Though far from a watershed year in Broadway history, 2013 had its triumphs, its troubles and its tramplings, a few of which will be fun to recall in this year-end roundup. In no particular order:
It should have been the biggest show of the Fall 2013 season: “Big Fish”, a prestige musical starring Norbert Leo Butz and directed/choreographed by Susan Stroman. With a mix of a strong central story (a son and mother coming to terms with an eccentric dad) surrounded by flights of fancy, “Big Fish” had the makings of a “Mame” – or at least another “Big”. Instead, critics griped that the scale of the show’s design seemed at odds with the thin storyline, and the score, while pleasant, was nothing to send people to the CD counter at intermission. Despite its considerable charms – this writer found the show touching and entertaining throughout – “Big Fish” will sink Dec. 29 after fewer than 100 performances at the Neil Simon Theater.
The sleeper of the season, “After Midnight” was barely on the radar when performances started in October at the Brooks Atkinson Theater. Even though a tryout of the production, then called “Cotton Club Parade”, got promising reviews at City Center in 2011, nobody expected the tidal wave of critical plaudits that greeted this simple, elegant look at Harlem’s heyday. Box office grosses have been building and are likely to get even better when guest stars such as Toni Braxton and k.d. lang are added to the mix after the new year.
A $15 million musical based on a novel by Daphne du Maurier. Sounds like something ALW or Boublil-Schonberg might cook up and tour lucratively across Europe. Instead, this was a musical that started in Vienna eight years ago and was supposed to reach Broadway in 2012. Financing became shaky, so the opening date was moved to November 2013. In between, a major investor died. Only, he didn’t – because he didn’t exist. Criminal charges and lawsuits ensued, with producer Ben Sprecher even suing the show’s press agent for scaring off potential investors. Meanwhile, Sprecher has the rights to “Rebecca” for a few more months, during which he can try to drum up enough extra cash to turn a debacle into a miracle.
When the Julie Taymor-directed U2 musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” finally opened (after seemingly decades of previews) in 2011, the critics attacked, audiences shrugged, and pundits expected the $75 million show to close by Christmas. Instead, it hung on for more than two years, occasionally making big bucks during holiday weekends but never coming close to paying off its beleaguered backers. Like “Rebecca”, “Spidey” became a tale of lawsuits and bad blood the production simply couldn’t “rise above.” There’s a book about it now, and the producers are having fun getting notables to read from it, sarcastically, on youtube.
What does it take to make a show critic-proof? Mega-stars, I suppose. Put Daniel Craig and real-life wife Rachel Weisz in a Pinter play, and just roll the Brink’s truck up to the back of the theater. (I haven’t seen “Betrayal”, so I can’t weigh in on its merit, but for a cheap alternative, the 1983 film version is gripping and brilliant.)
Then again, sometimes a star and a vehicle do come together in an unforgettable way. Though some feel Cherry Jones comes off as showy and overbearing in the latest “Glass Menagerie” to reach Broadway, most viewers disagree and are impressed and strongly touched by John Tiffany’s production. I was struck by just how much love is expressed among the miserable members of this Wingfield family. Yes, they’re driven by fear but also by deep and abiding concern for each other, which makes for particularly humane drama.
Perhaps we’ll never know exactly how old Cicely Tyson is, but as a grand farewell to the theater, her appearance in Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful” was as good as a valedictory gets.
“Matilda” wowed a few major critics, but “Kinky Boots” stomped into the hearts of pretty much everyone who saw it. Billy Porter’s performance and a fabulous conveyor-belt dance number aside, no one aspect of the show is especially memorable; it’s the way Cyndi Lauper’s score, Harvey Fierstein’s savvy book and the whole story come together in an old-fashioned, Broadway way that made “Kinky Boots” a real kick – and multiple Tony winner.
2) Poppin’ Pippin
When “Godspell” flopped two years ago, that didn’t bode well for the revival of another old Stephen Schwartz show, “Pippin”, whose 1972 staging benefited greatly from Bob Fosse’s directorial touch. Luckily, the new “Pippin” found another auteur in Diane Paulus, whose circus-atmosphere touches transformed a war horse into a Tony-winning must-see event.
Leave it to Mark Rylance to make Shakespeare exciting and relevant – by dialing back its production values 400 years. Lit by candles with all-male casts, stagings of “Richard III” and especially a riotous “Twelfth Night” sent critics into paroxysms of “THIS is how it’s done” delight.
If there were room for an eleventh selection, I’d add Neil Patrick Harris once again rocking the Tony Awards – and this time, ratings reflected just how fun and special the annual event has become under his tenure. Let’s hope he’s not too busy this year with “Hedwig” to host one more time.
