My Favorite Recent Quote Comes From Author of Leopoldstadt
"In a scene that takes place in 1955, the young Englishman says to the Jewish man, 'It can’t happen again.’ When the play was being written, I didn’t think of it as being a foolish remark.” -- Tom Stoppard during a New York Times interview focusing on the rise of antisemitism since his Leopoldstadt opened in October.
To Stoppard, it now seems even more foolish in the months since that opening. As he put it, antisemitism has again been worming its way out of the margins and into public view.
The Reprieve of Phantom
The announcement that Broadway's longest-running show, The Phantom of the Opera, would close February 18th increased ticket sales enough to delay its closure, adding more performances. However, January and February have always caused a slump in theater attendance and the cost of running a big show like this will still be high, if not even higher. And so, even though Phantom has become as much a landmark tourist attraction as a theater outing, it's likely to remain part of the new cultural coinage for New York's post-pandemic cultural scene: "Things won't ever be like they used to be again."
Downtown, Stomp has matched Phantom as a decades-spanning cultural fixture. Despite being less expensive to run and with a smaller venue, Stomp has also declared the end of its remarkably long run will be in January. But for a glimmer of hope that these shows may eventually be back, there is the Blue Man Group, yet another super durable show, which continues to fill seats at the Astor Place Theatre on Lafayette Street.
Rave Reviews No Longer Enough to Help New Productions Have Really Long Runs
Ain't No Mo,' this season's follow-up to Strange Loop as the most edgily scripted and cast production turned out to be true to its title. Despite critical raves, this newest contender for top awards is leaving the Belasco Theatre after just 22 performances.
KPOP, the first Broadway musical featuring Korean pop songs, takes it final bow Sunday, exactly two weeks after its opening night at the Circle in the Square Theatre. The show shut down after just 44 previews and 17 performances. The very so-so reviews didn't help, but the real problem was the lack of a better plan for educating and building an audience. Most likely, this problem also applies to other must-see shows like Ain't No Mo.' It isn't enough to give a show a production and then expect new, young audiences, who rely more on word-of-mouth than critics, to buy tickets. It will also take time for. traditional theatergoers to buy into these more culturally diverse shows.
It remains to be seen if Some Like It Hot, the new musical based on the popular movie, will be a durable hit. Some Like It Hot opened at the Shubert Theater on December11th for an open run and has been praised for managing to tap into its more diverse cast without preaching.
There's also the revival of the previously much diddled with Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along at the New York Theatre Workshop in the East Village through January 22nd. Apparently, Director Mariah Friedman managed to finally turn this musical into a hit. It's likely transfer to Broadway will have the advantage of Sondheim's songs and its cast -- Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe.
For the most part -- whether on or off Broadway -- even shows that are successful opt for limited runs. The Jewish Fiddler seeded yet another production at New World Stages on 50th Street but for a limited 7-week run ending January 1st. And though the success of Leopoldstadt at the Longacre has led to it being extended until April, it's still not a play that will be around for years like Lion King or Chicago.
Unfortunately, Camp Siegfried, which is also revelatory about antisemitism, didn't fare as well. The show had neither rave reviews nor extensive promotion to support the box office of Second Stage's Tony Kaiser Theater. Granted, the play did fall short with some of its staging decisions but should have been seen by more people anyway. It's shocking revelations about German Bund-sponsored camps for American teenagers during the Hitler era were new even to someone like me who's well acquainted with Hitler's horrors as well as evidence of antisemitism in this country back in the '40s. These camps trained American teenagers to mouth Nazi slogans and actually act like Nazis. What's more, camps like these were run by the Bund all over the country and not just in the Long Island area that is the play's setting. Hopefully, the current short-lived play will get another treatment.
Solo Plays With New-Fangled Twists Continue to Play a Role in Our Cultural Zeitgeist
Solo plays have been with us throughout theatrical history. Not only is that venerable genre not dead yet, but it's again showing up on Broadway as well as Off-Broadway and in other regions. In my previous two-part overview of solo plays (www.curtainup.com › soloplay1.html and www.curtainup.com/.html), I admitted that I preferred a more populated stage. But I was always ready for exceptions, of which there were quite a few. The most groundbreaking of these was Jefferson Mayes' I Am My Own Wife, which collected a Pulitzer Prize.
Now Mayes is back as a Broadway soloist, this time at the Nederlander Theatre playing all the characters in his interpretation of A Christmas Carol. The Mayes version is probably darker than most but it's not the first to have a single narrator to present it. Patrick Stewart's solo version made it twice to Broadway. Charles Dickens promoted his in-print version by touring the United States. His readings were similar to today's increasingly popular audio plays and audiobooks. On the other hand, the available audiobook version of Gabriel Byrne's solo presentation of his memoir, Walking with Ghosts, probably contributed to its early closing at The Music Box. People returning to live theater are likely to want something splashier than Byrne narrating his story. He's a fine and charming actor, but paying Broadway prices and traveling to the theater is hardly a must-see when you could listen to him narrate the audiobook version for a lot less money, and in the comfort of one's living room.
On Screen, Plenty of British Royals To Watch -- Actors in The Crown's Season 5 . . . the Late Queen Elizabeth's Heirs Carrying on the Family Business . . . and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex Trying to Make a Living in America with a Netflix documentary
Whatever the format, there's an abundance of material on screen to vie for our attention -- and enhance the bottom line of screening platforms and news organizations. Whether you're an ardent royal watcher or not, it's hard to not know who's who and the historic highlights of the long reign of Queen Elizabeth unless you're a modern Rip Van Winkle. I did enjoy watching the actor-cast The Crown series because of the terrific group of actors playing in two of the series' first four seasons. I also watched and loved The Audience, which inspired what followed both on stage and screen.
But I've found Season 5 of The Crown disappointing and what's streaming so far of Harry & Meghan tedious.
The Crown's latest season illustrates the problem that series like this have with overstaying their welcome. Good as this latest cast is, the previous season's actors were so memorable that it was difficult to transition as easily to their successors. As for Harry & Meghan, there's nothing really new or groundbreaking about the story now told by them. For all their wanting to live more private lives, without their connections to his background Netflix wouldn't have spent all that money to have their story be right next to the hit Crown series.
But who am I to argue with savvy marketers? Despite other less than ecstatic reviews of either the latest Crown or first part of Harry & Meghan, both have gotten plenty of clicks. Enough for Season 5 no longer being the finale. Its actors will get a chance to play these roles twice, as the actors of the first four seasons did. Harry and Meghan will undoubtedly find other ways to cement their celebrity status.
My Own Favorite Onscreen Diversion
The best onscreen entertainment has been the adaptation of Anthony Horowitz's Magpie Murders on PBS. I'm not a fan of murder mysteries on either page or stage, but I find the prolific and versatile Horowitz's clever way of making himself an active part of the story intriguing. In fact, reading both Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders led me to a similarly constructed series in which Horowitz partnered with an enigmatic detective named Daniel Hawthorne. For theater buffs like me and my readers, The Twist of a Knife is a special treat as it revolves around the opening of a play. Horowitz obviously knows and loves the theater and his witty observations are great fun. The book is available in print or to borrow or buy for your Kindle reader.
