Regular readers will recall that, despite the title of my blog, I do make occasional forays into non-musical theater. By recent count, in fact, my musicals-to-plays ratio for Broadway theater was about 3 to 1.
One recent play that I found particularly captivating was Tracy Letts' multiple award-winning August: Osage County. Despite the play's formidable length (3 hours and 20 minutes), I was so taken by the show that I went back to see it again. Twice. Once to see Tony winner Deanna Dunagan, who was out the first time I saw the play, and again to see Estelle Parsons. Despite knowing all the show's many surprises ahead of time, I still found the play stunning, and appreciated the many differences among the equally masterful performances from Dunagan, Parsons, and understudy Susanne Marley.
Now comes news that the Broadway production of August, alas, is closing. The show, which currently stars Phylicia Rashad, will play its last performance at New York's Music Box Theater on Sunday, June 28th. The show will have played 648 performances and 18 previews, putting it past other such successful plays as Doubt, Master Class, and Six Degrees of Separation. August has long since recouped its $2.5 million initial investment, a year ago, in fact. The show's grosses have been declining pretty steadily since peaking at about $600,000 in early 2008, and lately have been coming in a bit closer to $200,000. Even so, it's likely that the investors have made a tidy profit for themselves. That's quite a feat when you're talking about a three-hour-plus, star-less drama.
What's more, the movie version of August: Osage County is currently under development towards a projected 2011 opening. And the national tour, which will star Estelle Parsons, launches later this year, with a stop at Boston's Colonial Theater in May 2010. You can bet that I'll be seeing it again.
You know what, I think this'll actually work better off as a movie.
Mostly because the requirements and conventions of film means they'll whittle it down some, leaving only the best of the material.
Posted by: Gil | June 18, 2009 at 03:22 PM
Yes, Gil, I seem to recall that the show's inordinate length was one of your many points of parody. I guess it sort of depends on the director. But, if they were able to get Angels in America down to a manageable length, I don't see why they can't do the same for August.
Posted by: chris caggiano | June 18, 2009 at 07:56 PM
Angels wasn't whittled down at all, was it? It was done as a three-part miniseries, which takes about as long as the play takes to play in the theatre...
Posted by: simon | June 18, 2009 at 08:30 PM
Simon: On stage, Angels was 7 hours long in total. The miniseries was 6 hours. This despite the added scene with Hannah and Joe at the end. I'm not familiar enough with the show to offer a scene-by-scene breakdown, but I seem to recall that they cut out some of the stuff from Prior's visit to heaven.
Posted by: chris caggiano | June 18, 2009 at 08:48 PM
Chris - Angels played with two intermissions in each half - at fifteen minutes each, that's a full hour cut right there.
And there are suggested cuts in Prior's journey to heaven anyway in the playscript as published...
Posted by: simon | June 19, 2009 at 12:27 PM