Do You Think Broadway Will Become Extinct?

[newyorkuniq]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 1:42pm

So Broadway shows have only been around for what 90 years? Maybe a little less. Do you think someday Broadway will be extinct just like Vaudville? Updated On: 2/22/04 at 01:42 PM

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 1:49pm

It will most likely change A LOT (already is), but I think it will be around for a long time.

[JakeB]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 1:49pm

We can't predict the future. But I do think technology will eventually take over. Whether that's 30 years or 80 years, we can't tell.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 1:52pm

I think high prices will kill Broadway.

[Corine2]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 2:10pm

God i hope not. We should all support Broadway so it lives on forever.

[NYCbabe3789]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 2:12pm

Forever is a very long time. I think it will be around for awhile, though it will change a lot.

[TheGirlinTheFrock]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 2:18pm

I just hope nothing happens to it while i am still around!

[racerchiquita76m]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 2:19pm

I certainly hope so. Theatre is very important to our society, so hopefully Broadway will continue to be part of that even though it continues to evolve.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 2:19pm

Forever is a very long time. Do I think it will be around forever? No. For a long time? Yes, absolutely. But I do think it will change a lot; even in its short 90 years it has changed enormously.

Updated On: 2/22/04 at 02:19 PM

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 3:04pm

Eventually the theatre center of the world is going to shift, it has shifted several times in the past. Austria, to England to the United States, (though it could be argued West End theatre is pretty close to Broadway). I see the theatre center shifting to another city somewhere in the world in the future. When it does move we may not be able to recognize very much of what we see now and in the past as a "Broadway Show" They still do Opera though which has been around awhile, so I hope that will be the case of the musical too.

[brdwaybaby17]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 3:27pm

Haven't ticket sales gone way down in the last ten years?? People are interested in so many other things nowadays, like sports, why, I don't know. I hope that talent and originality can make Broadway outlive so many other things in entertainment.... though it probably won't.......

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 3:49pm

This thread is cute, it reminds me of the "Everybody says Broadway is dead..." section of A Chorus Line. Yeah, it probably is going the way of vaudeville.

[Fiyero5]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 4:26pm

nah! come on now.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 4:55pm

Eventually & imagine Times Square without the theater

[LiTtLeDaNcEr729]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 5:01pm

There is one boy I know, and I'm sure this is the case with a lot of teenagers my age (15) who doesn't understand theatre. He always asks me how I can stand to sit in a theatre for 2 1/2- 3 hours watching people talking to each other onstage without "special effects." There will always be those people who are truly dedicated to Broadway and theatre- and I think those are the people who will keep Broadway alive. While I do believe it will change, I don't think it will disappear.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 8:40pm

Everything eventually becomes extinct. Perhaps in a couple hundred million years, it will be gone and archealogists will find fossilized tap shoes. When that happens, I will be very sad.

[johny0828]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 10:31pm

i hope not.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 2/22/04 at 10:54pm

Man's theatrical instinct will always find expression (unless we change as a species), even if it's around a campfire. However, Broadway as an institution may indeed be lumbering like a dinosaur toward its death unless there is a financial restructuring that assures its future.

[chasing_rainbows43]

Posted: 2/23/04 at 7:53am

I think it'll be here for a very long time too come. Broadway has become too valuable of a financial asset to the city for it to go anywhere in the predictable future.

[PennyLou]

Posted: 2/23/04 at 8:24am

I hope not I hope future generations will get to enjoy it as much as I do. If not I just hope it out lasts me!

Updated On: 2/23/04 at 08:24 AM

Posted: 2/23/04 at 9:21am

It is extinct already...

Name two Broadway cast albums (not soundtracks) to enter the top 20 of a Billboard chart in the last 10 years.

Name two songs from Broadway shows to go top 40 in the last 20 years (All I come up with is "Memory", "Don't Cry for Me" and "All that Jazz"..and two are from the film soundtracks, not the cast albums.)

The Tony’s Ratings have declined precipitously since 1979...

You may ask, well, what does radio, not to mention that “dreaded” MTV really have to do with BROADWAY…?

...We’ll it matters if an entire GENERATION has feed off those two media fixtures for 20 odd years and both outlets never mention Broadway as a viable entertainment medium, but actually, when it is mentioned , it’s as a source of derision..

People, when RENT failed to get anyone excited for very long..well…that was pretty much it…..

There will be successes and their will continue to be failures but it is doubtful that the original impact this place had on the United States never mind the world will ever be recaptured.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 2/23/04 at 9:26am

On the other hand, never doubt the power of even just one person. It is unlikely but not impossible that Broadway could become popular again. Let's just hope MTV doesn't start producing shows on Broadway.

Posted: 2/23/04 at 9:35am

Perfect...

Let's hope that the most powerful entertainment medium for people from the ages of 10 to 26, continues to stay far away from Broadway...

Lets just continue to make it our little club ...We don't need that demographic...

We don't need the 20 million 18-21 years olds who don't know or care who Sutton Foster is.... never mind Carol Channing..

That's the attitude!! Isolationism!

[Craig]

Posted: 2/23/04 at 9:59am

Voiceanth

Didn't No Matter What from Whistle Down the Wind as recorded by a boy band make it into the top 20?

Posted: 2/23/04 at 10:00am

In London?