On Broadway: Art and Commerce on the Great White Way

269 Pages·2004·1.44 MB·English

by  Steven Adler

On Broadway
THEATRE STUDIES ADLER
“Comprehensive, sub- ATa critical, transitional moment in the history of Broadway
stantive, and thoughtful, —and, by extension, of American theatre itself—former
Broadway stage manager Steven Adlerenlists insider per-
On Broadwayis the best
spectives from sixty-six practitioners and artists to chronicle the O
book on producing I’ve Art and Commerce on the Great White Way
recent past and glimpse the near future of the Great White Way.
N
ever read. Adler’s knowl- From marquee names to behind-the-scenes power brokers,
edge of the contemporary Adler has assembled a distinctly knowledgeable cast of theatre’s
B
theatre scene (not-for- elite, including Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents, Des
McAnuff, Frank Rich, Robin Wagner, Rocco Landesman, Robert R
profit and commercial,
Longbottom, Todd Haimes, Bernard Gersten, and Alan
regional and Broadway) is O
Eisenberg.
impressive. Winning On Broadway: Art and Commerce on the Great White Way A
interviews with someof spotlights the differing vantage points of performers, artists, writ- D
the luminaries in this vol- ers, managers, producers, critics, lawyers, theatre owners, union
W
ume would have been leaders, city planners, and other influential players. Each details
his or her firsthand account of the creative and economic forces
admirable; to have had A
that have wrought extraordinary changes in the way Broadway
conversations with allof Y
theatre is conceived, produced, marketed, and executed. Once
them is exceptional.” the paramount site of American theatre, Broadway today is
becoming a tourist-driven, family-friendly, middle-class entertain-
—BARBARA W. GROSSMAN, A
ment oasis in Midtown, an enterprise inextricably bound to the r
chair of the Department of t
larger mosaic of national and international professional theatre.
a
Drama and Dance, Tufts Accounting for this transformation and presaging Broadway’s n
University identity for the twenty-first century, Adler and his interviewees d

C
assess the impact of the advent of corporate producers, the
o
ascendance of not-for-profit theatres on Broadway, and the grow- m
“On Broadway is well ing interdependence between regional and Broadway produc- m
tions. Also critiqued are the important roles of the radical urban e
organized and wonderfully
redevelopment staged in Times Square and the changing demo- rc
readable, providing graphics and appetites of contemporary theatre audiences in e

invaluable personal New York and around the globe. o
n
insights about the Actors and administrators, performers and producers, theatre
t
Broadway stage. Excellent students and theatregoers will all benefit from the perceptive h
e
questions, excellent insights in this authoritative account of theatre making for the G
new millennium.
choice of subjects.” r
e
a
—SAUL ELKIN, Steven Adleris a professor and vice chair of the Department t
of Theatre and Dance at the University of California San Diego W
Distinguished Service
and the author of Rough Magic: Making Theatre at the Royal h
Professor of Theatre, SUNY i
Shakespeare Company. He has been a stage manager on and t
e
Buffalo
off Broadway, as well as for several television productions.
W
a
y
Southern Illinois University Press
Printed in the United States of America\
P.O. Box 3697 • Carbondale, IL 62902-3697
www.siu.edu/~siupress Southern
ISBN 0-8093-2593-4 Illinois
Cover illustration:Bart Barlow/Envision University
Press
On Broadway
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On Broadway
Art and Commerce on the Great White Way
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Steven Adler
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Southern Illinois University Press / Carbondale
Copyright ©  by the Board of Trustees,
Southern Illinois University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
       
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Adler, Steven, [date]
On Broadway : art and commerce on the great white
way / Steven Adler.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
. Musicals—New York (State)—New York—History
and criticism. . Musical theater—Economic aspects—
New York (State)—New York. . Broadway (New York,
N.Y.). . Theater—New York (State)—New York—
History—th century. I. Title.
ML.NA 
.''—dc 
ISBN --- (cloth : alk. paper)
IBSN --- (pbk : alk. paper)
Printed on recycled paper.
The paper used in this publication meets the mini-
mum requirements of American National Standard for
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Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z.-. ∞
for nora and tiger, my two muses

Contents
preface ix
acknowledgments xi
1 the terrain 1
2 the producers 30
3 broadway, inc. 67
4 when worlds collide 102
5 the money song 137
6 page to stage 166
7 the nature of the beast 201
notes 231
bibliography 237
index 243

Preface
They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway,
They say there’s always magic in the air.
—Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber, and Mike Stoller, “On Broadway,” as
sung by the Drifters
T
he lights of Broadway, neon and otherwise, are brighter than ever. The
renovation of the theatre district in the s resulted in an extravagant
nightly advertising barrage, an overwhelming sensory assault. The magic
in the air is palpably different, too, occasioned by the arrival of both
corporate and not-for-profit producing organizations, escalating costs,
changing audience demographics and theatrical tastes, and the competi-
tive muscularity of Off-Broadway and regional theatres.
It is tempting, when writing about the state of Broadway, to decry the
commercialization of the district and the work seen on its stages. But
historically, Broadway has been primarily a commercial enterprise, dem-
onstrating for decades that the profit motive could support vibrant ar-
tistic expression. Broadway today, rather, must be examined in light of
numerous artistic and economic currents that have changed greatly the
way in which professional theatre in America is conceived, produced,
marketed, and presented. Broadway, once the prime generator of Ameri-
can theatre, is now just one element—albeit a critical one—in the theat-
rical equation.
I began research for this project with an enthusiasm that stemmed from
a potent desire to return to my roots. Growing up in Brooklyn, I roman-
tically viewed Broadway as the pinnacle of theatrical achievement. When
I began my theatre studies in college, however, I was exposed to the radi-
cally different world of experimental theatre. I soon adopted the prevail-
ing attitude that scorned Broadway as an anachronistic, creaking me-
mento; the exciting work was to be found elsewhere in New York and
around the country. In many ways, that disdain was more than just hip
snobbery; Broadway in the early seventies was stuck in amber. Except for
a handful of daring new works and imports from England, Broadway was
decidedly out of step with the cultural wildfire that had swept across the
ix