What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?
What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?
What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#0
Posted: 12/19/03 at 5:34pm
I was having a discussion with someone about this - I was wondering what some of you experts think. I think it might be polarized in some way, but I'm not sure how.
re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#1
Posted: 12/19/03 at 5:46pmi don't even know what polarized means. Shows how dumb I am......
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#2
Posted: 12/19/03 at 5:48pmexact opposites.. two extremes.
re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#3
Posted: 12/19/03 at 5:49pm
i see
i think i'm just having a dumb day. I have not been on the ball today
re: re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#4
Posted: 12/19/03 at 6:00pmSorry, i guess I wasn't being very clear. I was just thinking that with Mamma Mia being so popular, I was wondering if some musicals would go more in that direction in the future, then others would have a counter reaction another way (which may be totally wrong).
re: re: re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#5
Posted: 12/19/03 at 6:20pm
I'm afraid it will be dominated by badly written shows with no artistic value starring untalented pop stars.
Oh, wait a minute, you said twenty years.
Chorus Member Joined: 10/2/03
re: re: re: re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#6
Posted: 12/19/03 at 7:56pmDisney is attacking... Broadway will become Disneyway. There will be a select few good shows but it will be mostly Disney crap filled with young children and parents.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#7
Posted: 12/19/03 at 8:08pmIr will be more expensive & therefore less available to the general public which is a shame
re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#8
Posted: 12/19/03 at 8:45pm
why all the doom and gloom? is anyone afriad to say what maybe Broadway will continue to make interesting new shows that some people love and others will hate?
whats wrong with Disney anyway?
Its been the same thing since Broadway began. You can't please everyone.
re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#9
Posted: 12/19/03 at 8:54pm
I'm hoping that it will become more widely accepted the way movies are today, even though Live shows are more expensive.
Once upon a time seeing a Broadway show was a status thing. Now there are discounts and other things that make Broadway more available to everyone. I think in 20 years there's always a possibility that Broadway can be better then ever. 
Broadway Star Joined: 8/31/03
re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#10
Posted: 12/19/03 at 8:58pmIt will all be theme park shows. Disney and Warner bros will see to that. We are halfway there already with crap like mamma mia, aida, beauty, and so forth.
re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#11
Posted: 12/19/03 at 9:05pm
Broadway used to be a place for creative, groundbreaking and innovative theatre, as many plays as musicals. It was a place that produced shows by Williams, Albee, Inge, Miller,Hecht, O'neil, Wilder, Kaufman and Hart. Now its a creative void, full of happy, non thinking musicals that are neither innovative or very creative. Where only revival plays have a chance of succeeding, because the majority of the broadway going public are too stupid to sit through a show where they might actually have to think.
If you want true theatre go off broadway, off off broadway or to regional theatres. Whatever happens 20 years from now, in the present Broadway is not the same as it was when it began, its a commercially driven, artistically void wasteland. A shadow of what it started out as.
re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#12
Posted: 12/19/03 at 9:13pm
So it can ony get better right? 
I know. I'm living in a dream world. but I'm trying so desperately to remain optomistic.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/03
re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#13
Posted: 12/19/03 at 9:22pm
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=polarize
...and just in case:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=optimistic
re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#14
Posted: 12/19/03 at 10:53pm
Aida is nowhere near a Disney show. Just because it has the name does not mean it is crap. The only thing bad about Aida is how they are having all of the R&B singers playing the lead. Other then that it is a wonderful show.
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/03
re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#15
Posted: 12/19/03 at 11:29pmSeeing at the rate it's going now...I see movie stars replacing B-way stars. And I see Phantom of the Opera STILL running.
re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#16
Posted: 12/20/03 at 11:48amThe three Disney shows are completely different and unique. Just because they have the name Disney attached, doesn't mean they are automatically crap. Are Menken and Ashman somehow only respected if they write directly for the stage?
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#17
Posted: 12/20/03 at 11:55am
Good point Mr Matt
The disney shows have kept many people on the payroll ( off & on stage ) & have revitalized Broadway bringing in a whole new audience. To those anti disneys out there, would you rather have empty theaters & out of work actors & musicians ? Take something for those turned up noses so they get back to normal
re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#18
Posted: 12/22/03 at 12:26amI have no idea what Broadway will be like in 20 years, but I hope 70-something year old Bernadette Peters will be starring in a big hit musical! I know I'll plop down my $300.00 to see it!
re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#19
Posted: 12/22/03 at 9:37amJustin Timberlake IS PETER ALLEN in the 20 anniversary production of Boy From Oz!three weeks only at the wonderful new Starbucks Theatrical Center(formerly the Majestic Theatre) And they'll be doing DOTV at Encores!,which by then will be called McDonald's Encores!
Leading Actor Joined: 5/22/03
re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#20
Posted: 12/22/03 at 9:54am
Always hard to tell. Broadway in 1920 was not the same as it was in 1940. Broadway in 1960 changed in 1980. It all depends on things over which most of us have no control. Perhaps it should be a surprise!!!
Miriam
re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#21
Posted: 12/22/03 at 10:08am
Similar thoughts as Miriam's. Additionally, I think the audience in 20 years will be a baramoter as to what will fly in film and on stage. So, all you bw.com younguns will have a direct impact on what is hot on Broadway in the year 2023.
Think about that real hard ...and save your money for the $120+ ticket prices ! Hoepfully, I'll be in a luxury nursing resort having people work for ME!
Pati b
re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#22
Posted: 12/22/03 at 10:13amAgree with Miriam. Every Broadway generation has been completely different and art is always evolving. Though I know cynicism is hip and trendy right now, I refuse to play the game. Glad to know so many "fans" of musical theatre have so little faith in it.
re: re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#23
Posted: 12/22/03 at 10:31am
To whip out my crystal ball...
The declining Disney (a decline that has started, despite some visible successes) will have put a freeze on its theatrical enterprises after Tarzan flops and loses large heaps of money. Disney will slowly pull out, and as the appetite of the general public for escapism fades, so will much of corporate interest in shows. Broadway will decline sharply for a little while, at least, until the extortionist price of renting a theatre is driven down and shows can be produced at reasonable rates.
At some point, something really visionary will hit and forge a new wave of theatre; whether it will have happened by 2023 or not, well, no one can be sure. But it won't be the same old familiar stuff. You can only market fluff so long before the delivery system breaks down.
-Wayne
re: re: re: re: re: What will Broadway be like 20 years from now?#24
Posted: 12/22/03 at 3:46pmFluff has been around since the dawn of Broadway and will continue. Why does everyone seem to think it is a recent trend or even some sort of trend at all? Disney, Dodger Theatricals, The Weisslers = musicals produced on Broadway = hundreds of jobs and shows for the public to enjoy. What's the problem? If Disney left Broadway, would this make all the snobs happy? No, they'll just find a new reason to be cynical and elitist.
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