It's strange this world that I live in. When I was a child I always dreamt of performing on Broadway. The first Broadway show I ever went to see was Gypsy starring the amazing Tyne Daly. I was completely hooked. I became obsessed with all things Broadway, and in particular the show Aspects of Love by Andrew Lloyd Weber. I would sneak my Walkman into class and hide it under my clothes, spending the entire biology period lost in the "View of the Pyrenees."
I had it all planned out. I was going to move to New York and room with my best friend ala Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey in Beaches. (P.S. If you have never seen Beaches then we are not friends.) We would eat Chinese food out of takeout containers, and drink coffee fro
m those blue Greek coffee cups. Then on one of my many Broadway auditions I would meet Michael Ball and he would instantly fall madly in love with me. We would marry by the boathouse in Central Park, and then Michael would serenade
me with "Love Changes Everything" while rowing me across the lake. So at least trust me on this point ladies and gentlemen... I can empathize with your John Groff fantasies. I have been there.My life didn't turn out exactly as I planned. Starbucks pretty much killed the NY coffee cup of the 80's, and I am fairly certain that Michael Ball LOVES Beaches if you know what I am saying. Still I made it to Broadway. I do wish that I got to perform more often. Being an understudy is sort of like winning the silver at the Olympics. Yeah, you made it to the big race and you did pretty well, but no one is putting you on a box of Wheaties anytime soon. Jesus I am showing my age here. Do
they even make Wheaties anymore? Whatever, you get the idea. But no complaints. I am well aware of how many actors would leap at the chance to trade places with me, and I am exceedingly thankful for the job that I have. So keep your headshots at home kids. I'm not going anywhere yet.I never wanted to become an actor so that I could be famous. Back when I was a kid before everyone could go online and compare signature collages of their favorite celebs, only die hard theatre geeks really knew who these people were. Geeks like me. That picture above is Times Square in 1989 the year that Gypsy with Tyne Daly opened on Broadway and the occasion of my very first trip to the Big Apple. That one below is Times Square now almost twenty years later. Broadway theatre was taken back from the cr
iminals and the degenerates and turned into the degenerate criminal enterprise that it is today.I kid! I kid! Don't fire me!
Not all of it is degenerate, although the ticket prices are what many would call "criminal".
But with Broadway firmly ensconced as a huge moneymaking industry the art of the stage took a backseat to putting butts in the seats.
Look I'm not naive. The theatre is an industry just like any other. It's a capitalist enterprise. But where it once seemed that parts on the stage were given to those actors who were the most deserving, or perhaps the most accommodating if we are to believe the tales of the "casting couches", now it seems that any one with even the faintest whiff of name recognition is given the advantage bar none, and talent or merit be damned. Hence we have arrived in the present era where exists the bus ad I passed today advertising,
"Spamalot now featuring Steven Collins from Seventh Heaven and Drew Lachey from Dancing With the Stars!"
"Good gravy Helen! Real celebrities from the picture tube! Well that makes it a must-see!"
Pandering to the lowest common denominator has become business as usual for Broadway. Steven Collins and Drew Lachey may well be excellent choices for Spamalot. I don't know them or their abilities, and I do not mean them any disrespect professionally. But the attempt to bolster ticket sales by parading out every Tom, Joe and Jane who ever scrubbed in on an episode of Grey's has gotten a little ridiculous. It feels like we are just minutes away from these marquees,
"The F
lavor of Love girls as the Merry Mistresses of Murderers Row!""Supernanny is the original Mary Poppins!"
"The third runner up from The Bachelor is TEVYE!"
I fear for the future of the American theatre my friends.
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6 comments:
I understand exactly what you're saying.
It's ridiculous when you have Usher playing Billy Flynn in Chicago.
I hope it can change by the time I move to NYC, and in a positive way.
OMFG, Aspects of Love: YES. I was obsessed with that in high school (I don't think I'm much younger than you... I'm 27), and I had such a crush on Michael Ball. It was ridiculous.
Actually, I don't think he's a Beaches fan, if you get my drift. He's been with his partner, a woman 20 years his senior, for 20 years. Depressing that he never gave us young'uns a chance.
Have you seen the video for "The First Man You Remember"? It's on the Andrew Lloyd Webber Encores video, and it is the most... FLAMING thing you will ever see in your entire life.
Okay, I'm rambling. Need more coffee.
Ha. I love your 1989 Times Square picture and the fact that there's a Suntory Whiskey ad on it (What was the tagline in Lost in Translation? "For a good time, make it...Suntory time"?). Loves itt.
Also, LOVE LOVE LOVE Beaches. AND the fact that you love it too. Frances, you are the wind beneath my wings, yo.
One more thing. I think you captured the changes to Bway so well. Especially when it comes to casting, and artistic integrity in the theatre as a whole. Brava.
For every one or two stars cast in a show, some 50+ people remain employed. I think that's pretty fair.
Michael Ball is married, yes, but he's a fan of Beaches. Sorry.
I am waiting for a remounting of Kiss of the Spider Woman starring Charo. Seriously. Where is that production?
I just started reading your blog, and to be completely honest. IT’S BRILLIANT. I feel like I am exactly you...when you were 17 that is. I think the same way though, and you are so lucky to on Broadway, it's everything I dream of. (I know that sounds cliché :))
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