‘North Country’ producers stunned by Broadway theater change

“Woman From the North Nation,” the brooding musical usual round Bob Dylan songs, is shifting to Broadway this season, however to not the theater it wished. The producers of the present, which just about bought out on the Public Theater, believed they’d a deal for the intimate (945-seat) Walter Kerr, the place Bruce Springsteen wraps up his sensational present on Dec. 15. However on the final minute, Jujamcyn Theaters, which owns the Kerr, grabbed one other new musical as a substitute: “Hadestown,” which opened to sturdy evaluations in London. The producers of “North Nation” have been “blindsided,” says a supply. They scrambled to discover a new theater — so many exhibits, so little actual property. After which “Summer season: The Donna Summer season Musical” introduced that its final dance will likely be Dec. 30 on the Lunt-Fontanne. Sources say “North Nation” is prone to play a six-month run on the Lunt earlier than “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” strikes there within the fall. Industrial prospects for “North Nation” are iffy: The present’s about depressed individuals in the course of the Melancholy and is about as uplifting as a razor blade to the wrist. But it surely’s a critics’ darling and will likely be a Tony contender. Promoting the Lunt’s 1,500 or so seats could be robust, so the plan is likely to be to shut off the mezzanine, decreasing capability by one-third. A nationwide tour goes out subsequent fall based mostly on the assumption that these Dylan songs will likely be a draw. Industrial prospects for “Hadestown,” a contemporary retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice delusion, are by no means assured. The fee is sort of $12 million. However, like “North Nation,” it will likely be showered with Tony nominations. Each of those arty, bold exhibits ought to be careful for “Tootsie”: If the excitement from the highway is any indication, this musical has extra to it than its well-known film title. The producer of “King Kong” has come out swinging towards the New York Occasions. Carmen Pavlovic, in a letter to theater editor Scott Heller, blasts the paper for reviewing her $35 million present within the type of a bitchy dialogue between critics Jesse Inexperienced and Ben Brantley. She calls the dialogue “unintelligent” and “bilious,” a chunk of “begrudging vomit.” Her letter is ricocheting throughout Shubert Alley — it ricocheted proper to my inbox — and her fellow producers are cheering her on. It’s unhealthy sufficient to get a awful discover. However to many individuals, seeing two critics merrily scratching out a present’s eyes comes off as piling on. Pavlovic writes that she by no means anticipated a constructive discover from the paper, and that she admired each critics’ particular person evaluations. However she says their dialogue on “Kong” got here off as “schoolboyish” and “conceitedly entitled.” She strongly objects that they spent extra time discussing the intermission gross sales of the Kongopolitan (a king-size sippy cup of vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice and lime) than main woman Christiani Pitts. Phrase round Broadway is that the Occasions, anxious that easy evaluations don’t visitors effectively on the Net, is making an attempt to get clicks by providing catty important cruelty. A Occasions spokesperson says: “Broadway present evaluations do effectively with our viewers, however we’re additionally curious about experimenting with totally different codecs and this was a kind of events. We stand by our assessment.” You may hear Michael Riedel weekdays on “Len Berman and Michael Riedel within the Morning” on WOR radio 710. Share this: https://nypost.com/2018/11/29/north-country-producers-stunned-by-broadway-theater-change/ The post ‘North Country’ producers stunned by Broadway theater change appeared first on My style by Kartia.