Post: #1

Check out this interesting report:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/theate....html?_r=0

Quote:In Audiences on Broadway, Fewer Guys Among the Dolls

By PATRICK HEALYMARCH 29, 2014

More men are steering clear of Broadway, and not even this spring’s ultimate bro show — “Rocky,” the new musical about the beloved boxing underdog — has found a way to fill seats with them.

While men have been hanging back for years, their current scarcity, at a time when overall Broadway attendance is down, is particularly stark. Only 32 percent of audience members last year were men, or 3.7 million, compared with 42 percent (or 4.2 million) in 1980.

This season is not providing any relief. Yankees fans skipped the baseball-themed “Bronx Bombers,” which flopped fast. John Grisham guys passed on the adaptation of “A Time to Kill,” which closed after seven weeks. Among musicals, “Big Fish” was all about dads, and “First Date” sold shot glasses to underscore its dude appeal, yet both shows were strikingly poor sellers.

Women drive Broadway sales, though successful shows often depend on them to wrangle their husbands or boyfriends.

That might be the Achilles’ heel of “The Bridges of Madison County,” a new romantic musical based on the enormously successful book and film. Producers have taken out emergency loans to keep running, in part because the show has proved so unpopular with men.

It continues. It was funny that Broadway tried to market "Rocky" from a romantic angle:

Quote:The Mirandas spoke after seeing “Rocky,” one of the big-budget new shows of the season. Producers believed that highlighting the show’s central romance in ads — with the tagline “Love Wins” — would attract women, while wide swaths of men would want to see a favorite hero. But “Rocky” has been struggling at the box office, grossing $799,879 last week, or 53 percent of the maximum possible amount — barely enough to break even.

Turning "Rocky" into a romantic musical -- no wonder it bombed with men. Surely, the only thing a man wants to see less than a typical romantic musical is to see a masculine hero feminized by one.

Post: #2

Maybe because straight men don't like to watch gay men dancing around and singing?

Post: #3

I'm actually a fan of the theatre, but not some over-priced broadway musical. Last great play I saw was about three years ago about the Lincoln Douglas debates. I tried to get tickets to Book of Mormon, but $300 for nosebleeds was a bit too much.

Post: #4

Post: #5

Went to a smaller play down in Austin. It was prettt cool. Maybe I'm uncultured, but musicals are a bit

Well not all of them. The musicals on Its Always Sunny are top notch. Maybe Broadway should commision those guys to do this in front of a live audience.

Post: #6

i would dig some Broadway.

But then, I've gone out of my way to watch professional actors put on Shakespeare plays (if you're ever in Oregon during the shakespear festival, head to Ashland). Probably not the average guy's cup of brewski...

I think their issue is too much competition from other entertainment sources, honestly. And the culture viewing this type of thing as "gay," as evidenced by some of the responses in this thread.

Post: #7

It's their own fault. Broadway, and American theatre in general, refuses to take on any subject that might be of relevance to modern man. They prefer to cater to political correctness and to rehash the same old themes over and over again.

The only play I would ever consider going to see would be anything by David Mamet. Or anything made before 1950.

Post: #8

I thought this thread was going to be about alcohol now being served in musical theatres

Post: #9

Comp me a couple tickets and I'll take a bitch to the theatre, but no way in hell am I dropping a couple bills for that.

Post: #10

(03-30-2014 03:11 PM)peterthephoenix Wrote:  Comp me a couple tickets and I'll take a bitch to the theatre, but no way in hell am I dropping a couple bills for that.

That's a good point. Back in the day, guys were probably mostly going to butter up the pussy. These days, there's no need for all that patience just to hit it. Now they just take her to a bar and pay for 2 or 3 cocktails and it's on.

Post: #11

Broadway is insanely expensive. I wouldn't go for that reason even if I thought the shows were great, which I don't.

Post: #12

My entertainment dollars are either going to Newark, across the Passaic to Harrison, or if I really want to empty my wallet, Queens.

Post: #13

(03-30-2014 03:21 PM)Glock Wrote:  Broadway is insanely expensive. I wouldn't go for that reason even if I thought the shows were great, which I don't.

You can get half price tickets at the TKTS booth in times square.

I had a front row seat to Urinetown for $44(granted, this was about 8 years ago, but still), and saw some others as well that weren't as good. Just make sure the show you are seeing is good, because a lot of the shows on Broadway are garbage.(check the reviews) but a lot are amazing.

Post: #14

If you guys want to talk about precedents in the social paradigm, than this is actually a better example than; for instance, an article being published in a mainstream magazine.

This is historically, feminine-favored, entertainment genre that's reaching out to men for support to keep it afloat.

Post: #15

I've taken women to shows if I get comps. Even ballet (The Nutcracker).
Saw Camelot with Robert Goulet a couple years before he died. He was a class act.
All the old school Broadway talent has been dying off and not much is replacing it that's worth $eeing.

Post: #16

If they really want to get more men in the seats they need to learn how to guilt men into it, like the jewelry companies, "Every lay begins with gay"

Post: #17

The formula is simple. Less of this:




More of this:

Post: #18

I saw my first musical last year. It was the Book of Mormon, the only reason I went was because i enjoy South Park and the play delivered on the South Park style.

If we removed BoM, and said I had to choose another musical I would want to see. I would say that I'd rather not go, even if it was free.

