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Last month, Michael Riedel of the New York Post reported that Alan Ayckbourn‘s comic trilogy of plays, “The Norman Conquests,” was heading for Broadway in the autumn. LemonWade has learned that it’s virtually certain that the plays will arrive on Broadway this spring, before the Tony awards deadline. The production (Playbill.com details here) is directed by Matthew Warchus, who just had a Broadway success with “Boeing-Boeing.” “Norman” was a hit at London’s Old Vic, and reportedly will come to New York with cast members Amanda Root, Stephen Mangan, and Jessica Hynes (pictured). It’s wonderful that producers are bold enough to plop these three plays on Broadway in the current economic climate — and it’s great that with all the handwringing that greeted recent closings on the Rialto there may be as many as 15 plays opening before May 1 (many fewer musicals). Still, if I were an investor, here’s what would concern me: 1) Ayckbourn’s plays have long been popular in Britain, but never really in the U.S.; and 2) So far, there are no stars in the cast. Virtually all the other plays slated to open this spring have “names.” The marketing folks are going to have to sell this three-parter (which may be seen on separate evenings or in a “Coast of Utopia”-like marathon) as an event. Or, as the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich used to call each and every Leonard Bernstein concert, “an ewent.”

by Brendan Lemon | 1/22/09 | Leave a comment |