What misrepresented broadway?

[Gavino77]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:48pm

Make a list of who, or what is misrepresenting broadway, or who shouldn't be on broadway. Here's mine:

Wicked
RENT
Haylie Duff
Idina Menzel
Ashley Parker Angel
Recent Movies based off broadway productions.
Cats

*It's all opinion

EDIT:

OK, So I don't really believe that broadway is ruined. I definently didn't communicate what I meant in the right way. Sorry!

Updated On: 4/7/07 at 04:48 PM

[j'aime_le_theatre]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:49pm

I wasn't aware that broadway had been ruined...

[jasonf]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:50pm

Gavino - if you think that, you should just leave the board now. Seriously, dude, you're in for a rough ride.

[Rotel1026]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:51pm

I understand it's your opinion but seriously, if you feel Broadway is ruined, why are you in a forum all about Broadway? Seems like if Broadway is ruined for you, that you'd move on and find another way to spend your time and money.

[Gavino77]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:51pm

You took it the wrong way.It's what ruined or is ruining "your" broadway.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:52pm

Same here. Every season new Broadway shows keep opening, and will continue to do so long after we're gone.

Every decade has Broadway shows that represent that decade (as well as performers). Those you list, though we're repulsed by them...they are now linked to the decade they appeared in, regardless of what we think of them.

[Gavino77]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:54pm

I agree. It's just, I feel like those shows and things are
misrepresenting what broadway really is.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:54pm

Broadway isn't ruined. It isn't what it was 50 years ago, but I'd hardly call it ruined. I'm still excited to go to NYC to see a show and it is still bursting with talent, I'd hardly call that ruined.

[Pippin]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:55pm

Your post did.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:56pm

And movies based off of Broadway productions is something that has been around since the beginning of cinema.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 4:56pm

Huh? How can a single actor ruin Broadway? And as for musicals based on movies: Shows have been based or inspired by other art forever. Did Passion ruin broadway?

[Piercemn]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 5:05pm

I won't say it's ruined, but I do think that the advent of the megamusical (Phantom, Miss Saigon, Sunset Blvd, etc.) left a very bad taste in my mouth. I'm not fond of movies made from musicals, although The Full Monty, Hairspray, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and The Wedding Singer surprised me. I'm not thrilled by shows that have worn out their welcome, partly because those same shows keep touring and being produced by community theatres, so we're overexposed to them out here in the midwest.

If we want to see movie musicals, we need to get them from Netflix. The idea of a helicopter landing onstage, a house going up in the air, or a chandelier crashing onto the stage doesn't make me want to see the show (although I did see Sunset Blvd., and the staging proves it belongs on the screen.)

I also think Cameron MacIntosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber are responsible for misrepresenting the musical theatre. It's sad that a good play, even a revival, has to struggle, while musicals open and play and play and play.

This was an interesting link. It won't keep me from going to NYC and seeing more shows, but I'm far more selective about who gets my money than I would have even 25 years ago.

[rgaywrites]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 5:09pm

I'm new to these boards in terms of posting, but I've been reading for a while and this one of the craziest things I've ever read on here. Broadway is never going to be any one thing. The experience of theatre is personal and as such it is subjective. To press your palm to your forehead, rending your garments over the "ruin" of Broadway is so... troubling to me. I don't understand how the existence of certain shows you don't like "ruins" anything. Oftentimes, it seems like people believe that Broadway is a finite thing and that if there are subpar shows in Broadway houses, they are somehow taking the place of some unnamed "better" show out there. There's room (as there should be) for a wide range of shows, from serious plays to fluffy musicals to epic musicals and everything in between. Love the shows or hate them, the shows that actually make it to Broadway are the cream of the proverbial crop (with a few exceptions, I'll admit).

[Gavino77]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 5:11pm

and the "exceptions" are what I was speaking of.

[rgaywrites]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 5:14pm

I still believe those "exceptions" have a right to be on Broadway because my exception is undoubtedly going to be someone else's favorite show. Who am I, or anyone, to take that experience from them?

[singtopher]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 5:24pm

Broadway is never going to be any one thing. The experience of theatre is personal and as such it is subjective.

Hear Hear

[ahmelie]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 5:28pm

And the exceptions, much to my dismay, are what keep Broadway alive. Without the hope of a show to be a hit, there can be no shows on Broadway at all. As much as I don't like Wicked, without it I doubt I'd be able to see Grey Gardens.

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 5:46pm

how the hell is RENT or any other show "ruining" Broadway or not representing it? I am baffled

[FutureAladdinOnB'Way]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 5:49pm

And back in the day, Cats was a huge hit because it was something unique that was never done before...I don't see how that's ruined Broadway???

[Gavino77]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 5:50pm

Alright, I made a self-admitted idiotic post. I apologize. I totally didn't communicate what I meant at all and I am sorry to those I offended.

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 6:01pm

In 1973, the season that A Little Night Music and Pippen opened, there were many months when just 13....that's THIRTEEN shows were running on Broadway. Many of the most sought after theaters were dark.

The smell in the air was funereal. Trust me, whatever is making it possible for a bidding war to exist for Broadway houses in 2007 is nothing short of a miracle.

Don't confuse popular taste defining 70% of what's available to the public, with the 30% that will live on beyond an original original run.

[Rotel1026]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 9:06pm

So you changed your post and Broadway is not longer ruined but rather misrepresented. That still doesn't really tell us what you mean though. What about Cats misrepresents Broadway? Or Wicked or Idina?

Broadway is, as others have said, many different things to many different people. Just because you don't like something doesn't make them any less valid. There are shows on Broadway right now that I would definitely not be sad to see closed but I don't agonize over it because there is still plenty of stuff that I find great. How boring would Broadway be if producers only tried to cater to one niche?

And you mentioned exceptions and I guess you're worried that there are shows that are not coming on Broadway because Rent and Wicked and taking up valuable space that these shows could have otherwise. Don't you think that if a show is worthy of having a run on Broadway that it will eventually find it's way there? Just a matter of timing really.

I'd like to hear what shows didn't make it to Broadway that deserved to be there if anyone actually has any real examples otherwise.

[jv92]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 9:50pm

Broadway isn't ruined. There are still great shows, writers, directors, actors and so forth out there. We just need to see more of them and less of trashy jukebox musicals and long running spectacles.
Updated On: 4/7/07 at 09:50 PM

[LaVieHilary]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 10:17pm

give gavino a break. Broadway is not ruined but I think they're trying to say from our point of view what was a low point in broadway.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 4/7/07 at 10:21pm

I feel that Annie totally misrepresents Broadway as does You're The One That I Want