Broadway's Big Down

Broadway has been doing an unconvincing job of dying for as long as it has been alive. These days, however, its hypochondria is being taken seriously--and with good reason. From all standpoints, the current season is as grim as any that Broadway oldtimers can remember since the Depression.

Things stumbled to a start with four flop musicals that lost their producers and backers a total of $2.5 million (Ambassador, Lysistrata, Dude and Via Galactica). The most spectacular were Dude--quickly nicknamed "Dud"--which lost about $900,000 and Via Galactica--originally titled Up--which went down for the same amount. With equal fatality, the new plays of the year came and, for the most part, went. Average losses: $200,000. Arthur Miller's The Creation of the World and Other Business, which closed last week after 40 performances, was the sixth play of the season to fold.

In all, 16 of Broadway's 34 theaters were dark last week. Of the 18 in business, only a handful--including those housing the musicals Pippin and Two Gentlemen of Verona and the plays Butley and That Championship Season --were taking in enough at the box office to make a profit for the shows and for themselves. (Broadway theaters do not charge rent from producers, but take 25% of the box office gross.) Just to rub things in, some 23 national touring companies of past seasons' hits like Jesus Christ Superstar and No, No, Nanette are outdrawing Broadway productions for the first time in history, with grosses so far this season running about 30% ahead of Broadway's.

What is the cause of the problem? A lack of good plays? The unions? The exodus to the suburbs? The economy? A major factor is the decline of the Times Square-Broadway neighborhood, with its prostitutes, massage parlors and porno emporiums. Producer David Merrick complains of "those wise guys who like to crack jokes on TV about being bumped on the head in the streets of New York."

Jokes or not. Mayor John Lindsay has been pressing a major campaign to mop up crime around Times Square. At the same time, to help revitalize the area, the mayor's office of midtown planning and development has encouraged builders to include theaters in their new office buildings by offering them a 20% bonus in the amount of floor space now allowed them under the zoning code. So far this year, four new theaters within office buildings have opened in Manhattan's theater district--the first new legitimate theaters in the area since 1928. One, the Uris, rang up its curtain on the Via Galactica debacle. But in the same building, the 650-seat Circle in the Square already has a list of 12,000 subscribers for its first four-play season of classics.

Drastic Steps. Last week the venerable Shubert organization, after some acrimonious infighting and executive realignment, announced drastic steps to halt its own alarming case of deficit tremens. The 16 Broadway theaters owned by the Shubert chain lost $2,000,000 last season and are doing no better this season. In an effort to improve the efficiency of the theaters, which are in use for only some 16 hours per week, the organization is opening them up to other kinds of attractions besides plays. These have already included a one-man show by Singer Neil Diamond and an auto-show-cum-entertainment for General Motors dealers.

The Broadway structure, however renovated, is still built on audience trends, and these may ultimately determine its fate. "What's wrong with Broadway," says Veteran Theater Publicist Merle Debuskey, "has a lot to do with the young's peculiar attitude toward it. It isn't part of their daily life. They feel they're entitled to lower prices. They'll spend $12 for the album of Jesus Christ Superstar, but they won't spend that for a ticket. There's the future. How do you beat that?"

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