Post: #19

(03-30-2014 06:16 PM)cibo Wrote:  I saw my first musical last year. It was the Book of Mormon, the only reason I went was because i enjoy South Park and the play delivered on the South Park style.

If we removed BoM, and said I had to choose another musical I would want to see. I would say that I'd rather not go, even if it was free.

American Idiot
les Miz
avenue q
chicago
phantom of the opera
wicked

^^^ all are musicals, all worth the price of admission, especially if you get discounted seats through tkts. Some are probably on the road right now(i saw american idiot last year(maybe 2 years ago?) in los angeles, it was awesome)

granted, the rest of the musicals currently on broadway, probably men will not like. but to say "i wouldn't see any of these even if they were free" is nuts. avenue q is not currently on broadway though, neither is american idiot.

Post: #20

Simple math.

Most guys are gonna bring a girl, but won't go with their bros, and maybe not alone.

So, for every guy that takes the lead and goes, maybe .8 girls show up. Maybe .05 men come as a result of another man.

Now, for every girl that goes, she might drag a guy, but she might bring her girlfriend instead. So the split would probably be .55 men and .45 women (like a woman would ever go alone) as a result of a woman initiating a broadway purchase.

Post: #21

I've got a theory that date nights and all the industries they support are taking a major hit right now.

The notion that taking women out to dinner doesn't lead to sex is probably catching on. Enough guys realize that buying girls a couple cocktails as opposed to a 3-course meal is MORE likely to get him laid, and it's going to have an economic impact.

I imagine the same holds true for other "classic date" ideas. If you're interested in theater that's one thing, but for the average guy, why the hell would he go to a musical unless it's to take a girl on a date? Sex is so cheap that this kind of wining and dining simply isn't required anymore.

Fine dining has been in decline for a very long time. There are many factors leading to this, mostly economic, but I think cultural as well. The notion of spending hundreds of dollars on a girl and getting nothing out of it is a pretty good incentive NOT to do it. Hence the rise of the gastropub and decline of fine dining restaurants.

Post: #22

Also on another, semi-related note.

I've learned by now that if I'm genuinely interested in something, don't bring a girl along. Doesn't matter how smart the girl is, how many degrees she has, art history, literature, whatever. Every girl I've taken to a classical symphony has gotten impatient and/or downright embarrassing (clapping in between movements, trying to talk to me in the middle of a piece).

It's like these days, instead of Broadway and the Philharmonic, you take em to a stripclub
Instead of a classy restaurant, you take them out for some cheap Thai or Korean food
Instead of swing dancing (huge when I was younger) you take them to a club, pop them an E and finger her on the dancefloor.

Post: #23

Women are morons. They go to stupid musicals which are moronic.

Next.

Post: #24

Plays and musicals have been targeted to women and gay men for as long as I can remember. I don't think this was always the case; but it certainly is now.
I was moderately involved in drama in high school, and I have a soft spot for good plays; hell, my namesake is from Goethe's Faust.

I would love to go see a play of Faust. Hell, I would travel to New York to see it. Even the first part. (It's in two parts, and the second runs a little long.) I don't know if any of you guys have ever read it, but it's this amazing story about corruption, redemption, duty, knowledge, and all kinds of other themes that would appeal to men. But I can't even find a DVD of the play, let alone a performance of it.

And hell, if Faust is too old, there must be other things like that, right? Something that would be thought-provoking, or moving, or at least of some moderate interest to a guy in his late 20s with disposable income. But if I go to look at the top Broadway shows, this is what I see.

Wicked: A remake of a children's film.
The Lion King: A remake of a children's film.
The Book of Mormon: Some weird Mormon-bashing shit from the South Park people. It features "an after-show discussion of religion," that I'm sure is the height of philosophical sophistication. I grew out of South Park by the time I was a sophomore in college, as did everybody else I know.
Matilida: A remake of a children's film.
Aladdin: A remake of a children's film.
Beautiful: The Carol King Musical: What the fuck is a Carol King?

Post: #25

(03-30-2014 07:20 PM)Faust Wrote:  Plays and musicals have been targeted to women and gay men for as long as I can remember. I don't think this was always the case; but it certainly is now.
I was moderately involved in drama in high school, and I have a soft spot for good plays; hell, my namesake is from Goethe's Faust.

I would love to go see a play of Faust. Hell, I would travel to New York to see it. Even the first part. (It's in two parts, and the second runs a little long.) I don't know if any of you guys have ever read it, but it's this amazing story about corruption, redemption, duty, knowledge, and all kinds of other themes that would appeal to men. But I can't even find a DVD of the play, let alone a performance of it.

And hell, if Faust is too old, there must be other things like that, right? Something that would be thought-provoking, or moving, or at least of some moderate interest to a guy in his late 20s with disposable income. But if I go to look at the top Broadway shows, this is what I see.

Wicked: A remake of a children's film.
The Lion King: A remake of a children's film.
The Book of Mormon: Some weird Mormon-bashing shit from the South Park people. It features "an after-show discussion of religion," that I'm sure is the height of philosophical sophistication. I grew out of South Park by the time I was a sophomore in college, as did everybody else I know.
Matilida: A remake of a children's film.
Aladdin: A remake of a children's film.
Beautiful: The Carol King Musical: What the fuck is a Carol King?

Disney owns most of the broadway theaters, and we should expect to see remakes of their franchises. They also own Marvel. And star wars. If we are lucky we will get a star wars vs Marvel musical on broadway in the next 10 years(I am only half joking about this)