Donald V. Calamia (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} critic_don) wrote,@ 2008-03-12 11:47:00 |
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A BIT OF A BREATHER
For some reason, March seems to be a month of very few openings at our professional theaters. I suspect that's because pretty much EVERYONE opened a show in February, and those shows are continuing through at least a part of March. April, however, will see another explosion in the number of openings.
But then I got thinking: As I was updating my calendar that I use to track upcoming shows for my Theater Events column, March as a whole - when you include community theater and collegiate shows - seemed a little sparse this year for some reason. So I went back a few years to compare. And here's what I discovered:
MARCH 2006: Total # of show openings: 57; # of shows to review: 14 (two of which were actually reviewed in April)
MARCH 2007: Total # of show openings: 56; # of shows to review: 8 (two of which were actually reviewed in April)
MARCH 2008: Total # of show openings: 46; # of shows to review: 7 (one of which will be reviewed in April)
As you can see, there is indeed an approximate 18% drop in shows this year - which is rather significant.
So I took a look at last year's calendar to see if I could figure out the cause. Okay, one theater - Buckham Alley in Flint - lost its space and is on somewhat of a hiatus at the moment, and Heartlande isn't producing shows right now. But everyone else on the calendar last year is STILL producing shows THIS year. Therefore, theater closures aren't the problem.
Have SOME theaters reduced the number of productions they stage? Or is it just a scheduling oddity this year?
Does anyone have an answer?
For some reason, March seems to be a month of very few openings at our professional theaters. I suspect that's because pretty much EVERYONE opened a show in February, and those shows are continuing through at least a part of March. April, however, will see another explosion in the number of openings.
But then I got thinking: As I was updating my calendar that I use to track upcoming shows for my Theater Events column, March as a whole - when you include community theater and collegiate shows - seemed a little sparse this year for some reason. So I went back a few years to compare. And here's what I discovered:
MARCH 2006: Total # of show openings: 57; # of shows to review: 14 (two of which were actually reviewed in April)
MARCH 2007: Total # of show openings: 56; # of shows to review: 8 (two of which were actually reviewed in April)
MARCH 2008: Total # of show openings: 46; # of shows to review: 7 (one of which will be reviewed in April)
As you can see, there is indeed an approximate 18% drop in shows this year - which is rather significant.
So I took a look at last year's calendar to see if I could figure out the cause. Okay, one theater - Buckham Alley in Flint - lost its space and is on somewhat of a hiatus at the moment, and Heartlande isn't producing shows right now. But everyone else on the calendar last year is STILL producing shows THIS year. Therefore, theater closures aren't the problem.
Have SOME theaters reduced the number of productions they stage? Or is it just a scheduling oddity this year?
Does anyone have an answer?
