Netflix Has Created a New Golden Age for Mainstream Romance Series With Virgin River

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Netflix Has a New Golden Age for Mainstream Romance Series With Virgin River 

by Elyse Sommer

The streaming platform's move into the world of romance-sourced novels as series has been  an astounding success. It's not that romance writers like Virgin River author Robin Carr haven't been big moneymakers for years. But, heretofore, they've been considered too low brow and specialized to be seen alongside more prestigious romantic fare by the likes of    John Patrick Shanley.

The way Virgin River has out-performed all other Netflix content is especially amazing given   that its fan base is female and even its main actors are not high-profile actors. What's more, while billed as a feel-good escape from our ever increasingly troubled real world, the series'  plot developments are hardly lighthearted. In episode after episode, its characters suffer   devastating illnesses and grief. As for the peaceful, bucolic fictional northern California   landscape, that too includes plenty of darkness -- a drug-peddling colony as well as incidents of rape and murder.  

There was yet another purpose for the addition of this genre.The high cost of holding on to  subscribers has forced even the biggest subscription service of them all to look for new revenues.  And, so, the open digital door for Virgin River.

The expanded format of romantic fiction as a series rather than single-view, Hallmark-ish  movie has, of course, been common on PBS Masterpiece. And this bingeable series has had a ripple effect at Netflix with its Regency costume drama Bridgerton and on the Masterpiece platform with the recently completed series of Jane Austen's unfinished last novel, Sanditon. In fact, Sanditon triggered another new wrinkle to on-screen entertainment by extending its intended single season to three as a result of viewer demand.

While I didn't read or plan to read the novels that Virgin River was based on, I'll admit that the casting and smartly structured and paced adaptation of the series did hook me in like the rest of its fans. That said, I can understand why Netflix would want to cash in further on the series' success but doing so with a Virgin River Stories Game strikes me as odd. The viewers who love the series are not gamers -- and gamers aren't typical Virgin River fans. Yet, Netflix has launched the gaming app before posting the sixth season (It HAS been filmed!) of the series, which bingers are eagerly waiting for.     

Romance writers have long been relegated to outsiderdom from prestige fiction, which made them become entrepreneurs. Their self-published narratives are actually selling well enough to reach bestseller status, with publishers offering them big advances. And as adapting these books as series has created this screening golden era, so the print versions have seeded the creation of successful romance bookstores all over the country. But that's another story for this type of fiction.

And so, before I close this hodge-podge about Virgin River's remarkable success despite its  limited viewership, a bit about what's happening on Broadway and Off-Broadway.

A look at the announcements popping up on marquees all over town seems to point to a  cohtinued comeback from the pandemic years, as indicated by strong sales for Stephen  Sondheim's finally successful Merrily We Roll Along. But the high price of tickets, the  continued preference to work from home rather than in Manhattan offices and the use of limited theatrical runs rather than landmark-style runs like Phantom and Cats are still with us.

One upcoming must-see is the latest Gypsy, with the always-must-see Audra McDonald. The problem is that Audra has a busy home life and is likely to skip matinees and end her Mama Rose role early. In addition, the intense summer heat may have some less inclined to leave their air-conditioned homes. Others may seek "comfort food" diversions from the troubling   political zeitgeist.

I can't predict how any of this will play out, but ask me to predict one theatermaker who can make another golden era of theater audiences possible. My answer is the technician who can  find a way to film the final live performance of a show, possibly at a price lower than what currently only the producers of Merrily We Roll Along can afford.

To check out news of what's new and coming up on and off The Great White Way, go to  Playbill's link below:

https://playbill.com/news

Gallimaufry -- a Hodge Podge of Thoughts Prompted by Local, Global & Cultural Events

Gallimaufry -- a Hodge Podge of Thoughts Prompted by Local, Global & Cultural Events

By Elyse  Sommer

Friends with whom I maintain a steady email conversation often receive one from me with a subject heading of "This and That." The contents include a numbered list of topics to which the recipient can then respond. And so, by calling this missive Gallimaufry, I'm simply indulging in a linguistic borrowing from sixteenth-century French cooks who concocted a stew that contained a little of this and that.

I'm using this old-world title to gather some glad/sad thoughts and memories kicked up by life right  where I live and further afield. I'll start with what's closest -- my home territory. I'm fortunate to live in a neighborhood that remains a suburban-like oasis, with tree-lined streets convenient to restaurants,  grocery markets and quick transportation (subway, Long Island Railroad, buses) to NewYork's business and entertainment hub. Despite skyrocketing rents and purchase prices, young people continue to move here. What's more, instead of allowing the dire climate disasters and deplorable incidents of gun violence to discourage them, they courageously opt to raise families. Watching some of their "pandemic babies" become lively toddlers and getting to know them and their parents has socially enriched my daily walks and compensated somewhat for the social interaction that was integral to my previous busy life as Curtainup's editor and critic-in-chief.

Less upbeat and decidedly worrisome is the rise of authoritarian heads of state and the disastrous conflict in the Middle East. To ramp up these worries, that conflict has led to protests and an increase in antisemitism on local campuses and streets.

As for theatercentric happenings, I may be retired but I remain an armchair observer of the beat that  kept me super busy for a quarter century. Thus, below are comments on some happenings along the  area encompassing what's known as The Great White Way.

For starters, the practice of renaming theaters to honor notable practitioners of playwriting, directing  and performing continues, which also supports the bottom line and makes them more commercially  viable enterprises. Several theaters have been renamed since my retirement. But the most spectacular  new look on Broadway is the renovated Palace Theater. Eight years of work culminated in the entire  theater being raised 30 feet in the air. The airlifted venue will open with a concert by Ben Platt and   then followed by Tammy Faye, a new musical about the famous and also infamous preacher's wife. Katie Brayhen plays Tammy Faye and Andrew Rannells plays her spouse.

While I'd probably go to press previews of both the above, I would have had one of my musical  enthusiast backups do the reviews. On the other hand, two upcoming plays would top my see-and-  write-up list: Good Night, and Good Luck and The Mother.

I saw and liked the 2005 movie, Good Night, and Good Luck (the signature sign-off line of famed  newscaster Edward R. Murrow). The movie starred David Strathairn as Murrow and Georce Clooney as Fred Friendly. With Clooney scripting, directing and taking the lead, this stage adaptation would  certainly be on my list of must-see as well as write-about upcoming new plays.

Of course, I wouldn't miss anything by the great Paula Vogel -- not the revival of her Pulitzer-Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive when it was at the Samuel Friedman or her new play, The Mother,  which revisits the story about the brother whose loss she dramatized in The Baltimore Waltz before she  and its downtown cast became famous. The reviews of the new take at the Helen Hayes rejiggered one of my most memorable theater outings.

As always, and especially given that audiences are still hesitant to pay costlier-than-ever ticket prices   except for big-cast, sure-fire musicals, the remarkable solo play Prima Facie is having an unusual and  fascinating off-stage life. A recorded version of the show is being made available to judges who deal with sexual assault cases in Northern Ireland's courts. Bravo for harnessing the play for this valuable  function. 

Hopefully, the whole season, but especially the plays, on what would be the top of my must-see-and-  review list will be filmed so that I'll have a chance to watch on my home screen. No, it won't be the  same, but will give me a front-row view of the actors' faces and gestures. That view is only available   to people in the first five or six rows of a Broadway theater's top-priced orchestra seats.