Sunday, June 28, 2009
A+E, Theater, Reviews

What might have been

Bemoaning the economy’s effect on shows we never got to see

BY BERT OSBORNE

Hard to believe it’s that time of year again already, when I start thinking about making my lists (and checking them twice) in preparation for The Sunday Paper’s annual theater season-in-review issue—spotlighting my Top 10 shows and directors, favorite acting performances and designers, and a pithy rundown of the "pet peeves" that irked me throughout the season. Things had barely begun last fall when I decided one of them would be all the previously announced shows that went unproduced in ’08-’09, due to the current economy (in most cases). As it happens, it could’ve made a long paragraph, and yet a mere list of titles scarcely seems to scratch the surface.
 
In the interest of delving into it a bit more thoroughly, it’s a good thing I’ve got space to "burn" this week. Of course, the bad thing is, it’s just another sign of the times that I don’t have any actual reviews to run instead, as I did at this same time in each of the last four years. Notwithstanding the half-dozen or so left to go, for the first time in five seasons, I won’t be breaking the 100 mark in the number of shows I’ve seen this year. That’s partly my own doing, trying to take it easier and cut back on my intake—e.g., two Shakespeare Tavern productions, down from five last season (down from seven and nine, respectively, the years before that)—but it’s largely the result of significantly diminished output from some of our other theaters.
 
Admittedly, the economic recession never entered my mind back in the fall, when I heard that both Theatre Gael and Theatre Decatur had gone under; my first thought, frankly, was to blame the recent quality of their work (or lack thereof). Then, 7 Stages scrapped its highly anticipated "Willie & Esther," a co-production with St. Louis Black Rep. IKAM had scheduled a "Colored Museum" that fell through. And Georgia Shakespeare canceled its traditional Shake at the Lake shows at Piedmont Park.
 
That Dad’s Garage nixed "Boy Groove" had more to do with the unexpected departure of artistic director Kate Warner, who’d planned to direct it. For whatever reason, True Colors dropped "Wedding Band" (which I’d never seen) for "Blues for an Alabama Sky" (which I had), and "Ivory Joe Cole" (which I haven’t) for the upcoming "For Colored Girls ..." (which I have—earlier this season!).
 
With its larger cast, ART Station opted to forego a regular run of the family musical "Are We There Yet?" for a limited-engagement one-woman show about Sophie Tucker. The Tavern substituted its current two-man comedy "The Mystery of Irma Vep" for the originally slated "A Little Night Music" (15 characters, in expensive 19th-century Swedish costumes, no less).
 
Sondheim fans were doubly foiled after the Alliance "postponed" its high-tech revue "iSondheim," itself a replacement for yet another show. When the company first announced its season, the spring musical was supposed to be a collaboration between Stephen King and John Mellencamp ("The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County"). Audiences ended up settling for a remount of last year’s "Jacques Brel ..." And Alliance artistic director Susan Booth did herself no favors, either, walking out on "The Glass Menagerie" at Aurora (which killed it altogether).
 
I often tell people that, between the precarious states of the newspaper industry and the theater arts right now, my job is like having the worst of both worlds: "Boy, am I ever in the wrong line of work," or words to that effect. Hmm. Sounds like fodder for a pretty good "pet peeve" later on. Meanwhile, I’m still worried that we might not have seen the last of the cutbacks. What if, by the end of the season next month, I can only come up with a Top 8 list? SP