As a sort of follow-up to my previous post, I would like to bring to your attention another theatre-related article that ran in The Dallas Morning News. This article came out a couple of weeks before the article in my previous post, and was featured in the paper’s business section.
The Dallas Morning News article is just another example posted here on The Road 101 that proves that theatre across the country actually helps the economy, which is just one of the many reasons why the performing arts should be taken more seriously by our government (but that’s a topic for a whole other post).
One troubling reality The Dallas Morning News article addresses, though, which has generally been a trend that will likely continue for the foreseeable future, is that ticket buyers out on The Road (and tourists who come to New York to see Broadway for that matter) mainly want to see the “blockbusters.” New titles typically don’t fare as well as the mega-hits, which could indicate that the prognosis for the future of the musical theatre is not so good, as PACs continue to veer away from presenting the lesser-known titles and less conventional works that have even played Broadway.
Subscribers and single ticket buyers who see shows on The Road need to somehow get trained to embrace, rather than be afraid of, or be disinterested in, the new and original commercial work if musical theatre is to evolve, and ultimately survive in this country. Producers, presenters and theatre marketing teams need to figure out a formula that will give the vibrant new shows that deserve an audience the same superpower allure that is enjoyed by the Phantoms, the Wickeds the Mamma Mias, and the revivals.
After all, they were all new once too.
The Road 101 