This post is the latest edition of Vulture’s Stage Whisperer newsletter, recapping weekly theater news from Broadway, Off Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway. Subscribe below to get it delivered directly to your inbox.
I hope everyone had a fun, not-totally-agoraphobia-inducing time at the Broadway Flea Market on Sunday. Congrats to whoever managed to get the more than six-foot-tall poster for KPOP back home across the city, and if you were someone that bought a swatch of Tony Awards red-carpet fabric … why? Personally, I don’t know if I’ll ever top my most treasured pieces of random Broadway swag I’ve accumulated over the years: a tote bag for A Doll’s House, Part 2, with a drawing of Jayne Houdyshell saying, “Fuck you, Nora!” on it and a mug with the different versions of pink that Christine Ebersole sang about in War Paint. But it’s nice to scurry through the Flea Market each year and seek out other finds. Please let Stage Whisperer know if you retrieved anything of great value or size.
–Jackson McHenry
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Box Office Banter
Way Down Hadestown?
With Reeve Carney — who originated the role of Orpheus — leaving the cast of Hadestown, we got to thinking about the future of the show. Critic Jackson McHenry, writer Jason P. Frank, social-media editor Zach Schiffman, and editors Christopher Bonanos and Dee Lockett discuss that and this week’s box-office grosses.
Jackson McHenry: Let’s talk about Hadestown. It’s clear Betty Who [who recently joined the cast as Persephone] isn’t a big draw, and it feels like Reeve may be leaving, too, so that a big name can potentially come in as a replacement. A producer once pointed out to me that the two-to-five-year zone of a run can be really tough because you’ve worked through the people who live in New York who might go to see plays regularly, and you’re trying to latch into the wider tourist audience in the tristate area and eventually national and international tourists.
Jason P. Frank: That makes total sense. It feels like time for Hadestownto figure out what kind of property it’s going to be now that it’s no longer “hot.” They tried a bit of stunt casting with Betty Who, but that hasn’t seemed to work. (I’m curious — do we think they aimed for someone bigger than Betty Who? I can’t imagine she draws much from outside the existing Broadway ticket-buying audience, and by that I mean gay men. I don’t think the tourists from Oklahoma know her.) The obvious choice would be to close the show, bring it to the West End, and/or tour it [Hadestown is touring] before licensing it to regional houses, especially since it’s a very difficult show vocally for almost all roles, and I don’t think many stars will slot into the show easily.
Jackson: Yeah, I wonder if it would be possible to bring in country or folk stars to better fit the music, but then there’s the challenge of the acting and the question of how much you want to Chicago-ify a show to keep it going.
Jason: At a certain point, there’s a real sadness to Chicago-ifying a show that producers may want to avoid. Reading the Jinkx Monsoon coverage last year, in which many of the actors talked about how alive she made the show, just made me reflect on how dead the show must have been previously. If the producers want to avoid that, taking Hadestown off of Broadway might be the best option. A tour where they adapt the set could be really helpful as a sell to regional houses who might consider the iconic Broadway lighting fixtures to be too big of an expense, and this show could live on in regional houses and high schools for a long time.
Jackson: I would love to know the conversations about how best to adapt those lamps to a touring house. And I think it’ll be very interesting to see who they bring in for the next Orpheus, just in terms of forecasting their intentions. Aside from Betty Who, they’ve mostly pulled from theater talent for replacements (even with a theater name like Lillias White), and it may reveal a lot in seeing where the next Orpheus comes from. I also just liked to imagine Eva Noblezada and Reeve hanging around midtown doing Hadestown forever, so RIP to that dream.
Jason: Hey, what better pitch to potential big names than pointing to their joint extended tenure as evidence that the show is fun to do? I suppose the upside for them is that Orpheus, let’s be real, doesn’t ask much from an acting perspective. Anyone who has a falsetto and is swoon-worthy could mostly pull it off. Still, if I had my way, I’d like Hadestown to maintain an air of respectability to it that doesn’t include bringing in a crew of nonactors. Sometimes knowing when to stop is the best option.
Zach Schiffman: I also think the Hadestown thing and the two-to-five-year-range issue is related to regional/school availability. Maybe the revivals are able to become mainstays because they had a period of being performed elsewhere (and in most cases still are!). So many shows experience the full extent of their popularity when they can be done in schools or you can see them in a community theater. I think a lot about how School of Rock released the rights while it was still on Broadway, and I feel like that could be a model of infusing popularity into a show that other shows will consider, instead of just stunt casting and touring. They need some level of awareness outside of New York.
Christopher Bonanos: On another note, I am really rooting for Purlie Victorious — it is a good show that deserves to be seen — but $60 average tickets and 73 percent capacity is disappointing.
Dee Lockett: And here I was wondering if & Juliet was struggling and that’s why Ari showed up to promote it — but this list says otherwise [& Juliet’s numbers hovered at $131 average tickets and around 87 percent capacity].
Jackson: Ari, you may love Max Martin, but go visit shows that need it!
Laments
A segment in which we whine about the theater world.
Enough with the revival tryouts! Why does every revival need some sort of on-ramp? Have we lost touch with the idea of a direct-to-Broadway revival? Between Merrily’s London/Boston/NYTW tryout, Spamalot coming from Kennedy Center, Parade transferring last season from City Center (and Piazza is allegedly looking for a house), it feels like it’s becoming a norm, and it just seems unnecessary. I get it when it comes to a complete rethink like Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma!, but Spamalot? Come on! –Zach Schiffman
Whisper of the Week
This is NOT Wicked.
—An usher, addressing people mistakenly trying to check into the Melissa Etheridge show next door to Wicked’s Gershwin Theatre.
More Links
➽ The 2024 Tony Awards will be hosted at Lincoln Center.
➽ Reba McEntire loves Shucked!
➽ Ethan Slater is front and center in this Spamalot promo (“liked by Ariana Grande”).
And the Inaugural Stage Whisperer Award for “Graphic Design Is My Passion” Goes to …
… Circle in the Square Theatre, for this rendering of Al Pacino.
