How has New York theater changed since the early 70s?
Legitimate theater has a much tougher time on Broadway now, mainly because of the economics. There was an appalling moment last summer when there were only two straight plays on Broadway, each of them performed by a single actor—Golda’s Balcony and I Am My Own Wife. That just shows how dire it’s gotten. It’s a very tough time for the playwright. Broadway has become almost a musical comedy theme park with all these long-running shows like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just hard to get great legitimate theater going and cooking because a Broadway show is such a big financial endeavor. Thank god for the Manhattan Theater Club and Playwrights Horizons and Lincoln Center, but those are not-for-profits, and actors certainly don’t make much money working there. I also think the Broadway audience is made up of a greater percentage of tourists now. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just that there’s not nearly as much variety and danger
