Why Don't Plays Play in Rep on Broadway?
Why Don't Plays Play in Rep on Broadway?
#1Why Don't Plays Play in Rep on Broadway?
Posted: 6/22/12 at 6:39pm
It's so hard for straight plays to make it on Broadway, why don't two shows team up and "share" a theater?
It's only the unions that prevent this from being feasible, right?
#2Why Don't Plays Play in Rep on Broadway?
Posted: 6/22/12 at 7:49pmThey have...but its more often play series like "The Norman Conquests" (3 plays), Angels in America (2 Plays), The Neil Simon Plays (Brighton Beach and Broadway Bound), think about how hard it would be to fit all the actors into the limited dressing rooms, as well as producers could take twice as long to make their money back...
#2Why Don't Plays Play in Rep on Broadway?
Posted: 6/22/12 at 8:26pmWrong. The physical and financial difficulties of two different productions "sharing" a theatre make such an arrangement basically impossible; different casts sharing dressing rooms, different tech staffs night by night, different insurance liability issues between the two production offices, etc., make the situation pretty impossible. Repertory works when the same company is performing "in repertory". Same cast, same creative and technical team, etc., such as Lincoln Center Rep and New Phoenix Rep of fond memory.
#3Why Don't Plays Play in Rep on Broadway?
Posted: 6/22/12 at 9:08pmWell, I feel like producers better start thinking creatively. Productions with simple sets could work. Insurance? Dressing rooms? It's time to figure something out.
#4Why Don't Plays Play in Rep on Broadway?
Posted: 6/22/12 at 10:04pmall of the mentioned "obstacles" can be overcome. The flaw in the reasoning is that you still have only one space in which to sell tickets so even though you are "sharing" expense, you are also sharing the available revenue stream. The net is the same and so is the bottom line, which is that good plays succeed and not so good ones don't. Two not so good plays are still not going to succeed.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#5Why Don't Plays Play in Rep on Broadway?
Posted: 6/22/12 at 10:19pm
A play is going to sell 'x' amount of tickets. If those tickets are stretched out over 3 months or 6 months, makes no difference. And how will they pay actors? At 50%? They can't make a living.
I'm not sure why you think 2 shows would do better, their RENT is 1/2 the price, but then they have to pay to have the set andd tech redone at every change AND they will only be having 1/2 the income.
There are plays that are successful. It is done. It's just a harder sell on b'way.
#6Why Don't Plays Play in Rep on Broadway?
Posted: 6/22/12 at 10:36pmThat is why only plays of same origin/author with same location are done in rep and they rarely make money...though I am waiting for an Off-Broadway production of August Wilson's complete Pittsburg cycle....also in ten yrs I wouldnt be suprised to see a rep production of A Raisin in the Sun an Clyborne Park done in 4 acts....though they take place in 2 separate locations it would be interesting to see the two performed in rep.
#7Why Don't Plays Play in Rep on Broadway?
Posted: 6/22/12 at 11:16pmThe Shaw Festival works in rep. It's one troop of actors splitting parts in various shows. It only works because it is one parent company that owns all the theatres. It can't work any other way. They dont have to be all the same author-some are musicals, some are plays.
#8Why Don't Plays Play in Rep on Broadway?
Posted: 6/23/12 at 12:24amthose of you trying to make economic sense of regional non-profit repertory in a commercial Broadway context are comparing apples and oranges. Except in very rare situations, it's not viable or sensible.
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