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New York Times and Playbill announcements

This aftsernoon, we announced that Harvey Keitel will play Jerry Springer in our Carnegie Hall concerts. It goes on sale on Monday. So far Asociated Press has picked up the story.

Looks like mostly good reviews, BUT the NY Times didn’t like it.

 I have no idea how it’s selling — but such a massive budget surely needed unanimous raves to have a chance at the box office.

 Isherwood’s NY Times review pretty much summed up my companions’ opinion when we saw it in London. Like me, he stiffens at the thought of audience interaction but he got out of it lightly — momentarily being mimicked by a performer. I got whacked across the head with drywall, and was covered head to toe in plaster. (In New York magazine, the director said they replaced the drywall with cardboard because audience members were getting injured…)

Isherwood said “Fuerzabruta is another entry in a dependable if not exactly venerable genre: theater for people who don’t really like theater."  LOL. It may not be venerable, but it’s the genre we like to call home!

Link to New York magazine comment on Isherwood at Fuerza Bruta 

 

Live Nation has announced Artist Nation, along with the huge news that Madonna has left Warner Bros to partner with them (is partner the right word?). Coinciding with  Radiohead’s internet album release, the pundits are a-chatter about the end of the music industry as we know it.

But the Artist Nation move is also interesting from a non-music perspective.

The news made me laugh – in my mind, this approach was for struggling producers looking for a break.  In Australia, my old business partner and I used to do this all the time when we had an idea for a show – the artist (usually a comedian) would create the show, we’d market and physically produce it, and we’d split the (fingers crossed!) profit.

That’s done all the time, of course. On the upside, you can create a show more cheaply and with less risk. On the downside, you don’t own the show. Chances are, you’d have much more control if you’d coughed up for an advance and guaranteed royalties.

The grass is always greener for both producers and promoters. Promoters want to own rights (ie be producers), so that they aren’t beholden to artist managers. Producers are envious that promoters know in advance how well a show should do.

If you’re going to work with artists who create their own shows (whether comedians, musicians, writers etc) you want to be like Artist Nation. You believe in an artist, produce their show, get rave reviews but lose the capitalization when it struggles at the box office. The artist takes their rave reviews and new status and can convert that to tv deals, corporate gigs and so on. If you’re their manager or producing partner, the initial investment was worthwhile. If not, you can cross your fingers for subsidiary rights income, but it won’t add up to much unless they have a hit movie or tv show.

Playbill reported that Robbie Lantz passed away at age 93.  Jared and I met with Robbie Lantz and his client, Peter Shaffer, trying to – and unsuccessfully – persuade them to give us the Equus rights. It was quite an experience…

The Jerry Springer – The Opera auditions just finished. I’d forgotten how cool the music is — hearing the same songs for four days was surprisingly enjoyable. And the cast is going to be sensational!

I thought our shows had been to every town in Australia – but none have ever been to Broken Hill before. David Strassman’s new tour kicked off last night in Broken Hill, a mining town in the middle of Australia, 14 hours drive from Sydney. Here’s what the crew would have seen driving in.

 

 

Google also revealed "Twelve women from the outback town of Broken Hill, Australia, met early in the morning out in the desert to disrobe for disarmament". I wonder if they were at the show?

A Broadway strike looks more and more likely. Last night’s League update suggests it’s close, and the today’s papers say a stage hand lock out could even occur today. I’d hate to have a show on Broadway – esp. a marginal one – but Broadway would bounce back quicky from a strike. New York tourism is super strong (try getting a half decent hotel room under $350) and there are bullet proof shows like Wicked and Jersey Boys. They’ll sustain anything.

On the one hand, I hope the ridiculous stagehand work rules and staff requirements can be reduce. It would help the entire business if it came in to the 21st century – or even the second half of the 20th. But I’m cynical – the producers will probably buckle and lose this rare chance to make a difference. I hope I’m wrong…

Interesting to see the latest minutes from the Off Broadway Brainstormers’ meeting. They’re valiantly trying to re-energize Off Broadway but what is Off Broadway? I’m not convinced that labels like "Off Broadway", "independent film", "indie rock" actually mean anything  as "brands".

The punters – as we call them in Australia – go to shows. No-one says "let’s go see an Off Broadway show", at least, not in meaningful numbers. If a show get’s buzz, it gets an audience regardless of it’s label. 

Anyway, the mainstream has absorbed the edgy, so Off Broadway is not culturally distinct. The studios bought the best indie film companies; successful Off Broadway shows more to Broadway; and network tv is as edgy as cable. Creating fresh artistic distinction is the real challenge for Off Broadway. That’s how successful producers – like Scott Morfee at Barrow St – are thriving despite the doom and gloom.

"jump" got pretty crappy reviews today, after opening at the Union Square Theatre where we ran Snowshow for two and a half years. Once again, a producer is making the fatal Off Broadway mistake – going too big. 499 seats seems tiny to non-New Yorkers (how many times have I heard "we’d like to do the show small – say 500 seats) but it’s expensive to run in a 499-seater in New York.. Thus the trend to Broadway. Shows like Xanadu and Avenue Q, which would have once played Off Broadway, play a slightly larger theatre and get exponentially more marketing opportunities.

A long run requires the smallest theatre the set can be squeezed into. Better to be perceived a hit and – if you’re lucky – plan a transfer than bleed to death because you went too big. Alternatively, have a movie star in your show. Snowshow worked on this scale because Slava is a rock star in the Russian community; they packed the house while the wider buzz built. (And, IMHO, it’s a brilliant show, with a killer tv commercial.)

Fuerza Bruta is next in the firing line, opening soon at the Daryl Roth. There are some smart producers involved, but god knows how this will work. We nearly got involved, until we saw it in London and budgeted a New York run for the European producers. It’ll need to be a huge hit just to breakeven.

New York Post review  and  New York Times review