Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The 2013 - 2014 Season: By the Numbers

The 2014 - 2015 Season has begun!  But first...

The First Opening Night: July 14. 2013

The Last Opening Night: April 24, 2014

Well, Smash got cancelled, and Spider-Man closed.  But Broadway continues to be a part of the National landscape.  And that is a very good thing.  With the Tonight Show back in New York, there's even more Broadway on late night. Frozen introduced a whole bunch of families to a very Broadway sound - written by the latest (and youngest) member of the EGOT club - Robert Lopez.  And then John Travolta introduced the world to Adele Dazeem, and a very Broadway-style song, "Let It Go," made the Billboard Top 10.  The pop version did not.  As a result, the whole world, not just her long term Broadway fans, knows the name Idina Menzel.

Oh, and there was actually a Broadway season, too!  And, really, what a season!  There were a few clunkers, and no one show really broke out as a sensation.  BUT, and this is big for me, ALL of the shows - even the clunkers - has some really great things about them.  True excellence.  From discovering the fantastic Amber Imam in Soul Doctor to the dazzling company of Twelfth Night to the breathtaking The Glass Menagerie to the heartbreaking The Bridges of Madison County all the way to the perfectly marvelous Michelle Williams in Cabaret.  There were star turns aplenty - Idina, Fantasia, etc. - and there were stars galore, too.  Most of the movie stars this season joined the ranks of the show folk by bringing their "A game," like stage veterans Denzel Washington, Marisa Tomei, Toni Colette, Daniel Radcliffe and Daniel Craig, and debutantes Zach Braff, Zachary Levi, Zachary Quinto, Orlando Bloom, and Debra Messing.  And there were several career-defining performances including Andy Karl, Sutton Foster, Will Swensen, Tyne Daly, and maybe the two most celebrated performances of the season: Audra McDonald and Neil Patrick Harris.  No matter how the Tony nominations turned out today, I think Broadway fans were the biggest winners of all.

Below is the breakdown of all 40 shows that opened this season, plus some interesting categories, including a look at how many shows actually started out as BOOKS, not MOVIES!  And you'll see *, which means that the show stars actors known primarily for their stage career, and **, which means that the show features actors known primarily for their film and TV work.


Special Presentation: 700 Sundays

Special Presentations (4):
None of these shows were deemed eligible for the 2014 Tony Awards.

Forever Tango                         Il Divo: A Musical Affair
Let It Be                                   700 Sundays


Play Revival: A Raisin in the Sun

Play Revivals (14):

Romeo and Juliet                                    No Man's Land
The Glass Menagerie                             Waiting for Godot
The Winslow Boy                                   Machinal
Betrayal                                                 A Raisin in the Sun
Twelfth Night, or What You Will            Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
Richard III                                            Of Mice and Men
Macbeth                                               The Cripple of Inishmaan


Musical Revival: Violet

Musical Revivals (4):

Les Miserables                        Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Violet                                      Cabaret


New Play: Mothers and Sons

New Plays (10):

A Time to Kill                                Mothers and Sons
The Snow Geese                           The Realistic Joneses
Outside Mullingar                        Act One
Bronx Bombers                            The Velocity of Autumn
All the Way                                  Casa Valentina


New Musical: Bullets Over Broadway

New Musicals (12):

First Date                                                            Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Soul Doctor                                                         The Bridges of Madison County
Big Fish                                                               Rocky
A Night with Janis Joplin                                    Aladdin
After Midnight                                                    If/Then
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder         Bullets Over Broadway


Audra McDonald in 
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill

Stage Star* Vehicles (13):

The Bridges of Madison County                       If/Then
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder       Big Fish 
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill              The Snow Geese
Mothers and Sons                                            Violet
The Velocity of Autumn                                    The Glass Menagerie
Twelfth Night/Richard III                                 No Man's Land/Waiting for Godot
Lady Day at Emerson' Bar and Grill


Daniel Radcliffe in
The Cripple of Inishmaan

Movie/TV Star** Vehicles (11):

First Date                                                         Bullets Over Broadway
Outside Mullingar                                            The Realistic Joneses
All the Way                                                      A Raisin in the Sun
Cabaret                                                           Of Mice and Men
Betrayal                                                           The Cripple of Inishmaan
Romeo and Juliet 

Rocky

Based on a Movie (3):

Rocky                                 Aladdin                 Bullets Over Broadway

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
                                                           
Based on a Book (10):

Big Fish                                                          The Bridges of Madison County
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder      Cabaret
A Time to Kill                                                  Act One
Casa Valentina                                               Violet
Les Miserables                                                Of Mice and Men

First Date

Completely Original (10):

First Date                          If/Then                    Hedwig and the Angry Inch
The Realistic Joneses        Mothers and Sons   The Snow Geese
Bronx Bombers                 Outside Mullingar   The Velocity of Autumn
All the Way

A Night with Janis Joplin

Real People (7):

A Night with Janis Joplin                                Soul Doctor
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical               Bronx Bombers
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill            Act One
                                                                      All the Way

Twelfth Night

The Bard (4):

Macbeth     Romeo and Juliet     Twelfth Night     Richard III

Jeff
5.160

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...