What should Broadways Next New Theater......

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 5:55pm

Look like?

Should it be small play house, a large musical house?

What sort of staging should it have?

[madlibrarian]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 6:10pm

Broadway could use a few more versatile, medium-size houses.

But why do you ask? Is somebody planning to build a new theater?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 6:20pm

I would kill to have a new theatre on the Great White Way!

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 6:27pm

There always seem to be 5 or 6 dark at any given point. Do we really think there is a shortage now?

[ooblogway]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 6:38pm

It should be 500 seats and named after Tennessee Williams.

[ARTc]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 7:09pm

I think Broadway has always lacked a black box, having to dramatically renovate a theater (usually the Broadway) to bring an environmentally staged production to The Great White Way. I would love to see this rectified. And, since we're dreaming, perhaps with some support and/or understanding from the unions that allows this new house to structure its contracts based on the configuration of the show in residence. This would be brilliant for all parties.

Updated On: 5/4/13 at 07:09 PM

[madbrian]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 8:28pm

Irrespective of the theater design, it should be named after Ethel Merman.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 9:32pm

There should be a theater named after Fosse and it should be sinfully glamorous.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 10:30pm

ARTc, you read my mind. I, for one, wish the Broadway community had something as flexible as the Cottesloe in London. Or, at least, as flexible as it was, for it's now being re-done. Which it also should be, because it was a bit long in the teeth.

But the point being, a truly flexible black box which can play as a proscenium, or in the round, or on a diagonal, or (as my professor in London once joked) with the entire audience suspended in swinging hammocks with the actors jumping from swing to swing amongst them.

Because why not?

That being said, such a theatre is unlikely to be built on Broadway, as such a space can really only be fully utilized by a not-for-profit like the National Theatre willing to mess around with its spaces.

But it'd be perfect for HERE LIES LOVE. Damnit.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 10:44pm

It should be called "The KYLE".

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 11:14pm

There are plenty of venues in the midtown area that have 499 seats. The theatre owners could add one more seat and send in that application to join the Broadway League.

Why, then, do these handful of 499-seat theatres not add a seat and join the League? The costs are too damn high, that's why. The return of investment is rare -- the risk isn't worth it.

The lack of Broadway real estate right now is a bitch for Producers, but is a good thing for the Nederlanders and Shuberts. Why do you think the Little Shubert, owned by the Shubert Org., hasn't turned it into a Broadway house? Being away from Times Square is only a minor factor.

It's going to be a long time until we get another Broadway theatre.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 11:27pm

You make excellent points, Cap'n. There is almost zero financial incentive to add to the roster we have.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 11:28pm

I would rather see a museum dedicated to American theater.

[Jonwo]

Posted: 5/4/13 at 11:33pm

Isn't the Little Shubert not that successful as an off Broadway theatre because its too expensive for an off Broadway show to have a decent run? I'm guessing the Shubert Organisation don't see the point of having a 500 seater since they already have two theatres with less than 1000 seats.

[PatrickDennis92]

Posted: 5/5/13 at 11:02am

The Little Shubert isn't successful because of Local One. They strongarmed the Shuberts into making the Little Shubert a union house re: stagehands. The economics of producing in that space due to this are impossible.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/5/13 at 11:21am

I would like a theater with a strictly formal dress code.

[John Adams]

Posted: 5/5/13 at 11:30am

>> "It should be called "The KYLE"."
... and its marquee would be perpetually dimmed.

But seriously, I like Gothampc's suggestion for a museum much better than the notion of a new theater. If there were a decent Broadway museum, with exhibits of costumes (the red Dolly dress comes to mind), original manuscripts of scores, etc..., I'd be there in a heartbeat.

I'd also like to see an adjoining cinema that did one-night-only showings of all the archived video of shows that currently sit locked away and unappreciated.

Can you imagine the tourist dollars that would attract? Updated On: 5/5/13 at 11:30 AM

[theaterfan862]

Posted: 5/5/13 at 3:46pm

John Adams I love the idea of the cinema showing the archived shows! I would go all the time. The Times Square Theater would be a wonderful space for this!

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 5/6/13 at 1:58am

I love the black box idea being kicked around. Perhaps the Michael Bennett?

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 5/6/13 at 11:23am

Broadway has already got a museum dedicated to Theater, in fact it has 40 of them.

If a blck box theatre was build on Broadway, what size should it be?

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 5/6/13 at 11:34am

Phantom, where are these 40 museums?

[finebydesign]

Posted: 5/6/13 at 11:41am

"I would rather see a museum dedicated to American theater."

Agreed. It is really pathetic there are vacant areas in Time Square that such a museum could exist. So many tourists are not fortunate enough to actually get to see a show, it could be a really great thing "to do" when you're here. I've been to the Harry Potter exhibit and the the Lion King pop-up store and the Game of Thrones store and they were just wonderful. Seeing costumes and sets, even watching clips of great performances and chatting with the tour guides really enhances the experience. It's a real shame.

[John Adams]

Posted: 5/6/13 at 11:56am

> "Broadway has already got a museum dedicated to Theater, in fact it has 40 of them."

Nuh-uh. If nobody knows it exists, it doesn't.
http://www.theproducersperspective.com/my_weblog/2012/07/have-you-been-to-the-broadway-museum.html

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/6/13 at 1:28pm

I can't help but feel that a theatre with a "strictly formal dress code" would clash with the stylistic timbre of American and British musical theatre today. Unless that theatre were to perpetually offer only "elegant and sophisticated" entertainments, and there isn't much of a market for those anyway.

[ARTc]

Posted: 5/7/13 at 2:58pm

In response to those asking about the size of suggested black box theater... I think the space should be designed with maximum flexibility in mind, and as I earlier suggested, a special compensation should be made by the unions to accommodate the capacity of the space as designed per show. The purpose of this theater is to offer a commercial house for environmental productions without having the costs associated with deconstructing and reconstruction a Broadway house - usually the Broadway Theater.

I keep thinking about the costs associated with both Dude and Candide, both played the Broadway Theater, a space not designed for such productions, but was used to 1) allow the show to have the "Broadway Show" title and 2) large enough to sort of fit in the designs of these productions (both designed by Fran and Eugene Lee).

With such a space we'd have so many more productions staged in new and inventive ways. That could only help the larger Broadway theater community.



Updated On: 5/7/13 at 02:58 PM