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Post by Someone in a tree on Mar 23, 2023 11:22:31 GMT
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1,482 posts
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Post by mkb on Mar 23, 2023 12:17:57 GMT
It says a lot about a person when they choose to collaborate with The Spectator.
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Post by NorthernAlien on Mar 23, 2023 12:44:26 GMT
Oh no, has David only got 12 new productions of his plays this year? When last year he had 36? Oh no, how tragic. /sarcasm
Love the WoS pointing out all the straight plays on within half a mile of the Wyndhams too!
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7,183 posts
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Post by Jon on Mar 23, 2023 13:59:41 GMT
Playwright being grumpy about musicals in the West End is a clique at this point.
Hare is wrong because there is a good balance of musicals and plays in the West End and some of the theatres that usually have musicals like the Palace, Phoenix and Gillian Lynne have plays in them so he can't really argue that musicals have taken over the playhouses.
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Post by sph on Mar 24, 2023 0:39:10 GMT
I think, in many ways, musicals have kind of taken over as the dominant form of theatre. I can understand why though. Musicals are generally crowd pleasers, easier to market, sell merchandise, build fanbases, promote on TV via song performances etc. If you love a musical, you'll probably listen to it in the car, at home. A musical is more likely to run for years than a play is, which will usually just get a short burst of a few months (yes there are exceptions, but I'm talking generally).
I just think that the general public (and tourists) get more excited about musicals than plays. And... I get it.
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7,183 posts
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Post by Jon on Mar 24, 2023 2:08:16 GMT
I think, in many ways, musicals have kind of taken over as the dominant form of theatre. I can understand why though. Musicals are generally crowd pleasers, easier to market, sell merchandise, build fanbases, promote on TV via song performances etc. If you love a musical, you'll probably listen to it in the car, at home. A musical is more likely to run for years than a play is, which will usually just get a short burst of a few months (yes there are exceptions, but I'm talking generally). I just think that the general public (and tourists) get more excited about musicals than plays. And... I get it. I suspect this was true in the days of music hall and operetta not just today. Writers like Hare always across as pretentious snobs IMO |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 24, 2023 9:54:00 GMT
Hare hasn't written a truly successful play for some considerable time.
In the past, he has had plays that secured transfers. That hasn't happened in a while.
Is that because musicals are filling up theatres or because the audiences aren't as enamoured by his sort of plays as they once were?
Jealousy is never a good look.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2023 11:42:25 GMT
Would I rather see Ralph Fiennes whittering on about covid for 80 mins or Guys & Dolls at the Bridge? No contest!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2023 11:45:11 GMT
He's also talking rubbish when both "Leopoldstadt" and "Life of Pi" recently played at the Wyndhams
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Post by theatreian on Mar 24, 2023 11:56:41 GMT
There does appear to be a balance of musicals/ plays as far as I am concerned. Theatre is a business too and if musicals sell more tickets then that will always prove the decider in the end. With all the doom and gloom of the last few years musicals will always in my view bring out an audience feeling more positive in the most part.
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Post by alece10 on Mar 24, 2023 11:58:04 GMT
The Times has an article in defence of musicals and lists 10 musicals that David Hare needs to see.
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Post by mrnutz on Mar 24, 2023 11:58:18 GMT
As someone who had to sit through his 'Straight Line Crazy', one of the driest things I've ever seen on stage, I think he should pipe down.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2023 12:49:05 GMT
Michael Billington weighs in on the subject in The Guardian and comes to a somewhat different conclusion. www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/mar/23/musicals-plays-theatre-stages-london"My real concern, in viewing the ecology of British theatre, is the virtual disappearance of the classics both in London and the regions.... While David Hare is worried about the unhealthy dominance of the musical, I am even more concerned about the idea of a theatre cut off from its past and the best of contemporary Europe." |
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Post by Someone in a tree on Mar 24, 2023 13:39:16 GMT
Would I rather see Ralph Fiennes whittering on about covid for 80 mins or Guys & Dolls at the Bridge? No contest! Why the Covid thingy and I'm not running are not both be in rep astounds me. I never caught Straight Line but a friend described it a dramatised Wikipedia page |
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Post by Jon on Mar 24, 2023 14:47:50 GMT
Hare hasn't written a truly successful play for some considerable time. In the past, he has had plays that secured transfers. That hasn't happened in a while. Is that because musicals are filling up theatres or because the audiences aren't as enamoured by his sort of plays as they once were? Jealousy is never a good look. I suspect it's the latter, he's lucky that places like the National and Bridge will commission a new play from him but he has to realise a West End transfer or production is a privilege and not a right. The fact no one is agreeing with him is telling. |
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Post by Rory on Mar 25, 2023 0:25:34 GMT
As someone who had to sit through his 'Straight Line Crazy', one of the driest things I've ever seen on stage, I think he should pipe down. I hated that! Was bored rigid! |
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Mar 25, 2023 13:02:39 GMT
Would I rather see Ralph Fiennes whittering on about covid for 80 mins or Guys & Dolls at the Bridge? No contest! It’s Fiennes isn’t it? |
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Post by Jan on Mar 30, 2023 17:47:42 GMT
"Hare’s claims were disputed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, however, who suggested that the playwright disliked the genre due to the “disaster” that was his own musical, 1987’s The Knife. "David Hare is responsible for one of the greatest musical disasters in history,” the Evita composer told The Times.
“He is probably saying this because he mainly wants to bury his own contribution to musical theatre.”
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