Productions are forever being shuttled between the West End and Broadway, of course. Just this week Legally Blonde begins previewing at the Savoy on Saturday, joining a roster of Broadway imports that currently includes Avenue Q, Chicago, Hairspray and Wicked. And last night saw the West End opening for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in a production that also originated on Broadway last year, featuring two of the headline stars of its original Broadway company in veterans James Earl Jones (now 78) and Phylicia Rashad (sister of the play’s director Debbie Allen), while Hair will arrive next April with its entire American cast intact.
Meanwhile, going in the other direction, the Menier Chocolate Factory’s production of A Little Night Music is currently in previews on Broadway (before opening officially on Sunday week, December 13), with the Menier’s La Cage Aux Folles to follow next April. Each is retaining at least one member of the British company in Alex Hanson and Douglas Hodge (who has returned to La Cage for a final stint this week, before it closes here in January) respectively. And Broadway is also currently hosting the London-originated Billy Elliot, Mamma Mia!, Mary Poppins and The Phantom of the Opera on the musicals front, and God of Carnage, Hamlet and The 39 Steps on the plays front.
So at the moment the balance is definitely in favour of British shows on Broadway rather than the other way around.
But if we’re sending them more shows than they are us at the moment, this two-way traffic is definitely to be welcomed. Films and music can easily cross borders, and so must theatre. And the mostly American team of producers behind Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, who found that the New York Times had declared their revival “flabby” and commented that the production “acquires a haze of sentimentality that makes it soft where it should be sharp”, must be welcoming the British reviews today, too, that have so far been a clean sweep of four stars, from The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Daily Telegraph, the Evening Standard and Whatsonstage.com.
I have filed a rave, too, for The Stage. Such unanimity is rare; but more than that, it also underlines the difference in taste between American and British critics, too. Or it could simply be that the production we saw last night is much improved since it was first seen in New York, too.
But will the reviews translate into box office now? On the one hand, Broadway embraced the production regardless of the reviews. As Lucy Powell reported in The Times recently, producer Stephen C Byrd told her that when he approached James Earl Jones to do the play originally, Jones had replied, ‘I always wanted to play that cracker’; and Byrd says; “I thought, now that’s something people will come out to see. And once it’s an event people come, no matter what the critics say.”
It made the show critic proof. And more importantly, it also found new audiences - arguably amongst a public who wouldn’t read reviews anyway, let alone go to the theatre regularly. According to The Times, “Byrd estimates that it originally played to 80 per cent African-American audiences, ‘some of whom had never been to the theatre before,’ he says, ‘who made a lot of noise. I remember people coming in late, asking if we could start over, talking to the stage.’ All of which only increased the excitement around Cat as being a defining occasion.”
In London, it has now been blessed by reviews; but what will make it a “defining occasion” here? Certainly last night it stood out from the crowd for one reason above all: the decision to hold a 6.30pm curtain instead of the regular 7pm. That was partly a matter of logistics - it’s a 2 hour 45 minute play, and the producers wanted to give critics extra time to be able to file. I have to admit I was deeply sceptical that it would start on time - press nights don’t, even on a 7pm start. But amazingly, it managed to start at 6.37pm by my reckoning. Which is, of course, on time when it comes to a Broadway show: no show starts on Broadway till roughly 7 minutes after the advertised time, even on a normal performance. Bravo to that.
Cat on Broadway was blessed /cursed with a leading man named Terence Howard - he was the major box office draw however, he had no or very little stage experience and so the whole show was in fact flabby and aimless. Adrian Lester is a far more accomplished stage and film actor who , while not the box office dynamite that the producers had been seeking, lends a level of gravitas and credibility to the part. This is one time where the UK critics and audiences are no doubt seeing a superior production than the one that played in New York. Let's also hope that the UK audiences are more respectful of their fellow audience members than those in New York. It wasn't just the latecomers - it was the constant coming and going throughout the performance that also contributed to the choas of the evening.
Hi Mark,
Really looking forward to going to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof now- I'm going tomorrow. I think it's never going to have the same resonance in Britain without the personal relationship to the history of African American slavery but I hope the production will still prove to be ground-breaking in terms of pioneering ethnic diversity in the casting of classics.
PS - contacting you via your blog as you suggested after the talk today.
I saw the dress, which ran for about 3 hours and started 30 minutes late! I'm sure it's improved since then, though. I enjoyed it but wouldn't class it as a rave. But I totally agree with what Les says about Adrian Lester, he has great stage presence. I got the most out of Nina Sosanya and Peter De Jersey's performances, but that's probably partly down to loving their previous work.