The end of summer finds some theater bloggers (Ken Davenport , Broadway & Me’s Jan Simpson and the staff of Theatrely) coming up with lists, while others (Broadway Journal’s Philip Boroff, OnStage Blog’s Chris Peterson and Davenport again) write about money: Are Broadway tickets really that expensive? Should they be free?
Inspired by the New York Times’s “The Best Movies of the 21st Century,” Jan Simpson in Broadway & Me has come up with A Highly Subjective List of the (So Far) Best Plays and Musicals of the 21st Century. She lists ten, with descriptions (I agree with three of them; one I haven’t ever seen). They are (alphabetically):
Casa Valentina by Harvey Fierstein, 2014
Cost of Living by Martyna Majok, 2016
Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar, 2012
Downstate by Bruce Norris, 2018
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz, 2009
Fun Home music by Jeanine Tesori, and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, 2013
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia by Edward Albee, 2000
Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2015
The Hot Wing King by Katori Hall, 2020
Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz, 2011
The Theatrely31, the “newly minted annual compilation of [31] visionary actors, directors, and theatre makers poised for a meteoric rise” is a refreshing list of mostly young artists who recently worked as understudies or assistant directors, as well as early career playwrights, composers, choreographers, costume designers, clowns.
Ken Davenport writes about The Shows That Got Me Through the Last 21 Years, in celebration of the shows he’s produced on and Off Broadway over the 21 years oof his production company Davenport Theatrical Enterprises. In two other posts: He points out that Broadway shows are closing faster (16 have closed since the Tony Awards this year; the average is 10); he reports on a survey in which younger theatergoers changed their mind about Broadway being too expensive when given more context — how Broadway tickets compare in price to other live events and luxury goods, and how much it costs to produce a Broadway show.
Amid “a challenging time for Broadway, which is grappling with runaway production budgets and a paucity of musicals recouping their costs,” Philip Boroff reports on rumors that the private equity firm Blackstone, led by billionaire Steven Schwarzman, will buy ATG, Broadway’s third largest theater owner, which controls seven Broadway houses, 10 on the West End and dozens more in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Spain. One sentence stood out for me in this complicated business story: “ATG and its producing partners raised a head-spinning $24.25 million for its own revival of Cabaret, which has been a resounding flop.”
In On Stage Blog, Chris Peterson asks: What if the first week of Broadway previews were free? — which he calls a fantasy worth dreaming about, explaining how it might work, and what the benefits would be. e.g. “Theatre feels different when it’s shared by a wide, unpredictable cross-section of the city. The magic of a Broadway performance isn’t just in the costumes or the curtain call, it’s in the collective gasp when a plot twist lands, the shared laugh at a perfectly timed joke, the hush before a final note. Maybe free previews aren’t realistic, but maybe the idea nudges us to think bolder about accessibility.”
David Sheward in The David Desk 2: Gay Marriage and Kennedy Center Horrors–I Mean Honors
Recent episodes from theater podcasts:
The Theatre Podcast with Alan Seales interviews Alison Jaye, cast member of Stranger Things: The First Shadow,
Call Me Adam podcast interviews Crystal Skillman and Megan Hill, the playwright and star of the play “Open”
The Drama Book Show podcast talks with Gabriel Weiner, author of How To Sing Without Thinking
HowlRound’s Daughter of Lorraine podcast interviews director and playwrights Robert O’Hara about getting comfortable with discomfort
Special guest blog from the Edinburgh Fringe Society: 2025 Wrapup
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