Clockwise from left:
S. Epatha Merkerson
starred in Come Back,
Little Sheba; the cast
of Passing Strange;
and Anna D. Shapiro,
director of August:
Osage County, the
Pulitzer Prize-winning
play by Tracy Letts.
This Championship Season
miranda’s tony rap was a fitting end to a broadway season
that dusted off a reputation for attracting older, mostly white
and (dare we say?) less discerning crowds with the premiere
of several new shows that attracted younger, more diverse and
discriminating audiences, and featured a more varied group of
on- and offstage players bringing these productions to life.
“i was at the tony Awards this year and there’s a different
feeling, there’s a vitality to what’s going on,” says steven sater,
co-creator of last year’s groundbreaking musical and big tony
winner, Spring Awakening. “i think broadway will continue to
be the beast it is, but it’s undergoing a sea change
where there’s a sense that something artistically
daring and something with music that feels
more contemporary can succeed financially.”
even before this year, the tide was turning.
the ’06-’07 season brought in a record 1. 42 mil-
lion admissions from people under the age of 18.
even more impressive is the increase in non-caucasian
theatergoers who purchased a record 3. 18 million tickets in
the 2006–07 season, an increase of 56 percent from just five
seasons ago.
“i’ve been in my role for a couple of years now,” says char-
lotte st. martin, executive director of the broadway league,
the professional association of theater owners, producers and
managers, “and i’ve watched broadway change and become
very much a mirror of what’s going on across the country.”
though the numbers for the 2007-08 season have yet to
be crunched, even bigger success in attracting new audiences
is expected and this season’s greater diversity both on the
stage and behind the scenes provided excellent reasons for
optimism about broadway’s future. for the first time in
history, seven productions were directed by women, and
August: Osage County’s helmer, Anna d. shapiro, won the
tony for best direction. rock musicals In the Heights, with an
all-latino cast and creator, and Passing Strange, with a black
creator and lead actors, were critical favorites and tony Award
winners. laurence fishburne explored a great new role in
Thurgood, and “colorblind” casting approaches to older works
like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with the first-ever all-black broadway
cast, The Country Girl with morgan freeman, and Come Back,
Little Sheba with s. epatha merkerson not only brought diversity to the stage but added extra layers of meaning to the plots.
Once something different proves it can
in new audiences, producers are quick
The Waiting Is the Hardest Part
the success of these shows raises the question: why did it take
so long? st. martin suggests it’s simple broadway economics.
“four out of five shows don’t make money. the tendency for
people who’ve been doing broadway for a long time is to do
what makes money and is successful, to the best of their ability.”
the financial risk combined with a production’s average six-year journey of development to get to broadway has left many
producers seeking out tried-and-true products like revivals or
musicals based on movies. sometimes the results are excellent—
no one has anything but good things to say about this year’s revival of South Pacific—but often we end up with what theater vet
Harvey fierstein refers to as “empty calories,” in other words,
confectionary entertainment with no lasting effect.
