Mad Season

Broadway Outsider

Dec 13

There’s an old expression in show business started by the screenwriter, William Goldman. In his titular book about his life in Hollywood, Which Lie Did I Tell?, he stated that when it comes to knowing if a film is going to be a hit or even get made, “Nobody knows anything,” and that sentiment seemed to apply to the first post-Covid Broadway season. It has been a wacky year of hits, misses and not a few scandals.

Tina Turner Producers sue to get their money back.

I recently heard that the producers of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical just won a court case against one of their insurers, Chubb. After the show closed because of the shut down during Covid they filed to cover their losses and the insurance company tried to say basically, Nuh-uh Covid doesn’t count. Well, the state Supreme Court felt otherwise and they have to pay the producers.

What kind of person even goes into the insurance business?

I think about Beanie Feldstein a lot.

She opened last spring as Fanny Brice in the long awaited, anticipated and gossiped about production of Funny Girl. A feat no producers have even attempted since Streisand sang the heck out of that role more than 50 years ago. After lukewarm reviews about her specifically and being disregarded by the Tony’s and the subsequent fall off at the box office, she announced that she was leaving the show earlier than was planned. Fans clamored for Lea Michelle to take the mantle – the Glee actress who had been campaigning for the role for years – and they got what they wanted. Michelle has received rave reviews, a fucking personal note from Streisand and the box office reports 99% ticket sales. There she was in the Macy’s parade. How do you process that if you’re Beanie? Why did producers let it get that far? When she was out with Covid, theater goers were flocking to see her understudy when word quickly got out that she was brilliant in the role.

I wish Beanie Feldstein a triumphant return to the stage in a role that is perfect for her.

I was right about Phantom, just saying.

Phantom announced it was closing this February and just as I guessed, it began selling out. For the first time in years there is standing room only in the theater. The producers have extended its closing date to the middle of April. Apparently, some of the show’s older tricks and mechanicals would have needed an upgrade soon. Lately, it seems the boat that the Phantom uses to row Christine onto stage breaks down a lot and the actors have had to get out and walk down stage for their big moment.

If you don’t like this show, then you’re probably racist

The show was bad though, according to everyone I know who saw it and worked on it and it is unfortunately closing this Sunday December 11. Wanna know what the reviewer said? That the lighting design was so bright it was… “Squint inducing.” That does kind of make you want to smack yourself on the forehead, but do you really think that a critic for the Times would choose that moment in his career to make a schoolyard racist joke and hope to get away with it?

Neither do I.

K-Pop, the musical about, well, K-Pop got a scathing review from the New York Times (and everyone else) and the producers demanded an apology calling the review racist. This sets an alarming precedent. Actually, it shines a light on an unacknowledged reality. If a white critic doesn’t gush over a show that features marginalized people in society, they are at risk of simply being dismissed as racist. One can read between the lines in other instances in the media where a critic is holding back from saying anything negative about a performer or writer of color because the pushback on social media could be swift and sometimes career ending.The show was bad though, according to everyone I know who saw it and worked on it and it is unfortunately closing this Sunday December 11. Wanna know what the reviewer said? That the lighting design was so bright it was… “Squint inducing.” That does kind of make you want to smack yourself on the forehead, but do you really think that a critic for the Times would choose that moment in his career to make a schoolyard racist joke and hope to get away with it? Neither do I.

Other hits and misses

After tepid reviews, Almost Famous is doing well at the box office, but it is not likely to be memorialized in the Museum of Broadway. Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, despite bad reviews is doing strong box office and likely will continue to on the strength of the older white demographic that is there to ecstatically sing along to Sweet Caroline at the shows curtain call.

Put away your Monarch Notes, the three-hour long Arthur Miller chestnut, Death of a Salesman will not be extending its run at the Hudson despite strong reviews especially for the leading man Wendell Pierce, who will likely win a Tony for his herculean performance. However, there will be a quiz.

The word is that Some Like it Hot is in position to be this season’s big hit. Audiences are gushing about how brilliant and funny the show is, one woman told me it was going to be “the next Producers.” We will see when the reviews come out on December 11!

Topdog/Underdog – the revival of Susan Lori Park’s hit play is getting lots of great buzz and not enough people are talking about the fact that SAMUEL L JACKSON IS ON BROADWAY in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. It has been extended through January 29. (See I’m not racist.)

Do not miss:

Audra MacDonald in Ohio State Murders,

Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt.

Things I’m scared of:

Bad Cinderella. The king of pop mediocrity, Andrew Lloyd Webber is preparing to drop another turd on Broadway – this time, Bad Cinderella. The production (then just Cinderella,) was hobbled by trying to open during Covid in London and will descend upon New York later this winter. It is supposed to be a baudy take on the classic fairy tale. Cinderella with dirty words. People close to the Lloyd Webber empire have less than kind things to say about the music and book thus far, but hopefully it will be a fun one for all.

Shucked, a new musical comedy that seems to be about corn.

Jessica Chastain in A Dolls’ House. I almost fell asleep typing that.

Back to the Future: The Musical

I am Marking my calendar for…

The return to the boards of Nathan Lane in Pictures from Home directed by Bartlett Sher (To Kill a Mockingbird) and also starring Zoe Wannamaker and Danny Burstein. At Studio 54 this January!

On a personal note:

My ten year old son saw MJ: The Michael Jackson Musical and has been playing Beat It and Smooth Criminal on an never-ending loop ever since.

Scott Brooks

Born and raised in a small town in Massachusetts, Scott has lived in New York City for more than twenty years. A degree in theater led down many paths from a gig as a top 40 DJ, to film and television production. He also managed to write several plays and get some of those on stage. He has had a handful of screenplays optioned or produced along the way as well. Most recently, Reality Sets In – a comedy web series about being newly single in the city. His proclivity for the arts led to a slew of survival jobs from tour guide to the inevitable years in hospitality where he prefers to bartend in fancy restaurants and five-star hotels, if he must do it at all. His first novel, based on his experiences at the intersection of hospitality and show business, And There We Were and Here We Are is available on Amazon Kindle and in paperback. He also just finished the travel tip book; 50 Things to Know Before You Go to the Theatre in NYC, which is also available on Amazon. He is an avid reader and proud father.

Mad Season