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Post by lynette on Mar 8, 2019 12:43:35 GMT
Do we only get the ones some British producers like? On reading the reviews of what is on in New York at the moment, I’m wondering if any of them will make it over here. I suppose I can’t expect to have them all but I do think we miss out on some good stuff. We seem to send our good stuff over there, eg The Lehman Bros ( SRB the draw?).
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2019 13:04:23 GMT
Do we only get the ones some British producers like? On reading the reviews of what is on in New York at the moment, I’m wondering if any of them will make it over here. I suppose I can’t expect to have them all but I do think we miss out on some good stuff. We seem to send our good stuff over there, eg The Lehman Bros ( SRB the draw?). We get most of the decent musicals although some fall through the cracks, hopefully a show like The Band’s Visit or The Visit (without the band) won’t now go the way of Light in the Piazza, eventually arriving only in a brief run of a concert version (it took Dreamgirls decades to get here). Plays are a different proposition, American playwriting has been in a bit of a hole recently and ones that are well received there have looked parochial and underpowered here. There’s been a more outward looking group of playwrights on the rise, however, so writers like Annie Baker, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Tarell Alvin-McCraney and Anne Washburn have been excellently served by well attended and reviewed transfers (and are now being followed by plays from the likes of Clare Barron (Dance Nation) and Sarah Delappe (The Wolves)). |
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Post by dlevi on Mar 9, 2019 9:09:37 GMT
I believe the reason we don't get a lot of the crop of new American plays over here is that most of them aren't that good or interesting.
And the reason for that is that when a new playwright emerges from somewhere with an original voice in New York they get snapped up by the far more financially lucrative world of television. Since most of the television production is generated out of the west coast, they move there. where writing for the theatre is a sideline. Look at the writing/producing credits of tv shows from the US and you'll see lots of names with one or two off-broadway plays to their credit and then off to Hollywood. The American theatre hasn't found a way to nurture and support emerging playwrights and keep them from the temptation of the television money ( those agents at CAA and WME convince these writers they can always "go back" to the theatre ). The result is that unless it's an Annie Baker or Brandon Jacob Jenkins who are committed to the theatre , they don't take the time needed to grow artistically in the ways and explore the themes which make them become great playwrights.
Whereas over here, the list of young talented playwrights is long and with television production also centered in London, those temptations don't involve moving to a different geographical location. Also there is the subtle encouragement of plays over here are published - Oberon, Nick Hern, Faber, French, etc. all publish lots and lots of plays. it's not unusual for a new playwright here to get his script published, thats hugely encouraging not just to that writer, but to all would-be playwrights. In the states, that simply isn't the case. A new play premiering in an institutional theatre for a limited run doesn't get published ( if at all) until the stock and amatuer rights are sold to someone and even then it will probably only be sold in an "acting" edition.
Over here we are getting the best of what the American theatre has to offer ( The Cost of Living now in Hampstead) , they do musicals large and small better than we do . We do plays large and small better than they do. ( The Lehman Trilogy, Yerma, even Ink) all of which have crossed the pond.
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Post by Mark on Mar 9, 2019 10:14:04 GMT
With musicals, there are very few Broadway "hits" which we don't get transferring over now. From recent memory, Gentleman's Guide, Newsies and next to normal are the ones which didn't. Still to early to tell if Band's Visit will come over in some form.
For new plays, its much like London. A lot of new plays are built on star casts, or transfer in from other venues.
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Post by lynette on Mar 9, 2019 16:49:15 GMT
dievi, thanks, really interesting analysis
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Post by Mark on Mar 9, 2019 17:11:30 GMT
From recent memory, Gentleman's Guide, Newsies and next to normal are the ones which didn't I think "Next To Normal" everybody was saying the UK rights were taken and nobody else is being allowed to do the show by that holder? Wonder if it is this rights / licencing issue that prevents some stuff being presented. It can be done here, but just isn't due to the rights holder's decisions. If it is then what a shame. I feel like the time has passed for it now. That said, it took 35 years for Dreamgirls. |
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Post by Phantom of London on Mar 9, 2019 17:29:27 GMT
You recently had the Tony winning and Pulitzer winner The Humans over, as well the Pulitzer winning Cost of Living despite both being leaden with eye watering awards people on here weren’t blown away by both, so even what is the gold atandard in America is less so here, this is because the UK is a factory for both quantity and quality play writing and this is incubated in a marvellous subsidised theatre scene we have here. You even have American plays that begin their creative journey here!
