Beyond the bright neon lights
The theatres of Broadway might be one of New York’s biggest attractions, but navigating the Big Apple’s famous theatre district and beyond takes a bit of inside knowledge, writes Diana Plater.
First-time visitors to New York usually have a list to tick off – Central Park, the Statue of Liberty and a Broadway show. But as you get to know the city better it’s the smaller theatres, known as Off-Broadway – or the tinier ones, known as Off-OffBroadway – that tempt the serious entertainment enthusiasts.
Broadway has 33 theatres, showing the big, long-running shows – such as The Book of Mormon, Kinky Boots, Matilda, and Phantom of the Opera – with only about a dozen regularly turning over their shows.
Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway are all the other theatres. Off-Broadway is the term used for Manhattan theatres with 100 to 499 seats: small, professional and where you normally find all the exciting, new work.
Off-Off Broadway comprises theatres with fewer than 100 seats.
George Forbes, president of the Off-Broadway Theatre League, explains that such theatres don’t always use professional actors.
If they do ‘‘they are probably being paid very little and it’s a showcase situation where it’s only having a few performances or something like that’’, he says.
Although unusual, it’s not unheard of for a play that does well Off-Off-Broadway to move all the way to Broadway. An example is the musical Urinetown, which opened in a fringe festival in an Off-Off Broadway venue, moved to an Off-Broadway production and then ended up on Broadway.
However, it’s more common for an Off-Broadway show to ‘‘transfer’’ to Broadway. A new phenomenon is when Broadway shows, such as the musical Rent, move back to Off-Broadway after they’ve run their course.
At an Off-Broadway production you’ll find local residents in the audience and, on stage, the occasional well-known actor who might be doing the part for as little as US$300 (NZ$360) a week. And this could be anybody from Jake Gyllenhaal to Vanessa Redgrave, Mary-Louise Parker, Ethan Hawke and Debra Messing.
This New York autumn A-listers appearing Off-Broadway included Sarah Jessica Parker and Blythe Danner starring in a new play, The Commons of Pensacola, at the Manhattan Theatre Club.
Over at the Mitzi E Newhouse Theatre was Domesticated, the latest offering by Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Bruce Norris, starring Jeff Goldblum and Laurie Metcalf as a political power-couple.
‘‘If there’s a movie star in a show Off-Broadway you want to see that show because that person sacrificed doing a movie or shooting a TV show for $300,’’ Forbes says.
‘‘They’ve made an artistic commitment to this piece for any number of reasons; maybe they think it’s going to be a film and they want to be in the film. Maybe they have a great admiration and respect of the playwright and they want to be involved with that playwright.’’
Going to an Off-Broadway theatre gives you a unique, intimate experience of exploring different neighbourhoods, and discovering quirkier and more interesting restaurants and bars than the usual tourist traps.
In contrast, Broadway theatres around Times Square are surrounded by chain restaurants and hotels and, as Forbes says, ‘‘you could be in anywhere USA’’.
‘‘Some people love that experience of being right in the middle of Times Square and the neon lights and the craziness and you can’t walk down the sidewalk,’’ he says.
‘‘And other people want to come and explore and experience something new.’’