Broadway at a Theatre Near You?
Producers are finding new and inventive ways to hedge the bets of their investors and sweeten the pot, especially in our current economic situation.
One idea that has recently been pitched to the Broadway League (as reported in Playbill.com) is filming Broadway shows and transforming them into 3-D films, to be released in cinemas across the country and around the world.
And though it’s an interesting and enticing idea and pitch from Fugobi (the film distributors), their use of the tagline “Larger than Live” on their website, and their claim that they will “…expand Broadway’s reach by giving new audiences the chance to see the best that Broadway has to offer without having to travel further than their local cinemas” confuses me a bit.
While it may make Broadway even more “mainstream,” there’s nothing that can enhance a live experience. How can you make something live even more live ?
Films tend to wash over the audience, numbing them into submission, with images many times larger than real life.
Even in the largest theatre on the rialto, there’s still a level of intimacy, and immediacy, because we never lose sight of the fact that there are real people up there. Real people with real vulnerabilities, in spite of (positive or negative) critiques and expectations going up there night after night.
No screen will ever provide that kind of humanity — I don’t care how advanced the technology.
Razzle-Dazzle might set the jaws of some agape… but most people are not only going for entertainment or production value, they’re going to get in touch with something that is at the same time bigger (i.e. the entire experience) and smaller (a specific moment) than themselves.
Furthermore, patrons are willing to pay Broadway prices because THERE IS ONLY ONE BROADWAY.
People travel to New York City specifically to go to Broadway, to tell the folks back home that they went to Broadway!
Something is only unique if it’s in limited supply… and that is the only way it will continue to fetch any kind of premium pricing in the future.
Theatre is an EXPERIENCE because the audience plays an integral part. Their laughter, tears, and even candy unwrapping shapes each performance. A pre-recorded show, with representations of the real thing cannot give or illicit the same response.
It’s just not the same… And if you don’t believe me, ask all the movie stars who give up so many of the comforts of doing film (including bigger salaries and more flexible and shorter production schedules) why they clamor to do live theatre…
–Sue
Add comment May 26th, 2009