You had recent Tony winning Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonya and Marsha and Spike that is yet to come over and Robert Schennkan’s All The Way, I imagine the last one was reliant on the the Star power of Bryan Cranston more than the play, but equally it would be good to see both plays over here.
Then again you just had Lynn Nottage’s Sweat here, which was marvellous.
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Post by Jon on Mar 9, 2019 17:51:45 GMT
It’s interesting that Joshua Harmon has managed to have two plays in the West End with Bad Jews and Admissions.
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Mar 9, 2019 18:19:26 GMT
Do we only get the ones some British producers like? On reading the reviews of what is on in New York at the moment, I’m wondering if any of them will make it over here. I suppose I can’t expect to have them all but I do think we miss out on some good stuff. We seem to send our good stuff over there, eg The Lehman Bros ( SRB the draw?). We get most of the decent musicals although some fall through the cracks, hopefully a show like The Band’s Visit or The Visit (without the band) won’t now go the way of Light in the Piazza, eventually arriving only in a brief run of a concert version (it took Dreamgirls decades to get here). Plays are a different proposition, American playwriting has been in a bit of a hole recently and ones that are well received there have looked parochial and underpowered here. There’s been a more outward looking group of playwrights on the rise, however, so writers like Annie Baker, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Tarell Alvin-McCraney and Anne Washburn have been excellently served by well attended and reviewed transfers (and are now being followed by plays from the likes of Clare Barron (Dance Nation) and Sarah Delappe (The Wolves)). Serious question. Do more than five people in New York know who Simon Russell Beale is? |
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Post by harrietcraig on Mar 9, 2019 22:16:26 GMT
We get most of the decent musicals although some fall through the cracks, hopefully a show like The Band’s Visit or The Visit (without the band) won’t now go the way of Light in the Piazza, eventually arriving only in a brief run of a concert version (it took Dreamgirls decades to get here). Plays are a different proposition, American playwriting has been in a bit of a hole recently and ones that are well received there have looked parochial and underpowered here. There’s been a more outward looking group of playwrights on the rise, however, so writers like Annie Baker, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Tarell Alvin-McCraney and Anne Washburn have been excellently served by well attended and reviewed transfers (and are now being followed by plays from the likes of Clare Barron (Dance Nation) and Sarah Delappe (The Wolves)). Serious question. Do more than five people in New York know who Simon Russell Beale is? Yes. There are probably five of us in my apartment building alone. |
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Post by eatbigsea on Mar 10, 2019 8:14:44 GMT
As much as I’m sure SRB has his fans across the pond (one of my friends in NJ is obsessed with him), I think the draw for The Lehman Trilogy is the Lehman name - Lehman Brothers was the fourth largest investment bank in the US when it collapsed in 2008. It’s got more of a draw in NYC than Enron did.
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Post by lynette on Mar 10, 2019 14:23:13 GMT
You recently had the Tony winning and Pulitzer winner The Humans over, as well the Pulitzer winning Cost of Living despite both being leaden with eye watering awards people on here weren’t blown away by both, so even what is the gold atandard in America is less so here, this is because the UK is a factory for both quantity and quality play writing and this is incubated in a marvellous subsidised theatre scene we have here. You even have American plays that begin their creative journey here! You had recent Tony winning Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonya and Marsha and Spike that is yet to come over and Robert Schennkan’s All The Way, I imagine the last one was reliant on the the Star power of Bryan Cranston more than the play, but equally it would be good to see both plays over here. Then again you just had Lynn Nottage’s Sweat here, which was marvellous. My bad. Seen none of 'em. |
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Post by lonlad on Mar 10, 2019 22:37:11 GMT
What no one seems to have clocked is that far MORE new American plays are coming here from the US than the other way round -- so much so that you could do a roll call of the major plays on and off Broadway in the past few seasons and find that all of them have been seen here in some shape or form, and then of course there are plays like THE INHERITANCE, DOWNSTATE and SHIPWRECK which are arriving here before they have even gone to NY (as has happened in the past with Mamet, Miller and Kushner)
It's new British writing that is in a truly parlous state as the recent duds from Hare, Stoppard, Bean, Bennett, McDonagh, Coxon, DC Moore and many more illustrate all too painfully. Thank heavens for Jez Butterworth and the most brilliant of all, Caryl Churchill, for keeping the home fires burning, but if you missed THE HUMANS, DRY POWDER, SWEAT, THE CONVERT, BELLEVILLE, THE ANTIPODES, JOHN, THE FLICK, MR BURNS, ADMISSIONS, FAIRVIEW, WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT ... ----- the list goes on and on and on: well, here they are, or have been, or are about to be.
