UPDATES FOR READERS OF "THE BUSINESS OF BROADWAY"

May 2022

CHAPTER 6: TONY AWARDS & OPENING NIGHTS - PANDEMIC

COVID outbreaks cancel show after show on Broadway and off-Broadway. Even the Tony eligibility deadline of April 28 is postponed until May 4 due to COVID “adjustments.” In the meanwhile, there were 16 new shows that officially opened in April only. These shows were “hampered” by canceled performances and missing stars (temporarily) including STRANGE LOOP, MACBETH (Daniel Craig), PARADISE SQUARE, PLAZA SUITE (Matthew Broderick), AMERICAN BUFFALO (Lawrence Fishburne), FUNNY GIRL, and on and on… The behind-the-scenes work to keep these shows afloat is heroic - with special thanks to the work of Company Managers (ATPAM) and Stage Managers (AEA)!

THE POST-PANDEMIC:  CHAPTER 10 (PRODUCERS)

First Closing of new Broadway Season: The Little Prince (due to run thru Aug 14, but closing May 8 (just after the Tony nominations are announced.)

CHAPTER 15: ACTORS (and UNDERSTUDIES)

QUALITY CONTROL-WHAT HATH THE PANDEMIC BROUGHT US?

From an actor/dancer/singer from A Chorus Line (a long time ago): “It was a difficult night at The Bernard Jacobs Theater last night. It was my second foray to COMPANY, and tho the 1st Act was heaven, the intermission was stalled for close to a half hour. Something was fishy. Lupone did not resume her performance, and her understudy went on. Not her standby, who is Jenn Simard, but her understudy who looked all of about 18 years old. They tossed a terrible wig on her, gave her ill-fitting clothes, and threw her out to the dogs. Now if this young lady was in a college production, she would have knocked it out of the park. She was wry, and funny, and played it the best she could. But, alas, we were not at CCM. God bless her, she could not pull it off because she did not have the years behind her, or the subtle and not so subtle gravitas to take us to the emotional places we needed to go. She ultimately landed, and when she did (and did it pretty well) we all attended to her with great applause and appreciation for what she was up against. She knew what she had been up against. And she knew we knew. We were all in it together. But with an already weak lead, and no diva to compensate, we walked out of the theater somewhat empty handed. Oh, and did I tell you about the guy in the row in front of us? Tourette’s. The poor dear man was amiable enough, but could not stop moving, and accompanied the orchestra with echos from another world. Mother Show Business was not with us last night. She had left the building.”

CHAPTER 15: ACTORS (AND CASTING) and CHAPTER 17: WRITERS

Actors asking for roles on Broadway… (Reported from Library of Congress letters from Neil Simon):

“Dear Bob,” begins a typewritten letter from Neil Simon to Bob Hope, in which Simon diplomatically and hilariously turns down Hope’s request to perform with Bing Crosby in his comedy, “The Sunshine Boys.” “If the audience would believe that Bob and Bing could portray two old Jews, then John Wayne should have been in ‘The Boys in the Band,’ ” Simon wrote. Still, the playwright did leave one possibility on the table: “If in the event you wish to convert and go through what would now be a painful circumcision,” he added, “I would certainly reconsider.”

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