For a while there, it almost seemed as though Boston had regained its former glory as the out-of-town tryout venue of choice for Broadway productions. When I first signed up for the Broadway Across America subscription series, the list of shows included the usual national tours of established properties (Spring Awakening, A Chorus Line, etc.). But there were also two tryout runs for NYC-aimed productions: Nice Work If You Can Get It, a "new" musical based on the Gershwin show Oh, Kay!, and a revival of the Lerner & Loewe classic Brigadoon, with a new book by acclaimed playwright John Guare and direction and choreography by Tony winner Rob Ashford.
Then, last week, we heard that Nice Work If You Can Get It had "postponed" its Boston engagement. And now, I've just received an E-mail from Broadway Across America stating that Brigadoon has canceled its Boston run and postponed its Broadway bow "due to the lack of an appropriate Broadway theater in the spring of 2009."
Of course, when shows get canceled, or postponed, we don't always hear the real reasons why, but there's certainly cause to take this explanation at face value. There really aren't a lot of vacancies on Broadway right now. The only theater I can think of that isn't currently committed is the Nederlander Theater, soon to be vacated by Rent, and no doubt the Nederlander organization is fielding inquiries. And when theaters do open up, there are plenty of incoming shows looking for homes, including the West Side Story revival.
As for Boston, well, we're a patient city. We waited twenty years for the Celtics to rebound, and nearly five times that long for the Red Sox to make a comeback. We can certainly bide our time until we once again see the likes of Oklahoma! and Company in their tryout engagements. In the meantime, we'll make do with Legally Blonde and Dirty Dancing.
God help us.
