Broadway and the Met are sustained by London subsidy
NewsA piece by Matt Wolf in the New York Times states the blindingly obvious: that state subsidy for London theatres fuels the best of New York stage life.
To cut these theaters’ subsidies is to advocate, willingly or not, for shrunken ambitions. Philanthropy and commercial activities can pick up the slack, of course, as in the United States. But donor bases don’t arrive overnight. The cushion of state money let the Hampstead and the Donmar develop broad programs with international reach. Unless the theaters tread carefully, the effects of the cut will be felt far beyond London…
The Hampstead has a history of birthing plays that have entered the theatrical canon. Bernard Pomerance’s “The Elephant Man” and Mike Leigh’s “Abigail’s Party” premiered there, as did Harold Pinter’s seminal two-hander, “The Dumb Waiter.” The flow of writing works both ways: The Hampstead has hosted multiple American Pulitzer Prize-winners and finalists, including Marsha Norman, Martyna Majok, Tony Kushner and Stephen Karam.
The same is true of English National Opera and the Met (though not of Covent Garden or any other UK opera company).
If London theatre shrinks, the lights go out on Broadway.
The article says nothing about opera. What is the connection between ENO and the Met? I know a lot of British directors are prominent in US opera, but how do the new cuts affect a lifeline to US houses?
Sorry to say so, Norm, but what a load of tosh! The Met has used ENO but occasionally to a very limited extent beyond the ill-fated Ring and if ENO goes under it won’t make a blind bit of difference. Hampstead has hardly been more than a very occasional starting place for projects which have eventually moved to Broadway. This really sounds like crying wolf!
The Minghella Madama Butterfly, Dr Atomic and Satyagraha, Faust, Le grand macabre and Two Boys.
The ENO investment in the Grand macabre alone was $600,000.
ENO Cosi fan tutte also
So ENO did not originate Grand Macabre – it was a coproduction with La Monnaie (who did create it) and Liceu (Barcelona) and I’m pretty sure it didn’t go to The Metropolitan Opera.
Oi veh are you serious? 600k USD. What a meshuggeneh bunch of maniacs at ENO
“….state subsidy for London theatres fuels the best of New York stage life.”
“If London theatre shrinks, the lights go out on Broadway.”
I can’t believe that anyone with half a brain could ever take these statements seriously.
Interesting. I remember last time I was visiting England a few years ago. There was a publicity clip in my British Airways flight about the shows in London’s West End. Almost without exception, the promotion started with “Directly from Broadway” – that in a flight from US! Some smart chap in the public relations department figured that we all need to take a transatlantic fight to London in order to see what’s on Broadway.
Bottom line: it goes both ways.