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Post by dlevi on Mar 12, 2019 7:40:29 GMT
So many questions!
First the American musicals which haven't yet gotten here: I believe the UK rights to both Gentleman's Guide and Next to Normal are held by the Broadway producers and there have been a number of close calls with Gentleman's Guide but they didn't come through. A major production of Newsies looked doubtful until the recent Arts Ed production which pleased a number of industry people who attended I wouldn't be surprised if something happened with that in the coming months.
I've heard that Vanya Sonia will be over here ( not quite in London ) in the late spring. I doubt if All the Way would get here, aside from the all the ins and outs of American politics that would probably bore UK audiences , the play itself just isn't that well written - Bryan Cranston's performance was great and deservedly award-laden but the rest f the evening was "meh" .
The selling factor for The Lehman Trilogy over there is the combination of a rave in the New York Times, ( and general critical acclaim elsewhere) , the fact that it's a National Theatre Production and of course those three sterling actors. New York loves a limited run of an intelligent London smash. SRB is just icing on the cake - and remember he has an NYC fan base after appearing there in Jumpers, Hamlet and Spamalot.
We have been getting a lot of American plays over here of late but most seem to have come and gone without much fanfare. My point in my original post though is that American playwrights quite often have to make a choice between being an east coast writer more focused on the theatre or a west coast writer focusing on Television and Film. And most of the traffic goes to the more lucrative west. Uk writers don't face such drastic travel choices.
Given that a couple of challenging and thought-provoking American plays have had their premieres on this side of the pond lately I think it will be interesting to see if that potential trend continues. As American plays get more critical of the government, will those publicly and corporate subsidized theatres shy away from those plays in fear of losing their funding? I think that's a real possibilty.
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Post by raider80 on Mar 12, 2019 17:44:21 GMT
In most broadway musicals these days you can read the producers list and you’ll see ATG and Sonia Friedman in the mix.
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Post by pianowithsam on Mar 12, 2019 19:19:34 GMT
I really hope Something Rotten comes over.
I mean, it's about Shakespeare and is set in London.
What's not right about that!
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Post by dlevi on Mar 12, 2019 19:59:18 GMT
I really hope Something Rotten comes over. I mean, it's about Shakespeare and is set in London. What's not right about that! While the first act is very funny it really has no second act, and it's attitude toward Shakespeare goes beyond disrespect and pours over into absolute disdain. It ceases being "all in good fun". By the time it was over I thought: why don't you all go etc. etc. That said, I'm sure at some point it will show up at Southwark Playhouse or the Union. Or maybe Guildhall or Arts Ed will do it. |
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Post by lynette on Mar 13, 2019 0:07:48 GMT
There's a couple of plays reviewed in the New Yorker that look good. Too tired to go find the titles, sorry. Anyone else read the New Yorker? I love the reviews ( and cartoons)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2019 8:21:25 GMT
I really don't get the board's keenness for a Something Rotten transfer. It's amusing enough for an evening out but it's not some unmissably brilliant piece of art or anything. It doesn't even have *that* many Shakespeare references; if you want to feel like a super smart theatre nerd who gets even the obscure jokes then you'd be better off brushing up on your knowledge of Broadway musicals.
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