Bad season on Broadway

Broadway is facing its most dismal season in years and it has nothing to do with terrorists or any 9/11 hangover. Theatre-goers in New York are being turned off by ever-increasing ticket prices and the sour mood of the drama critics, who have had little good to say about this year's offerings.

Symptomatic of the dark mood was the embarrassment of veteran actress Ellen Burstyn. Only a week ago she was basking in lights and glory for the opening of her solo show, The Oldest Living Confederate Widow. Twenty-four hours later, it was closed by its producers at an estimated loss of US$1.25 million ($1.96 million).

It has been seven years since a Broadway play has been shuttered a single day after its opening.

By some standards, Burstyn was lucky. A much vaunted comedy, Bobbi Boland, starring Farrah Fawcett, folded in previews. Sources said the former Charlie's Angels star was having trouble with her lines. Harmony, a musical, was abandoned in rehearsals and the New York run of Stephen Sondheim's newest show, Bounce, was cancelled after disappointing outings in Chicago and Washington.

All of that has happened just this month. And there has also been the panning the critics gave to another high-profile arrival on Broadway - Rosie O'Donnell's reworking of Taboo, a musical telling of the rise and fall in London's 1980s clubland of Boy George. The show, which includes Boy George, is still open, but only just. Most nights the theatre is half-empty.

Mediocrity has been the watchword of most reviews. There has been no standout arrival on the Great White Way in the way Hairspray, the musical version of the John Waters film, became the must-see of last season or The Producers two years before.

In fact, nothing has created more excitement this year than the imminent return of the two original stars of The Producers, Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane.

"The reviews seem to have been tougher across the board," agreed Jed Bernstein, president of the League of American Theaters and Producers. "So far, the rose petals have been handed out very sparingly, and that's made it very hard on everybody."

Others in the business are fretting that theatre going has simply become too expensive. The cheapest ticket you will find for Taboo costs $80. That represents a 533 per cent increase in 10 years. In 1993, it was possible to get seats in Miss Saigon for a mere $15. And it had good reviews. For the best view of Boy George on Broadway fans must pay $100.

Concern for Broadway's health peaked in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the economic doldrums that accompanied them. In fact, it bounced back strongly last year, thanks in part to Hairspray.

But so far this year, the numbers of bums on seats has dropped by almost 5 per cent - that's 250,000 fewer tickets sold. Overall, box office earnings have risen slightly, but mostly by virtue of the exorbitant ticket prices and a larger number of shows being staged.

- INDEPENDENT