I haven’t done a post with theatre news in a while, so here are a few tidbits observed whilst reading the papers at lunch:
- After 12 years, “Rent” is closing on Broadway. As the article notes, that is nine hundred thirty thousand, one hundred eighty performance minutes. As the show aged, it was getting harder and harder to bring the younger generation in to see it — perhaps they no longer relate to the late 1990s?
In similar news, interest is also fading in the V-8 engine.
- Still, the theatre community is doing what it can to bring youth in. We’ve all seen the success of shows such as “Wicked”, “Spring Awakening”, and “Legally Blonde” with tweeners and the MTV crowd. New on the scene, aiming for this market, is the musical “Wanda’s World”. Opening January 23, the musical follows Wanda Butternut, a young girl with a birthmark on her face who dreams of being accepted by her fellow classmates. In her fantasy life Wanda creates her own talk show where she helps other kids solve their problems. However, her real life is a different story, and Wanda finds that her schoolmates still judge a book by its cover.
To me, this is a real missed opportunity to introduce tweens to the classics. Of course, I’m talking about “Omaha”, the 7-minute Stan Freberg mini-musical (commercial) that introduced the world to Agustus K. Butternut, who was born with a birthmark in the shape of a steaming cup of coffee. You can listen to it here. I wonder what the shape of Wanda’s birthmark is.
In even scarier “tween” news, there will be a “High School Musical 3: Senior Year”. Be scared. Be very scared.
- In Broadway transfer news, “Cry Baby” will transfer from San Diego to Broadway, opening in March. This is the musical based on the John Waters movie that first had Johnny Depp singing. The libretto is from the “Hairspray” team, with songs by David Javerbaum (“The Daily Show”) and Adam Schlesinger (“That Thing You Do”).
Speaking of film transfers, there are also plans to make a musical of the movie “Finding Neverland”, to be developed by the “Grey Gardens” team of composer Scott Frankel and lyricist Michael Korie. The project is inspired by the 2004 Oscar-nominated film, “Finding Neverland,” itself inspired by Knee’s 1990 play, “The Man Who Was Peter Pan”. The play and movie focus on Peter Pan creator James M. Barrie and his fixation on the widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and her four boys, who helped inspire the classic tale of the boy who wouldn’t grow up.
- In terms of revivals, there will be yet another revival of Gypsy, this time with Patti Lu Pone. Let’s see… Ethel Merman, Tyne Daly, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters. This seems to be the killer Diva role. There’s also going to be a new national tour of “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (which we just saw at Cabrillo) with Frenchie Davis and Ruben Studdard. At least they have the original director, Richard Maltby Jr, not Ken Page. According to the article, addtional material to be added especially for Studdard, who is taking the Ken Page role (Davis is in the Nell Carter role).
- Lastly, the New York Times has an article on the growth of Broadway-themed Web Sites. I don’t have much interest in these — who needs them when you have LJ :-).
