If you read my last blog, you'll know that the revival of Ragtime had a special place in my heart - and that it was on life support well before Dick Clark ushered us in to 2010. Thus, when the announcement came down that the simultaneously pragmatic and skittish producers were pulling the plug this coming Sunday (January 10^th) I can't say I was surprised. Still, it does put a severe dent in any New Year's optimism I might be harboring.

And it's not just Ragtime. Last Sunday Shrek and Superior Donuts bit the Broadway dust, while the 10^th also bodes terminal for The 39 Steps, Burn the Floor, and In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play. Before the month is over, we'll also be bon-voyaging Finian's Rainbow, Wishful Drinking and Bye Bye Birdie - an unusually hefty load, even by traditionally cut-throat January standards.

Granted, Wishful Drinking was a limited engagement and, in the scheme of things, The 39 Steps and Shrek had respectable runs. All the same, as a lover of theatre in all its diverse manifestations, I am not happy.  I truly wish there were a clear-cut solution to keeping good shows afloat during the desperate days. But it seems survival options have dwindled to a) deep-pocketed/bullish producers and b) big name Hollywood stars willing to sacrifice the megabucks for a longer-than-minimal Broadway stint.

The situation leaves me forecasting a future filled with increasingly limited-run Broadway bookings and fewer and fewer plays and musicals with no celebrity ballast.

That said, I'd give anything to be proven wrong.

And while I'm venting - actually pretty therapeutic in lieu of the new decade beneath my wings - I'd like to point out something that's bothered me ever since we learned of actress Brittany Murphy's death on December 20^th of last year.

There was little to no mention of Murphy's Broadway debut in the Tony-winning 1998 revival of Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge, particularly in lieu of the fact that another Broadway revival - the first since then - is currently taking place at the Cort Theatre with Liev Shreiber and Scarlett Johansson in the roles of Eddie and Catherine.

I haven't as yet seen the current production. But I did see Brittany Murphy's performance as Catherine opposite Anthony LaPaglia and loved it. She was earthy and accessible and, at 21, a more believable teenaged Catherine than I'd seen in the part. In fact, even though she was overshadowed award-wise by LaPaglia and Allison Janney, who played Beatrice, it's Murphy's unique take on the role that stands out in my mind. For an actress who cut her teeth on TV and film from the age of 14, she was a revelation on stage. You'd think someone - or Wikipedia, hello? - would have credited her first and only Broadway appearance.

Posted on January 05, 2010 - by