little in terms of plays and musicals.

But in all fairness, Eric, the "It's a Small World After All" ride at Disneyland is NOT representative of Southern California theater.

"No one has mentioned San Francisco, original home of Wicked (and in a slightly lesser voice, Lestat)."

Out-of-town tryouts...

No one has mentioned Cleveland? The only theatre complex larger than our Playhouse Square is NYC's Lincoln Center. All the top tours come through here and we have Cleveland Playhouse (nation's oldest pro theatre). There are number of smaller professional theatres in the metro area and innumerable community theatres. There is always a wide selection of theatre experiences for anyone seeking good theatre. I think you would be surprised at the vastness of the theatre scene in Cleveland.

I grew up in Fort Lauderdale, goldenboy, and worked my way up through the Parker and the Miami Beach Theatre for the Performing Arts.

When Zev Bufman was the producer, they did star-package musicals and comedies (and even occasionally dramas) that were often quite good. Some imported; some originated in South Florida.

Is that no longer the case?

There are no shows produced by Zev Bufman in South Florida. Haven't been for years.
Parker is now a rental facilty. They bring in things like Valerie Harper in Looped. There is no longer a Coconut Grove Playhouse (that was Zev Bufman's I think), No longer a Jackie Gleason Miami Beach Performing arts Center. It is now the Filmore Center.

There are houses that bring in touring companies. Arsht Center in Miami and Broward Center for the Performing Arts. No new theatre ..just touring companies.

The good theatre's aren't lasting due to the financial climate, Govt Arts funding Cutbacks.

There are two other things killing South Florida theatre. One is that many older people live in condo communities that bring in shows to their "auditoriums." Usually cabaret artists
varying in quality. The older crowd says there is no need to go to the theatre because of the "Condo Circuit." The other problem is the older Jewish audience is dying out.

Maybe I'm missing it... I am in LA often and can't "find" the theater scene. I love the work that the Geffen does, but that's about it

Why is it that Cleveland, Minneapolis, and Houston all like to claim the "second-largest theater district/scene?" I've heard this in other cities, too, and I've learned to just smile and nod.