SWEAT Final Broadway Performance 6/25!

[brdwybound04]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 6:22pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Pulitzer-Prize-Winning-SWEAT-To-Play-Final-Broadway-Performance-625-20170613

[brdwybound04]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 6:24pm

First Six Degrees of Seperation, now this, Indecent won't be far behind...

[10086sunset]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 6:24pm

Imagine Roundabout will now be able to announce what's going into 54 for their upcoming season.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 6:31pm

I think it is criminal that B'way cannot support a Pulitzer prize winning  play.  I also think that these producers are going to have to realize sooner or later that opening so many plays in such a concentrated time, in hopes of Tony love is backfiring.  They need to be spread more across the season so the remaining serious theatergoers can spread out their viewing.  Why a shame.

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 6:40pm

Jarethan said: "I also think that these producers are going to have to realize sooner or later that opening so many plays in such a concentrated time, in hopes of Tony love is backfiring.  They need to be spread more across the season so the remaining serious theatergoers can spread out their viewing."

Umm, this seems like a made-up thing. Many shows open late in the season because many other shows close in January? So, they are going into theaters when they become available... Holiday Inn closed in January, so this came in for March.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 6:42pm

Any chance SWEET CHARITY takes Studio 54?

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 6:46pm

It's a really great play.  It's unfortunate to see it go.

[romain2]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 7:21pm

Just caught all 4 nominated plays and Sweat was my favorite. Beautifully acted and directed. Indecent and Doll's House Part 2 were also excellent. Oslo wasn't my cup of tea. 

[Willie4316]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 7:30pm

Perhaps now Roundabout will reveal their musical for the season? 

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 6/13/17 at 10:47pm

Geez there's barely any plays that can stay open. I haven't seen this one yet, I tried seeing it before the Tony awards but just didn't have time. Going to definitely see it before it closes. 

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 6:21am

It's really sad that we have to see it go. Broadway has become way too "musical" for what it is, and even most of the time when people are talking about "Broadway shows," they are referring to Broadway musicals. It's not that musicals are bad. It's just after getting to see so many great plays in London including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Angels in America, Sylvia or Who's the Goat, Don Juan in Soho (flawed but has it moments), and even a visually spectacular production of Ugly Lies the Bone in one trip, I feel sad that Broadway has so little to offer when it comes to plays.

[The Other One]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 7:34am

Dancingthrulife2 said: "It's really sad that we have to see it go. Broadway has become way too "musical" for what it is, and even most of the time when people are talking about "Broadway shows," they are referring to Broadway musicals. It's not that musicals are bad. It's just after getting to see so many great plays in London including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Angels in America, Sylvia or Who's the Goat, Don Juan in Soho (flawed but has it moments), and even a visually spectacular production of Ugly Lies the Bone in one trip, I feel sad that Broadway has so little to offer when it comes to plays."

 

It's "The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?", but I am so jealous that you got to see it.  One of my very favorite plays, and I love Damian Lewis and Sophie Okenodo.  

"Sweat" was my favorite of the four plays nominated for the Tony this year, although I liked them all and I did not think "Sweat" was as well directed as the other three.  It deserves a much longer run.

I am much more a play person than a musical person, but I don't know if Broadway is necessarily more musical than play oriented.  The musical world this season saw as many hits, risks and misses as the dramatic.  "Amelie" was arguably the season's first Tony casualty: it closed when it failed to score any nominations.  With the exception of "Hello, Dolly" and "Dear Evan Hansen," the others face uncertain long-term futures.  And a season that brought us so many plays and revivals can actually be looked on as a rich one -- for everyone but the investors.

 

[newintown]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 8:54am

"I think it is criminal that B'way cannot support a Pulitzer prize winning  play."

1) Pulitzers are awarded by a small group of journalists, none of whom are any more expert in theatre than several posters on this site. A Pulitzer is nice to have, but it doesn't confer any additional "quality" to a play/musical.

2) "B'way" has supported quite a number of Pulitzer winners, beginning with Why Marry? in 1918, which ran 120 performances (at a time when a play could easily turn a profit in a few months), and including hits such as Beyond The Horizon, Anna Christie, They Knew What They Wanted, The Green Pastures, Of Thee I Sing, Idiot's Delight, You Can't Take It With You, Harvey, South Pacific, The Heidi Chronicles, Lost In Yonkers, Angels in America, Rent, and a recent show called Hamilton.

3) When Broadway drifted toward appealing to a mass market of tourists, however, plays became scarcer there - face it, most tourists come to New York for fun, not to "think" (I've actually heard that said by out of town friends, unironically), and so they choose musicals for their fare. It's rare that a play turns a profit on Broadway now (as compared to pre-television days, when many plays could make a profit).

So thinking that "B'way" has some sort of obligation to turn any play that wins a rather arbitrary award into a profit maker really just doesn't make sense. Sweat got a lot of visibility, and will have a strong life for the next few years in regional theatres. And if Ms. Nottage's priority is making money, perhaps she will receive an offer to write for TV (it looks like she's already headed that way, with a show based on Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It). Because every playwright knows that there's not a great deal of money for them in the theatre.

Updated On: 6/14/17 at 08:54 AM

[willrolandsframes]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 10:18am

The Other One said: "With the exception of "Hello, Dolly" and "Dear Evan Hansen," the others face uncertain long-term futures."

I would even venture to say that both of these shows have uncertain futures once Midler and Platt leave their respective casts. Both of those shows are carried by star power. While both shows will have enough money in the bag to run for a while, they also will likely struggle to gross $1,000,000 a week once they lose their stars. While Dolly could find someone who could keep the ship afloat, it would sorta go against the narrative of DEH to cast a big star as Evan. So unless Colton Ryan takes over the role and word of mouth spreads fast, I don't expect DEH to make it past January 2019.

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 11:15am

Dancingthrulife2 said: "It's really sad that we have to see it go. Broadway has become way too "musical" for what it is, and even most of the time when people are talking about "Broadway shows," they are referring to Broadway musicals. It's not that musicals are bad. It's just after getting to see so many great plays in London including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Angels in America, Sylvia or Who's the Goat, Don Juan in Soho (flawed but has it moments), and even a visually spectacular production of Ugly Lies the Bone in one trip, I feel sad that Broadway has so little to offer when it comes to plays.

 

Broadway has plenty to offer when it comes to plays. There are wonderful plays running every season. In one day last week, I was absolutely blown away by Oslo in the afternoon and The Little Foxes in the evening. You'll forgive me if I find it incredibly ironic that people on here bemoan the lack of support for plays by Broadway or by tourists or whoever, when if you look at the Tony viewing thread on this very board from just 3 days ago, 90% of the posters discussing the Tony winners seem to be completely unaware that Tonys for anything other than musicals were even given out. Maybe a post or two discussing Laurie Metcalf, Rebecca Taichman or Oslo's huge wins and then right back to pissing and moaning about Great Comet for the next 75 posts. There's little interest and discussion about the season's best plays on this board, but everyone should keep on blaming the tourists.

 

[bloomerific]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 11:47am

brdwybound04 said: "First Six Degrees of Seperation, now this, Indecent won't be far behind.."

I'm crossing my fingers that Indecent can stay the course through the summer, I need to see it! 

 

[JustAnotherNewYorker]

Posted: 6/14/17 at 11:56am

I liked, but didn't love Sweat. The people were important, but the story was a bit clunky. I still encourage people to see it as it's a timely and important play

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I thought that it would have been much stronger without the final two [preachy] lines. Do we really need a character to explicitly tell us that we should be taking care of each other?