You may be forgiven for thinking that the summer never arrived at all, but now that August 31 - the last official day of summer, according to meteorologists — has come and gone, at least we can stop hoping for a better one to finally materialise now. In 2007 the papers shouted headlines that trumpeted the “worst summer in living memory”, and this year things have been little better: as The Times reported on Saturday, “Official figures show British summer was dull and wet (as if we didn’t know)”. Though the full month’s statistics were yet to be analysed, the story pointed out that “Met Office statistics show rainfall this summer is already up to 50 per cent higher than normal and August is on course to have the fewest hours of sunshine since records began.”
But this isn’t, of course, a weather blog but a theatre one - except when you’re in Edinburgh and can’t avoid getting regular soakings, as I discovered the moment I arrived there in August and five of the wettest days I’ve ever spent there followed, or are heading to the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park, as I blogged here when I was heading to the opening night of GIgi. At least I had to only worry for a single night, and it all turned out all right on that night; I can only imagine how Timothy Sheader must be feeling to wake up to days like this morning’s downpours, when Gigi still has a fortnight to run.
But if it’s time to officially write off the summer, in every sense, September always sees the official start of the new theatre season, on both sides of the Atlantic.
While Broadway essentially goes into hibernation for the summer months, with no new shows opening at all in August and just one the month before, this month sees two openings - a new musical version of A Tale of Two Cities is now in previews for a September 18 opening at the Hirschfeld, while Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths are about to reprise their London performances in Equus, starting performances this Friday before a September 25 opening at the Broadhurst.
Next month there are six openings, all but one of which begin previews this month, including a New York reprise for Ian Rickson’s production of The Seagull originally seen at the Royal Court and now beginning performances at the Walter Kerr on September 16 prior to an official opening on October 1, as well as new revivals of A Man for All Seasons (previewing from September 12 prior to an official opening on October 7 at the American Airlines); All My Sons (with a cast that includes Mrs Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, alongside leads John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest and Parick Wilson, previewing from September 18 prior to an October 16 opening at the Schoenfeld) and Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow (in a different production to the one that Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum headlined at the Old Vic, previewing from October 3 prior to an official opening on October 25 at the Barrymore).
Then there’s the Broadway bow of Jason Robert Brown’s 13, previously produced in a different production in LA then tried out at the start of the summer in this staging at Goodspeed Opera House’s Norma Terris Theatre, where I saw it in June (previewing from September 16 prior to an official opening on October 5 at the Jacobs Theatre), and the Broadway bow of a new play, To be Or Not To Be, adapted from the 1942 film of the same name, by Nick Whitby, a British playwright whose most significant credit to date was the Donmar Warehouse premiere by Sam Mendes of To the Green Fields Beyond eight years ago (previewing from September 11 prior to an official opening on October 2 at the Biltmore).
But if Broadway is a comparative hive of activity, eight openings in two months hardly constitutes a full diary for New York’s theatre critics. In London, by comparison, there has hardly been any let up in the ongoing schedule - even in the middle of July, we had two big West End play openings, The Female of the Species and Under the Blue Sky, with Zorro in between them; and even if there’s been a post-Edinburgh fringe fortnight in which we’ve been scrambling for new things to see, we’re now facing the usual autumn feast. So much so that, once again, we have press night diary clashes everywhere: next Tuesday alone there were, until yesterday, four openings scheduled alone, two of them in the West End with the simultaneous openings of Rain Man and Eurobeat. But yesterday’s announcement that Rain Man has postponed its opening means that at least that one of them is out of the equation (but how critics can still get to all three of the others is a mystery, and the simple truth is that we won’t). And although Rain Man is deliberately buying more time - having lost a week of rehearsals when original director David Grindley bowed out and was replaced by Terry Johnson - it turns out that the earliest alternative date was ten days later: as producer Nica Burns said in a statement, “the only night available in the very full autumn schedule was Friday 19th”.
It’s a nice problem to have; but could it be that there is simply too much theatre happening in London? Is there the audience to sustain it all, let alone the critical will to attempt to cover it? I’ll leave that question for another day!
Hi,
I thought you might be interested in another “Tale of Two Cities Musical” that is wending it's way to Broadway (Perhaps via Boston). This one has a distinctively low budget so far but a very singable score and an engaging book. You might want to check out some of the songs. http://www.taleoftwocitiesmusical.com/