Broadway 2007

One of the nifty things about this humble blog is that it's part of the Herald-Dispatch, so I can include stories from the Associated Press - including this one that offers a recap of the past year on Broadway:

Broadway Strike Produced No Winners

By MICHAEL KUCHWARA
AP Drama Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - More drama happened off stage than on in 2007 as stagehands shut down most Broadway theaters for 19 days this fall. No Jersey Boys. No Wicked. No Lion King. No Phantom of the Opera.

The strike got Broadway more publicity than all its hit musicals combined. Suddenly, theater was front-page news and all over the Internet. But the cost to producers, the city and theater-related businesses was enormous. Estimates of losses ranged upward of $40 million during what is usually one of the most lucrative times of the year—the Thanksgiving holiday.

So who won?

No one, although the producers got a little relaxation of work rules governing the opening and running of shows and stagehands got modest raises. The only guarantee: ticket prices will rise, probably sooner rather than later.

The strike, which started Nov. 10, dampened what has been the busiest fall season for new plays in years. After curtains rose again Nov. 29, one critically acclaimed hit, a new work by Tracy Letts, emerged.

It's called August: Osage County, and, yes, it is the best play of The drama from Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a blistering tale in which family members fight furiously.

The language is brutal but often very, very funny, and the cast, most of them veterans of the Chicago production, is superb. In 2008, August: Osage County could very well win the Tony and the Pulitzer Prize.

There were other good plays, too. Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll, which follows a Czech writer from the turbulent 1960s into the 1990s, is terrific theater. 2007 was a double-whammy year for Stoppard. His three-part, nine-hour Coast of Utopia won the Tony Award for best play.

Great ensemble acting also could be found in The Seafarer, Conor McPherson's liquor-fueled Christmas Eve fable built around a life-or- death poker game.

And then there was Radio Golf, the final chapter in August Wilson's epic 10-play cycle depicting the black experience in 20th century America. The play, arriving on Broadway nearly two years after Wilson's death, provided a worthy ending to Wilson's ambitious effort.

The best-musical Tony went to Spring Awakening, the story of sexually repressed teenagers in 19th-century Germany. The pop-rock musical by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater opened off-Broadway in the summer of 2006 and moved to Broadway the following December.

It remained one of the big musicals of 2007, along with Mary Poppins and the revival of A Chorus Line. All three proved popular with audiences, and have recouped their considerable investments.

One little musical came to town and scored in a big way. Xanadu, based on the movie musical that pretty much sank the film career of Olivia Newton-John, opened in July. It has attracted a dedicated band of followers called "Fanadus" and has become something of a minor camp classic all by itself.

Only one big musical opened on Broadway in the fall: Mel Brooks' wildly anticipated Young Frankenstein. His follow-up to the smash hit The Producers is based on Brooks' 1974 movie about the nephew of the more famous creator of that giant monster. Its ticket prices generated publicity, particularly the premium priced $450 tickets for the best seats in the house.

They probably aren't selling too many of those since the reviews were mostly underwhelming, but the cast, which includes Roger Bart, Megan Mullally, Andrea Martin, Sutton Foster and Shuler Hensley, works very hard.

One other mammoth song and dance show was to have opened in 2007. But Disney's The Little Mermaid lost more than two weeks of preview performances during the strike. Now we will have to wait until 2008 — the show opens Jan. 10 — to learn if this "Mermaid" will sink or swim.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.