Even before the advent of the pandemic, theatres in the UK and more widely were feeling the economic pinch. Governments had long been intent on cutting funding, while private sponsors were also increasingly cautious about making investments. The one redeeming factor was that audiences seemed to be willing to pay ever-higher ticket prices, particularly to see high-profile movie and TV stars.
Then COVID-19 came along, closing theatres, wrecking the economy and leading to cutbacks across the board, with our sector particularly hard hit as redundancies multiplied and opportunities for the self-employed diminished.
Five years on, previous trends have become entrenched with the West End stage, like Broadway, dominated by famous folk, who apparently still have the ability to command ridiculously high ticket prices.
Given that the big names are big names with major appeal, they are unlikely to come cheap. This is bad news for everyone else, as costs must be cut around them, evidenced by a series of solo shows. At the other end of the scale, large casts are now increasingly rare, unless someone happens to be producing a blockbuster musical, almost certainly a popular revival or adaptation of a much-loved movie.
In this context, the big surprise is that Yasmina Reza’s Art has not been brought back into the major stage repertoire until now. This play has everything going for it. There is a cast of just three and, as was constantly demonstrated by the producers across the globe in its heyday, the roles could be filled by superstars, soap stars or fill-in actors with minimal talent, who did little damage to audience enjoyment.
Helpfully, in straitened times, it could also be staged without a set or carefully created costumes, although the latest revival will almost certainly push the boat out and ironically invest vast sums on design.
The themes also seem highly relevant to our own times. Power struggles, capitalist greed and the measure of aesthetic value, not to mention friendship, will speak to viewers today just as much as they did when the play first appeared in the writer’s native France over 30 years ago, and then in London in a Christopher Hampton translation two years later and on Broadway a couple of years after that.
Broadway audiences will now have an opportunity to re-evaluate the piece as it returns to New York at the Music Box Theatre, helmed by director Scott Ellis, with opening night scheduled for 16 September.
In keeping with the times, the producers have gone overboard in the casting, choosing the trio of Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris. Each of them is an Emmy award winner, while the latter two have won Tonys, although, until this production which might just fill the gap, the first-named has only so far been nominated for a Tony without achieving the accolade.
While prospective British audience members might quail at high ticket prices for an arty (pun not intended) play with a short running time, Americans and visitors to the Big Apple have no such qualms.
At the moment, for a peak time performance, you will struggle to find anything for under $125 including booking fee, while the best seats will cost $443. Bargain hunters who are happy to sit in a theatre on Wednesday afternoon can just about sneak in at under $90 and purchase best tickets for $343. Multiply those numbers by 75% to get the sterling equivalent, and they still feel very high.
Most of those willing to invest will almost certainly be delighted with the result, since their prime interest is likely to be the chance to see their heroes in the flesh, perhaps take unlikely long-distance selfies and make illegal video recordings to remember their expensive night out.
As ever, those who merely wish to relish Yasmina Reza’s subtle writing, beautifully rendered into English by Christopher Hampton, with little or no interest in drooling over screen favourites will be unable to afford tickets. This is becoming a sad, very familiar story.
Once this Broadway revival sells out, there has to be every chance that the producers, who include ATG, or competitors will schedule a welcome London run for Art. The play already has many British fans and will undoubtedly gain many more should that be the case.