http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/theater/13preview.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Coming soon to the Broadway stage's are 4 new musicals! But heres the catch, they will open right on Broadway, instead of having out of town auditions or even early runs at an off Broadway theater. This is something that has not been done for almost two decades and is risky, but can be a promising thing in the long run as well. Since these shows are opening directly on Broadway, the shows are at it's rawest of stages and the audiences get to see a show actually grow. A benefit for the general public is that the tickets being sold for these shows are generally around 50% off of the normal price "'People will be seeing the show pretty raw,' said the 'Spider-Man' producer Michael Cohl, 'so discounts seemed only fair.'” Between the 70's to the early 90's, opening cold on Broadway was quite common, and some of the shows became big hits like: "Sweeny Todd" (1979) and "City of Angels" (1989). The reason it was common to open cold on Broadway back then was because of money issues. It was pretty expensive to do runs of shows at other theaters before moving to Broadway. Even today its really expensive. "Spider Man" cost $60 million for Broadway alone, so theres no way it could have runs before that. The only other legit way to prepare a show is to run the show in Regional Theaters, just like the show "Catch Me if You Can" is doing right now. I'm friends with one of the main producers, and got a copy of the soundtrack about a year ago, and its amazing and keeps getting amazing reviews. I personally can't wait to see it when it opens on Broadway. I think that this whole idea is an interesting one and a really good chance for audiences to see a show at its rawest stage in the work. If I could go to New York and see these shows at these low prices I totally would, who knows maybe I will.
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