Comments on: Chicken Little Comes to Broadway

By: Ronnie Gipper

Ronnie Gipper — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:37:44 +0000

Jeff -

Keep your eyes on “Minsky’s”. It’s in previews in LA, and is an extraordinary piece of theatre. The music is by Charles Strouse (“Bye Bye Birdy” and “Annie”) and book by Bob Martin (“The Drowsy Chaperone”). If you’re in LA or LA adjacent, you should check it out. (But leave the kids at home.)

By: Pol Potsie

Pol Potsie — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:00:49 +0000

I always thought it was bizzare that a negative review from a famous critic could shut down a Broadway play after only one show. Does this still happen?

By: Jeff Perren

Jeff Perren — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:56:27 +0000

So, what are the chances there will be even one good show on Broadway again in the next few years (that isn’t a revival)?

Will the days when the likes of Cyrano was a hit return? Will we see a new Cole Porter or Rodgers & Hart, or Terence Rattigan, Paddy Chayevsky, James Goldman, or Ira Levin?

When that happens, I’ll happily plot down $50 for a ticket.

By: maatkare

maatkare — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:48:49 +0000

Might it not be true that in recent years the main backers of Broadway shows haven’t been long-time theater folk but businessmen with deep pockets who were ignorant of the cycles of theater to begin with? The same guys who wondered why after opening a gajillion Starbucks people finally leveled off how many macchiatos they needed? (I didn’t hear Harold Prince or Mike Nichols complaining) I would also put forward that Disney theatricals is a miniscule part of the greater Disney Omniverse and thus much more able to absorb a loss, and many of the shows that closed were fairly popular as well as critically acclaimed (Gypsy, Spamalot) as well as the bloated and insanely expensive (Young Frankenstein), so a little surprise isn’t out of place. (I saw Spamalot in ‘05 and had hoped to see Gypsy if I made a spring trip back…oh well. My 70 year old aunt want to see “Hair” so I hope it’s up by the time I make it back.) Everyone thinks their industry is the most important–I weathered the writers strike here in L.A. and had to repeatedly remind my friends that, no, our industry was a much smaller part of the overall California economy than we liked to admit: a lot of people got hurt but the state was hardly crippled. Agriculture, not the Biz, is the engine that runs California.

By the way, Stage Right, with all due respect, you clarion call for a conservative leader falls a bit hollow from a person who won’t write under their actual name. Of course, considering you just called them panty-waists and whiners I guess I don’t blame you.

By: Jaci

Jaci — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:44:33 +0000

Well, how else are they supposed to get their bailout? Hollywood is getting on, why not Broadway?

By: Wayfarer

Wayfarer — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:35:06 +0000

I have to say that I’ve enjoyed hearing your take on Broadway. I’ve never really heard anything on the “inner workings” of Broadway before. It is very interesting.