Cara Joy David - Page 5

By the end of December, there has traditionally been one meeting of the Tony Awards Administration Committee to determine Tony eligibility. This season there has yet to be a meeting, leaving open a big question: which plays will be revivals and which will be new.

Broadway’s one-man A CHRISTMAS CAROL starring Jefferson Mays definitely managed magic. It is a rare show that leads even Broadway regulars to leave the theater going: “How did they do that?” BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD and some others have managed, but not many. This show did.

This past week, there have been updates in a couple of the big theater-related lawsuits. BroadwayWorld has the latest on Paradise Square and Garth Drabinsky, and The New York Post and Laura Osnes.

Slipping under the radar this past week was the news that Roundabout Theatre Company would not be presenting a winter/spring offering at the American Airlines Theatre for the first time (pandemic excluded) since the space opened in 2000. In fact, Roundabout will not be presenting anything at its three Broadway houses this spring.

It’s no secret that Broadway has not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. The Thanksgiving week box office gross was $37,475,773, compared to $41,687,333 for Thanksgiving week 2019. (While fewer shows were playing, capacity was also down, as was average ticket price.) The list of reasons for this is long: tourism is not fully back, we have a strong dollar, Covid is still keeping many traditional theatergoers away, at-home entertainment is booming, crime is constantly in the news, etcetera.

Streaming helped the industry stay alive through the pandemic. Now, as audiences are again heading to the theater, many theaters are ceasing streaming options. However, some are digging in on their commitment to virtual viewing.

The theater we see is not usually a first draft of a work. That seems obvious, but very little press attention is paid to just how a show gets developed. One way has traditionally been through theater development programs. These programs are intensive communal experiences, often pairing the artist with a dramaturg and advisors to develop a piece.

Other than a handful of playwrights 30 and under, all the playwrights spoken to for this piece believe their sex has impacted their careers in the theater. Women feel that they have trouble getting in the room and being taken seriously once there. But there is something more, a sense that when things get really bad -- beyond mansplaining bad -- there aren't many people to turn to in the theater.

In late September, The Broadway League and Actors’ Equity Association kicked negotiations into high gear for the next Broadway and sit-down production contract. The last contract expired, but was extended while the two groups worked through various pandemic-related issues. Equity, ever the fan of a social media hashtag campaign, this week asked its members to share the hashtag #ItsAboutTimeBroadway along with their support for the union.

In this, the second installment in our series on women playwrights, the playwrights speak about critical interpretation of their work and the lack of powerful female critics. Please read Part I here, which discusses the more general issues female playwrights face.

Stage dooring. Fans love it. Actors are split, and were even before the pandemic. And then the pandemic hit. When Broadway returned, stage dooring did not. It was seen as too big a risk. But when New York County had a low community level of COVID-19 transmission, it was back. Read more about stage dooring in the Industry Insight here!

In this three-part series, BroadwayWorld spoke to over 20 female playwrights who have been produced in major NY theaters about what life in the theater is really like for them -- and what can be done to make it better.

Dancer/choreographer/teacher Chet Walker - a Fosse dancer who later co-conceived FOSSE and choreographed the 2013 PIPPIN revival - died on October 21 from a glioblastoma tumor. Here, his legacy is honored by some of Broadway's most influential dancers and choreographers, including Sergio Trujillo, Andy Blankenbuehler and more.

Last week A SIGN OF THE TIMES -- was announced for a new developmental reading. The release stated the musical had “several script revisions” and the librettist was now Lindsey Hope Pearlman. Absent was any mention of well-known comedy writer Bruce Vilanch, the original librettist, who had been developing the show for almost a decade.

In August, when Actors’ Equity first announced it was seeking to represent adult dancers (aka strippers) at a California night club, many members expressed displeasure on social media.

Last week Actors’ Equity announced that it was one step closer to unionizing the dancers at Star Garden Topless Dive Bar—the National Labor Relations Board approved a petition for a union recognition election. In other words, if the dancers (and DJs) want a union, they can join one by voting.

It surprised the industry this week when playwright David Adjmi went public about his own tale of developing an Oscar Levant play with Sean Hayes – and not the one that will be seen on Broadway this spring. It has become a he said/they said battle, but BroadwayWorld has the most info in the war of words thus far, including emails between Adjmi and Hayes.

In all of Broadway’s efforts to promote accessible tickets, there is little talk of “papering.” There is good reason for this – if people capable of buying full-price tickets know that others are going to see a show for free, they won’t want to pay full price for that same show. What is papering and how does it work? We've got the scoop!

We hear a lot about making Broadway accessible. Broadway ticket prices have outpaced inflation over the decades (by a lot) and cheap preview tickets were abandoned years ago, all leading to the impression that Broadway was not accessible for those with average, or below average, incomes. There have at least been attempts to combat that impression in recent years. But something that is still largely seen as an older rich people game is investing in Broadway. However, a bunch of people have been trying to change that in the last decade, with attempts heating up more recently.

Much publicity was given to the Broadway League’s decision to cease requiring vaccinations to enter a Broadway theater, but less attention was given to the behind-the-scenes changes that were implemented around that same time. They do not include changes to the vaccination requirement – Broadway union members still must show proof of vaccination. But there are some other changes that impact the lives of your favorites.