Closing Thoughts on New York Theater's Closings

Though we have just greeted the New Year, New York theater is starting off 2009 with goodbyes rather than hellos. Over a dozen Broadway and Off-Broadway productions are closing the curtain on long-lasting favorites like Hairspray, hit revivals like Gypsy, and a slew of beloved plays, like the comedic Boeing- Boeing or Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps. Broadway bids farewell to seven shows on Sunday alone. It seems that the state of the economy causes turnover in all workplaces, and theater is no exception. Here, at the Spectator, we offer one last hoorah to some of our personal favorites. We can only hope that a batch as hilarious, ground-breaking, and inspiring take the place of these outgoing shows.

Hairspray

Since it opened in 2002, Hairspray has been an unstoppable musical. Winner of eight Tony Awards – including Best Musical – Hairspray tells the story of Tracy Turnblad, the chubby teen just dying to dance on The Corny Collins Show. The show also simultaneously addresses the issues of race and the Civil Rights movement in 1960s Baltimore. Through these stories, Hairspray teaches integration and tolerance for people of all varieties, races, and body types, contending that although prejudice is a sweeping force, it can, in fact, be conquered.

Besides its strong message, Hairspray contributes an electric energy to Broadway unlike that of any other show. With its witty and sometimes scandalous humor, high-power dance numbers and dynamite songs, “you can’t stop the beat” of Hairspray. Hairspray is the fun everyone looks for on Broadway. And despite the fact that the show is closing, I have no doubt that the tolerance it promotes and the energy it inspires will persist.
—Ruthie Fierberg

Boeing-Boeing

I'll admit that I went to see Boeing-Boeing for Bradley Whitford—knowing nothing about the play itself before seeing it. Boeing-Boeing is the story of an American playboy (Bradley Whitford) in 1960s Paris engaged to three "air hostesses" whose life is turned upside down when his school friend (Mark Rylance) comes for a visit. The premise is fairly simple and the set is just one room. But what makes the show so special is that it was so energetically funny, I practically fell out of my seat from laughing so hard. The actors were clearly having a blast and it's a show that I would have recommended to everyone because the comic performances are so memorable. It's a shame that it's going—I really wanted to see it again.
—Dani Dornfeld

Spring Awakening

To me, the upcoming closure of Spring Awakening on January 18 is comparable to telling Picasso to stop painting after his Rose Period, or discontinuing a football team after just one Super Bowl win. Ending such a successful production barely a year and a half after it garnered the prestigious Tony Award for Best Musical is a shame, especially for a show that redefined the musical genre to such a great extent. Though Spring Awakening will continue its national tour, it pains me to think of the scores of young people—drawn to the theater after hearing about the innovative music and compelling story that Spring Awakening brings to the table—who will be deprived of seeing the show on Broadway. With all the recent efforts by the theater industry to bring in a younger audience, it seems counterproductive to close one of the few shows that caters to such an audience. Hopefully, the touring production can still flourish, and spread the sense of amazement that I felt while watching Spring Awakening to others across the nation.
—Maddy Kloss

Young Frankenstein

It must have been the exorbitant premium tickets—$480 a pop—which set a new precedent on Broadway but precipitated the slew of so-so to awful reviews of Young Frankenstein. Mel Brooks hedged his bets on his newest stage adaptation in 2007, still riding the high from his smash success with The Producers. Teaming up again with the same creative team, Brooks had a definite air of cockiness about him, but the theater community cried “foul!” As such, Young Frankenstein’s opening came and went, and I didn’t pay any mind to the “Abbey Normal” ensemble. But this break I had a chance to see the show.

To my surprise, the tuner was highly enjoyable, not nearly the monster-of-a-musical the critics made it out to be. Overall, the performances were marvelous, and the sets were the most elaborate I’ve seen on a Broadway stage in I think … well, ever. In this creative re-staging of the Irving Berlin classic, “Putting on the Ritz” (the show’s standout number), the monster does his best to time step with a top hat and cane. Simply adorable. Most have said that Young Frankenstein doesn’t match the precedent Brooks set with The Producers—and it’s true, there are no memorable showstoppers like “Springtime for Hitler.” But entertaining this show most certainly is, and it’s a shame that the Transylvanian cheer won’t last much into the New Year.
—Laura Hedli