Stage Addiction: The Broadway Fire Sale Of Desperation

- Broadway got back to work this week, and almost immediately, the discount wars began. Why? Because there are LOTS of empty seats at the moment, after audiences chose other holiday options for entertainment during the strike.

But don't lose heart, kids...that's good new for you! The drought translates into a veritable bonanza for theatregoers, who can find lots of available seats at TKTS, at discount services, and even at the box offices this holiday season. You may still not be able to get into Jersey Boys or Young Frankenstein, but pretty much every other show has availability this week and next. Here's a sampling of the discounts we found (there are more around, too):

• Is He Dead? at the Lyceum Theatre, offering select Orchestra/Front Mezzanine for $56, Rear Mezzanine for $45 through December 23rd (excluding Saturday evenings). Click here or call 212-947-8844 and use code IHGEN07.
• A second Is He Dead? Offer: four special performances for only $26.50 tonight through Thursday, December 6 only. This discount does not apply to phone or online orders, and is only available at the box office for each show, during business hours. To take advantage of this special offer, theatergoers must request the discount when they go to the box office. Offer subject to availability.
• August: Osage County at the Imperial Theatre, with $49.50 tix until December 23rd. Click Here or call 212-947-8844 with code OCPBX89.
  
• The Color Purple at the Broadway Theatre, offering limited discounted seats for $60 through December 23rd (excluding Saturday performances). Call 212-947-8844 and use code CPWEB772.
• The Seafarer at the Booth Theatre, offering four special performances for only $26.50 from Tuesday, December 4 through Thursday, December 6 only. This discount does not apply to phone or online orders, and is only available at the box office for each show, during business hours. To take advantage of this special offer, theatergoers must request the discount when they go to the box office. Offer subject to availability.
• Rent at the Nederlander Theatre, where all tickets (except Saturday nights) are discounted through December 23rd. Orchestra seats will be $65, front mezzanine seats $55 and rear mezzanine $40. Use the code RENTON via ticketmaster.com or by phoning (212) 307-4100.
• Avenue Q at the Golden Theatre, offering discounted mid/rear orchestra and mezzanine seats between $46.50 and $72.50 through December 16th and from January 7-February 12. Click here and use code AQPBX99 or call 212-947-8844.
• Spring Awakening at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, offering $50 Orchestra/Mezzanine seats for tonight, Wednesday, and Sunday evening as well as the Sunday matinee (through December 9). The code is SAF4FAN when clicking here or by calling 212-947-8844.

- Not a lot of other news...yet. We'll have to wait and see how the strike's damage plays out on the season as a whole, but getting a jump on the inevitable wave of winter closings is Frankenstein (not Mel Brooks' comedy...it's the other one, starring Hunter Foster Off-Broadway). It takes its final bow on Sunday. One shaky production that doesn't plan to close, however, is Curtains...it's just announced that its Tony-winning leading man, David Hyde Pierce, has extended his contract to August 2008.

- Remember Farragut North, the play that was to star Jake Gyllenhaal but got pulled due to an imminent movie version with Leonardo DiCaprio? Well, Second Stage has finally announced its replacement play in their season: Good Boys And True, by openly gay playwright Robert Aguirre-Sacasa (Based on a Totally True Story). Sacasa's a talented guy whose career has been rising of late, but he may also be jetting away from theatre to Hollywood...last season, he joined the writing staff of HBO's Big Love.

- London's stage version of Desperately Seeking Susan announced its closing date of December 15th. And maybe that's not such a bad thing; ModFab reader Tom (hi Tom!) sent in this report on the show: "I saw the show entirely on a whim after my friend and I tried to buy tickets for another show which had sold out, and we both loved the film, and Blondie, so thought it was a good deal to get the best seats for only £25. However, it was the worst show I have EVER seen. Truly, if I had to describe the show in a sentence, it would be as: 'A show for people who don't like musicals, and don't like good acting'. The actual production values were quite good, with the use of travelators on stage, so that characters could run and stay in the same spot as they traverse New York. Also, the final chase scene with Susan was very funny, with them both running on a travelator and two of the cast (as stagehands) putting things on one end (such as a chair, and rail of costumes) so that the two had to dodge out of the way of them as the items moved towards them. However, I must also give the cast their dues for the final 10 minutes. After the actual story had finished, they performed a Blondie medley was performed, and was fantastic! The choreography really picked up, as did the vocals and general enthusiasm of the cast." Yeah, they do that medley thing with ABBA in Mamma Mia, with Olivia Newton-John in Xanadu, and Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys. Behold the awesome power of the medley!

- The long-gestating musical adaptation of Catch Me If You Can, with music by Marc Shaiman (Hairspray), is getting yet another staged reading. C'mon guys, it's been years now. How much more time do you need?

- One of the more famous flops in recent musical theatre history was Busker Alley, which starred Tommy Tune and closed out-of-town in 1995. I remember words like "disastrous," "heinous" and "terrible" being tossed around with abandon...and when Tune broke his foot, many saw it as a sign from God. Well, guess what: it's baaaaack.

- Is anyone else as disappointed with the lineup for The Public Theater's annual Under The Radar Festival as I am? This is usually the best new work festival of the year; just last season, it gave us The Brothers Size, Radio Macbeth and Daniel MacIvor's A Beautiful View. This year? Not impressed.

- Helllllooooooo, London folk. One of you needs to send me a review of Othello with Ewan McGregor and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and quick. Otherwise, I may have to fly over there and force myself in through the stage door.