| Thoughts on why playwrights like NEIL SIMON have become irrelevant on Broadway? | |
| Posted by: NJGUY 10:39 am EST 11/30/17 | |
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| I saw a performance of the play "The Portuguese Kid" and have come to some conclusions. TPK is actually a funny play with some preposterous circumstances; yet I haven't laughed that hard watching a play in a while (they were Italian and Greek yet they could easily have been Jewish and you have Jason Alexander who IS Jewish up onstage-so it felt very ethnic). Going solo, I was able to listen in on the conversations around me, prior to the start of the play. Most everyone was in their 70's and talking about Hanukah and B'Nai-Mitzvahs and kvelling about their grandchildren (I am Jewish, so not out to increment anyone), yet I thought that these are the same people who lived through Neil Simon's canon of plays and now are seeing the same sort of fare off-Broadway-maybe 300 seats (and at about 85% capacity there were empty seats). My conclusion is that Broadway used to be a much more regional event (rather than an international event like it is now), and with half of all the Jews in the country living in the NYC metro area, they were able to fill the theater's 1,100 seats for this sort of fare. Also, the appeal was frequently about the relate-able common person, so that middle-class people could have a nice night out and not need to take out a home equity loan to see a play. My other conclusion is that with over 400 scripted television shows, much of what was offered on Broadway can be viewed in the comfort of your own home. PS-the METEOR SHOWER review in today's NY Times refers to this matter, yet they never give the WHY. What are other people's thoughts on the WHY of the changing dynamics of Neil Simon-like plays on Broadway? |
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