The Independent Theater Bloggers Association (the “ITBA”) is proud to announce the 2012 recipients of the Fourth Annual Patrick Lee Theater Blogger Awards, (the “the Patricks”). Patrick Lee was one of the ITBA’s founding members. Patrick, who passed away suddenly in June 2010, was an erudite, passionate, and tireless advocate for theater in all its forms. Patrick was also the ITBA’s first awards director, and was a regular contributor to Theatermania and TDF Stages.
Category: Broadway Theater Page 2 of 4
Contemporary Broadway Theater reviews by Yvonne Korshak.
Don’t Dress for Dinner — and don’t see this show either. I went because I read somewhere it was really funny. It is, for about ten minutes.
End of the Rainbow tells the story of the last weeks of Judy Garland’s life. Addicted to drugs and alcohol, and debt ridden, she’s spiraling downward — but her personality, on and off-stage, is as charismatic as ever. In London for a concert series, she’s staying in a lavish suite in a high end hotel (great set) with two men in tow: the young lover, Mickey, she’s taken on as her manager because he’s good looking — not the best reason to hire a business manager — and who’s in it for what he can get out the fading star, and Anthony, her long-time piano accompanist, who’s gay, loyal, and truly loves her.
Based on Michael Morpurge’s Novel, from the National Theatre of Great Britain.
Seeing War Horse in its current production is a powerful experience — the kind one has to be glad one had and feel concerned for everyone who hasn’t had the chance. “You must see it” I have said in the three days since I did, to all my friends.
It’s well known that it’s a story about a boy and a horse and that the horses in the play are represented by wonderful puppets — “puppets” sounds small — think horse size.
Ken Davenport, producer of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, posted on his blog a summary of the Annual Broadway League’s report about the demographics of the Broadway Audience 2010-2011. Thank you, Ken. Here it is:
Executive Summary:
- In the 2010-2011 season, approximately 62% of all Broadway tickets were purchased by tourists.
- 65% of the the audiences were female.
- The average age of the Broadway theatergoer was 44 years.
- 83% of all tickets were purchased by Caucasian theatergoers.
- Broadway theatergoers were also quite affluent compared to the general United States population, reporting an average annual household income of $244,100.
- Broadway theatergoers were a very well-educated group. Of theatergoers over 25 years old, 78% had complete college and 39% had earned a graduate degree.
- The average Broadway theatergoer reported attending 5 shows in the previous 12 months. The group of devoted fans who attended 15 or more performances comprised only 6% of the audience but accounted for 33% of all tickets (4.1 mission admissions).
- Playgoers tended to be more frequent theatergoers than musical attendees. The typical straight play attendee saw eight shows in the past year; the musical attendee, five.
- The use of the Internet to purchase tickets has been steadily increasing. In this season, 44% of respondents said they bought their tickets online.
- 35% of respondents reported having purchased their tickets more than one month prior to the show.
- The most popular sources for theatre information were Broadway.com, The New York Times and word-of-mouth.
- Word-of-mouth was by far the most influential factor in show selection.
- In general, advertisements were not reported to have been influential in making the purchasing decision.
- 74% of the Broadway audience said that some kind of incentive (discounts, freebies, add-ons) would encourage them to attend shows more often.
Throwing convention to the winds, a girl from a well-to-do San Francisco Jewish family joins a traveling theater troupe to get herself to the wild west, where she meets and marries, well, common law, Wyatt Earp — what a promising idea for a musical!
The Independent Theater Bloggers Association (the “ITBA”) is proud to announce the 2011 recipients of the Third Annual Patrick Lee Theater Blogger Awards. Patrick Lee was one of the ITBA’s founding members. Patrick, who passed away suddenly last June, was an erudite, passionate, and tireless advocate for theater in all its forms. Patrick was also the ITBA’s first awards director, and was a regular contributor to Theatermania and TDF Stages.
Born Yesterday by all accounts was a wonderful play when it opened on Broadway in 1946, it’s been a wonderful movie (a couple of times) and it’s a wonderful play today. It’s a love triangle with a “message.”
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
Red
OUTSTANDING BROADWAY PLAY
REVIVAL
A View From The Bridge
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY
MUSICAL
American Idiot
OUTSTANDING BROADWAY MUSICAL REVIVAL
La Cage Aux Folles
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
Circle Mirror Transformation
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY
MUSICAL
Yank!
OUTSTANDING OFF-BROADWAY REVIVAL
The Glass Menagerie
OUTSTANDING OFF-OFF BROADWAY SHOW
Viral
OUTSTANDING
SOLO SHOW
A Boy And His Soul
OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE
PERFORMANCE
Circle Mirror Transformation
CITATIONS FOR EXCELLENCE BY
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMERS
Nina Arianda, Venus In Fur
Kate Baldwin, Finian’s Rainbow
Desiree Burch, The Soup Show
Rebecca Comtois, Viral Viola
Davis, Fences
Jon Michael Hill, Superior Donuts
Douglas Hodge, La Cage Aux Folles
Sarah Lemp, The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side & Happy In The Poorhouse
Laura Linney, Time Stands Still
Jan Maxwell, The Royal Family & Lend Me A Tenor
Bobby Steggert, Ragtime & Yank!
Amy Lynn Stewart, Viral
I saw The Habit of Art “live” in a cinema well outside London, as did thousands across North America, though not on Broadway, under the new NTLive initiative, using high-definition satellite relay. This is a new technological compromise between live theatre and cinema (long-focus lenses and ingeniously unobtrusive camera technique ensure a better view than from the stalls). It’s worth a debate in its own right (does one clap and laugh aloud ?) However, the play’s the thing.