Today, Playbill sent me an offer for $45 tickets to see a Broadway show. And it features stars!
Needless to say, my heart leapt... but not for the reasons you might suspect.
See, I think when producers are having to slash ticket prices for another celebrity-stuffer gimmick, it's good news for the future of American Theatre.
Was there anyone alive in New York who didn't greet the news of Susan Sarandon and Geoffrey Rush starring in Eugene Ionesco's Exit the King as anything more than yet another cynical ploy to sell tickets by shoe-horning Hollywood Box Office talent into any old play? Really? I mean, come on, people...
Now the public has spoken. "No," they say. We don't really need to see these two familiar faces in a play we're not thrilled about, just because we've seen them on TV. No. Sorry, thanks, but No.
Could this be the writing on the wall for the celebrity-stuffing hysteria that seems to have gripped not only Broadway but our regional theatres as well? I sure hope so. Nothing against Mssr. Ionesco. I've enjoyed many of his plays and I'd actually be excited if someone were to do Rhinoceros or The Bald Soprano, The Lesson or The Chairs. But I'd prefer a more credible production. Wouldn't you?
