After 30 years of devotion and much love for this marvelous institution, this will be my final report. The management has for three years ignored my request for a change of seat location. I have been seated in D4 – D6, which are just behind and to the side of C-2 and C-4, in which two of the tallest men in America have been located these past three seasons. One of them manages to move from left to right all through the performance, making it necessary for me to follow behind him. Therefore I miss almost all of the musicals when they are on center stage; he blocks that area beautifully. I have never been contacted about changing my seats despite the fact that I’ve been a subscriber for 30 years, you might say a “founding father”. I have always paid for my tickets, even though I’ve been entitled to press seats as a member of the OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE where the management ignored my request for changing location. I approached the press department and asked for two press seats for future encores. Yesterday I received their answer. “There are none available.” So I am left with no choice but to say “farewell to Encores!”.
It is true that the golden age of musical theatre is over now and the fare being offered us for next season is all about rock ‘n’ roll and other contemporary forms. I don’t really believe it, but the new generation of theatre goer seems to enjoy these “bands and acts”–many of them with no book at all, and most of them lacking in the melody and wit which we had come to expect from the best works. The talented performers continue to arrive on the scene each year, and they often deliver in A1 fashion, so there is a form of entertainment up there on the City Center stage. The choreography is often vivid and effective but it doesn’t often do what it’s supposed to do – to further reveal character or to enrich the story. Yet this current management does take the time and money to email me constantly requesting contributions to help further their plan. For that, they seem to have an enormous staff and a thorough work ethic.
I do wish them all well. During these difficult times, provocative and moving musical theater would be most welcome and helpful to get us all through. I will continue to cover as much as I can, but the announcements for the new season are not promising. The longest running shows now are the revivals of some of the best of the Golden Age. I sincerely hope a new generation of writers comes along, and soon, to keep Broadway humming, lively, and nourishing.