One Minute World Arts- Good-bye to Two Major Broadway Musicals
Two major Broadway musicals, Dear Evan Hansen, an acclaimed new musical premiered in 2016, and The Phantom of the Opera, the world-famous iconic musical, have made the decision to bid Broadway farewell due to continuous losses at the box office. Although the two shows have very different styles in music, theme, and target audience, both of them have been much loved by fans young and old all over the world. Sadly, despite that the two musicals managed to pull through the lockdown caused by COVID and reopen, it has still been very difficult to strike a financial balance for them because there are not enough audiences returning to the theater. Eventually, the production team of each would have to make the ultimate decision of leaving Broadway.
Dear Evan Hansen depicts the story of a socially troubled teenager entangled with a big lie he tells due to circumstances beyond his control. The show received rave reviews across media, and has been very popular with audiences of all kinds, especially the young ones who resonate deeply with the story. In 2017, it swept the board at the Tony Awards, picking up 6 trophies, including Best Musical. Earlier this year, the show was re-cast, and Gaten Matarazzo, the actor who played Gavroche in the 2014 Broadway production of Les Misérables, took up the part of Jared Kleinman from July 19. On September 6, Sam Primack stepped in to play the leading role, but then soon became the last Evan on Broadway when the show closed on September 18. With a total amount of 1699 performances and more than 1.5 million people coming to see the show in the past 6 years, Dear Evan Hansen has made itself one of the 50 longest-running Broadway shows in history.
On the other hand, The Phantom of the Opera, which opened on January 26, 1988, is currently the number 1 longest-running Broadway show. The show has run for 13,700 performances over more than 3 decades, and is about to mark its 35th anniversary next year with grand celebrations before it officially closes on February 18, 2023. Cameron Mackintosh, the producer, has reflected on his decision to terminate the show’s run at Broadway: although there have been financial losses, somehow the world continues to change and move towards new possibilities; one day The Phantom of the Opera might return to Broadway with a smaller scale of production.
告別百老匯兩大巨作：《致埃文．漢森》、《歌劇魅影》
2016年竄紅的新世代音樂劇《致埃文．漢森》（Dear Evan Hansen），以及全球知名的經典音樂劇《歌劇魅影》（The Phantom of the Opera），近來因不敵票房失利，雙雙吹響熄燈號。雖說這兩齣百老匯音樂劇在故事主題和音樂風格上大異其趣，卻都備受世界各地粉絲的喜愛。可惜兩者在熬過疫情、重新開張後，觀眾回流的速度並不足以平衡收支，因此製作方只好毅然做出告別百老匯的決定。
《致埃文．漢森》描述一名有社交障礙的青少年，糾結於自己因不知如何應對而撒下瞞天大謊的故事。由於題材新穎，能引發年輕族群的共感，所以推出後立即贏得旋風式的好評，並於2017年拿下包括「最佳音樂劇」在內的6座東尼獎。今年，該劇製作團隊邀請到曾於2014年百老匯版《悲慘世界》（Les Misérables）中飾演加夫洛許（Gavroche）的蓋頓．馬塔拉佐（Gaten Matarazzo），自7月19日起加入卡司，扮演劇中要角之一賈瑞德（Jared）。而飾演主角的演員山姆．普里馬克（Sam Primack），則只短暫地從9月6日演出至18日，就必須以「末代埃文漢森」的身分，下台一鞠躬。在過去的6年內，《致埃文．漢森》創下於百老匯演出近1,700場的紀錄，以及吸引逾150萬觀眾人次的佳績，晉身百老匯史上「最長壽節目」前50名。
至於自1988年1月26日開演至今的《歌劇魅影》，則已穩坐「百老匯最長壽音樂劇」之龍頭，30餘年來累積超過13,700場演出，並且計畫在2023年2月18日正式落幕前，盛大舉辦35週年慶。本劇製作人卡麥隆．麥金塔（Cameron Mackintosh）也表示，儘管有所虧損，但整個大世界正在改變，所以未來《歌劇魅影》仍然有可能以縮減規模的形式，重新回歸。
Photo Credit © Matthew Murphy, Calla Kessler, Natalie Powers, Facundo Arrizabalaga/European Pressphoto Agency
Sources:
https://playbill.com/article/see-gaten-matarazzo-take-his-first-bow-in-broadways-dear-evan-hansen
https://nypost.com/2022/09/16/phantom-of-the-opera-will-close-on-broadway/ )
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/theater/phantom-of-the-opera-broadway-closing.html