Fri May 18, 2012
They Say the Neon Lights are Bright….
By Ethan Matthews, New York – April 2010
Art and commerce in this country have had a long-standing feud battling over what is profitable versus what is valid. And there’s no better place to witness this battle than on Broadway in New York City. Today’s movie musicals, high octane stars head-lining shows, family friendly entertainments and safer revivals dot the theatrical landscape – indeed representing a dramatic shift from the past’s introduction of new stories and unconventional productions.
Gone are the days of yesteryear when the Great White Way bustled with buzzing theater patrons dressed to the nines in the excitement of seeing the latest Broadway hit. The suits have been replaced with casual wear, the patrons have been out numbered by the tourists and the contents of the shows have become accessible forms of entertainment geared toward filling audiences far more than taking chances and making statements. Broadway has changed – some say it is progress, others say it is the bastardization of the art form.
For those who see this as theatrical Armageddon there’s a longing for the days when the original A Chorus Line would be the talk of the town over the banal The Little Mermaid. For others, today’s Broadway entertainment represents a time when you can take your family to the theatre and have fun without the difficulty of finding appropriate material.
Both sides of the argument are valid but how do you please everyone? The issue here is one of balance – can both of these viewpoints of the art form coexist?
As a budding Artistic Director running The BE Company, a not for profit theatre and film production house, I constantly find myself trying to hold on to the ideals that got me into this business in the first place. I see countless scripts cross my desk with immense artistic integrity and exciting storytelling desperate to be heard, and yet, they aren’t being heard.
Writers are pushed to the shadows because they take chances and don’t fit the main stream’s idea of what’s popular. But isn’t that what art is supposed to do? I know I became an artist because I had something to say. I became an artist to say things for people who couldn’t in their own lives, and I became an artist to help those that walk into the theater or film house disappear and live vicariously through what they were seeing unfold in front of them.
To be honest, I think where we are in the theatrical landscape of New York is a cop out. I think, more often than not, we have replaced imagination with formulaic approaches to making money that leaves everyone unsatisfied. We have allowed ourselves to be told what is good, rather than judge for ourselves. As such we have become extremely lazy as an audience.
Now I realize I am young, but I still have the fire of unrest and the desire to change the world burning fiercely inside of me. I realize many chalk that up to being an idealist. Truthfully, I have been called worse and it doesn’t change the fact that there are real issues with where the performing arts are heading.
But all of this doesn’t matter if all you do is merely gripe about it. Get up, dust yourself off and take action. If you don’t like what Broadway has turned into, create an alternative. If you write, hold onto the stories you want to tell. If you act, act in the work that brings your passions to the surface. If you direct, direct your fellow artists to create a communion that represents what you want to say. If you produce, produce the work that lights this fire inside of you so you can share it with the world. And more importantly, if you are in the audience, support those that do.
If Broadway and all of its off shoots throughout New York ceased to exist we would be looking at the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs and over a billion dollars in revenue annually to this city, not to mention its impact on what the rest of the country and world produces. New York City is the epicenter of this art form and our generation inevitably will take the torch at some point.
Commercial theater and its choices aren’t going anywhere and family friendly entertainment has its place in the new Broadway and believe it or not I think it should. Anything that gets more people exposing themselves to the art of theater, regardless of how it does so, is good in my book. But we cannot assume that audiences don’t have the brainpower to know the difference between manufactured spectacles and the high form of art that theater has always been. We can do better and have. Challenge your audience; I suspect they will rise to the occasion.
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What an excellent piece you wrote! Its challenging evryone involved in art, its a must read piece so we can alll understand the main purpose of art. I am impressed!