It is unfailingly the case that I run into more people on the streets, as well as the theatres, of New York than I ever do at home, at least away from opening nights where a critic’s life is often groundhog day, being surrounded by the same line-up of colleagues night after night. But on Friday I actually travelled to New York with one of them, Georgina Brown of the Mail on Sunday, who was not across a theatre aisle for a change but across a British Airways 747 one; but if that wasn’t coincidental - since we were both on flying on official business (or rather official premium economy), as part of a press junket arranged by Radio City Music Hall to see their annual Christmas Spectacular - a typical series of chance meetings happened the moment we arrived in town on Friday evening.
Walking down Broadway on our respective ways to All My Sons (Georgina) and 13 (me), I ran into one of my best friends in town, Bert Fink, who happens to be head of Public Relations for the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organisation but whose Chelsea flat I sometimes stay at; and then dropping George off at the Schoenfeld Theatre, I ran into London playwright Roy Williams on the sidewalk, on his way in to see it, too. (George later told me she also saw Simon Russell Beale there).
And then arriving at the Jacobs Theatre along the street, I immediately ran into the Menier Chocolate Factory’s David Babani - closely followed by his La Cage Aux Folles West End transfer partner Sonia Friedman. Also in the house was John Schofield - chairman of Weinbergers, the London musical theatre licensing agency, who coincidentally license the R&H catalogue in the UK. And later at dinner at Angus McIndoe, the Broadway theatrical restaurant hangout of choice, Babani was there again at an adjoining table, and Michael Kuchwara - theatre critic for the Associated Press - was at the bar, having been to see Saturn Returns at Lincoln Center.
So Broadway, even more so than the West End, is but a village; and many of the villagers are actually English. 13, of course, is directed by a Brit, Jeremy Sams (as is All My Sons, which is directed by Simon McBurney), and he brings the prescient view of an outsider to this musical about a trio of outsiders to a high school culture in small town America. I’ve seen it twice before - first at its summer try-out at Goodspeed, as I reported here, then again shortly after it opened on Broadway- but rushed to see it again, because I fear it may not be too long for this world: its attendances last week were just 45.6% of capacity, with an average ticket price of $52.22 - which cannot possibly be enough to sustain it.
Yet this musical - a kind of High School Musical meets Rent, but with more intelligence than the former and better tunes than the latter - deserves to find an audience, not least because it speaks directly to the lives of teenagers, who are the future of the theatre. Mind you, they sure are growing up fast these days; while the lead character Evan complains, “I’m growing hair in places I never knew existed”, one of the young female supporting cast was showing how very true it was, with a very visible shadow of armpit hair.
The best joke of the evening is one where Evan exclaims to a friend, “I’ve got amazing news, Charlie”, and Charlie asks in reply, “They’re making a musical of Shrek?” Evan replies, “No, but yes”. Actually, they have, and that’s what began previews on Broadway last night. And I was there again. Of course, critics are not usually privy to early previews, still less the earliest one, since we typically go to the first night not the first preview; but while you can take the critic out of the theatre fan (which is presumably what gets us into this business in the first place - why else would someone want to spend up to seven nights a week in the theatre?), you can’t take the theatre fan out of the critic, and I still fondly remember the days when I was a different kind of first nighter - the one who had to be in at the start of previews, so I could see where a show came from, before I would see it again after it opened.
But while there’s a whole breed of amateur critic who now rushes to post comments on the first preview on bulletin boards, both in London and New York - and indeed a thread has already begun on Talkin’ Broadway about Shrek — it’s not my job to report on first previews; last night was a purely a private visit, not a critical one, as epitomised by the fact that (a) I’d actually bought my ticket to be there; and (b) it wasn’t, as a result, the type of seat I’m used to being in!
A friend once commented to me, “There are no bad seats - there are only bad shows”; but it was certainly interesting to see how a different perspective, in every sense, changes the experience. Sitting on a rear mezzanine aisle, the first (and most annoying) thing was that the first 20 or so minutes were virtually impossible to watch: the constant parade of latecomers rendered the views constantly interrupted. Note to all aspiring writers of Broadway musicals: don’t do anything important till at least a half an hour in, or many of your audience won’t see it, either because they’re rude enough to arrive late, or unfortunate enough to be disrupted by those who do.
But this is also, of course, just the beginning of a honing process that will now follow for the show itself over the coming weeks of previews - the show doesn’t officially open till December 14. (Last night’s preview didn’t yet have the now obligatory finale reprise or even a full curtain call). The creative team has already come a long way - a late summer try-out in Seattle preceded its Broadway transfer, and a friend tells me that some 70% of the show has been changed since then.
There’s also, incidentally, a curious link between 13 and Shrek, besides their kids’ appeal; Jeremy Sams, who directs 13, was originally on board to write the lyrics to Shrek, but subsequently departed the project. I’d entirely forgotten this when, the summer before last, I was in Australia attending the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, in which Jeremy was participating; and the movie Shrek 3 opened while we were there. I rang Jeremy one morning and suggested we went to see it - and only realised later what I’d asked him to do.
the Shrek line in "13" is totally out of place. Kids in rural Indiana no matter how sophisticated aren't going to know or care about the fact that Shrek is becoming a broadway musical. It's that kind of self-referential "in" joke that is part of the problem with broadway musicals. the fans ( and I'm one of them) love getting these jokes but what do outsiders make of them? I'll tell you- nothing. They just don't get it. Now one "in" joke does not kill a show or an entire genre - but the cumulative effect of all these things is to alienate the audience. It may amuse the creatives but they should save it for special events and Forbidden Broadway and just deliver a show that appeals and challenges regular audiences . I believe this is a lesson that the Shrek creative team has learned from their tryout in Seattle.