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    4.3 Million Watched the Emmys, a New Low

    The Emmys had a lot going against it, including a ceremony delayed months by the Hollywood strikes, and stiff competition from other events.The Emmy Awards ratings collapse continues.An audience of 4.3 million people watched the Emmys on Fox on Monday night, the lowest viewership since records have been kept, according to preliminary Nielsen data. In 2022, the Emmys garnered 5.9 million viewers, the previous low.The ratings have put the Emmys dangerously close to the Tony Awards, which for decades has drawn a significantly smaller audience. But in June, 4.3 million people tuned into the Tonys, an increase from its previous ceremony.The final Emmy numbers, which will be released on Wednesday, will probably increase somewhat from the preliminary figures.The Emmys had a lot going against it. The ceremony had been delayed by four months because of last year’s screenwriter and actor strikes, the most significant postponement for the event in more than two decades.Indeed, the competition was stiff on Monday night. The Emmys went head-to-head against a Monday night football playoff game and the Iowa caucuses.The football game, which featured the Philadelphia Eagles and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, drew more than 28 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Roughly 4.7 million people tuned into the three big cable news networks between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. for Iowa returns, according to the preliminary Nielsen data.The Emmys also faced competition from other award shows. All the big winners on Monday night — “Succession,” “The Bear” and “Beef” — had been honored at the Golden Globes last week, and the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday night.Yet the Emmys even had trouble holding its own against a rerun of a network television show. A repeat of “NCIS” on CBS at 8 p.m. on Monday night — which had the benefit of a lead-in from another playoff football game — drew 4.9 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen data.Most other major award shows — despite lower audience figures compared with a decade ago — have seen ratings rebound recently. Oscar ratings have ticked up two years in a row. So have the Grammys. Even the scandal-plagued Golden Globes saw a big increase in audience last week.The Emmys telecast, which was broadcast on Fox and hosted by Anthony Anderson, cannot be blamed. The ceremony got generally warm reviews, with critics appreciating the number of cast reunions — including “Cheers,” “Ally McBeal” and “Grey’s Anatomy” — that were staged in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the awards.The Emmys will not be gone long. The next ceremony will be in September, and broadcast on ABC. More

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    ‘Harmony,’ Barry Manilow’s Passion Project, to Close on Broadway

    The musical, which Manilow wrote with Bruce Sussman, is about a German singing ensemble that collided with the rising Nazi regime.“Harmony,” Barry Manilow’s long-in-the-works musical about an early-20th-century German sextet that ran afoul of the Nazi regime, will end an abbreviated Broadway run on Feb. 4.Manilow and his longtime collaborator Bruce Sussman have been working on the show for more than a quarter-century, inspired by a documentary film about the Comedian Harmonists, an ensemble that included some Jewish members, which was unacceptable to the Nazis.The musical, directed by Warren Carlyle, opened on Nov. 13; at the time of its closing it is expected to have played 24 previews and 96 regular performances. It was capitalized for up to $15 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission; that money has not been recouped.Manilow wrote the music for the show; Sussman wrote the book and the lyrics. Over the years, the show had productions in San Diego, Atlanta and Los Angeles, and then in 2022 there was a successful Off Broadway production at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan’s Battery Park neighborhood.The Broadway production features Chip Zien portraying a surviving member of the group, reflecting back from 1988 to its history in the late 1920s and early ’30s. Ken Davenport, Sandi Moran and Garry Kief are the lead producers; they announced the closing Tuesday evening.The show opened to mixed reviews, and has been running at a time when overall Broadway attendance has not yet rebounded to prepandemic levels. Last week, “Harmony” grossed $534,769, which is not enough to sustain a musical of its size; its houses, at the Barrymore Theater, were just 77 percent occupied, according to data released by the Broadway League.Many shows are struggling, and industry leaders are worried about this spring, when there is a sizable crop of musicals and plays planning to open, while production costs are high and audience numbers remain lower than they once were. Another musical, “Shucked,” closed on Sunday after a 10-month run, and last year’s Tony-winning musical, “Kimberly Akimbo,” has announced that it will end its run in April. More

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    The Emmys Signal the End of the Peak TV Era

    The Emmys on Monday night felt in many ways like a bookend to one of the defining features of the streaming era: a never-ending supply of new programming.As “Succession” cast members marched up to the Emmy stage on Monday night to grab their statues for the show’s final season, they used it as one last opportunity to say goodbye.Kieran Culkin, after kissing his co-star Brian Cox on the lips, gave a tearful speech while accepting the award for best actor in a drama. Matthew Macfadyen and Sarah Snook, who each won acting awards as well, gave loving tributes to fellow cast members. And Jesse Armstrong, the creator of “Succession,” capped off the night by accepting the best-drama award for the third and final time and noting: “We can now depart the stage.”It all punctuated an end-of-era feeling at the Emmy Awards on Monday night. “Succession” was one of many nominated shows that had farewell seasons, joined by a list that included “Ted Lasso,” “Better Call Saul,” “Barry,” “Atlanta” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”But that was not the only reason that there was an elegiac theme to Monday night. The ceremony felt in many ways like a bookend to the so-called Peak TV era itself.Nearly every year from 2010 through 2023, the number of TV programs rose in the United States, reaching 599 scripted television shows last year.It may never hit those heights again.For more than a year now, studios and networks — including streaming giants like Netflix, cable stalwarts like HBO and FX, and the broadcast channels — have hit the brakes on ordering new series. Executives, worried about hemorrhaging cash from their streaming services, customers cutting the cable cord and a soft advertising market, have instead placed more emphasis on profitability. The monthslong screenwriter and actor strikes last year also contributed to the slowdown.With a more frugal approach, there is widespread fear throughout the industry about the fallout from a contraction.The Emmy nomination submission list gives a snapshot. The number of dramas that the networks and studios submitted for Emmy consideration dropped 5 percent, according to the Television Academy, which organizes the awards. Entries for limited series fell by 16 percent, and comedies by 19 percent.At after-parties on Monday night, there was considerable angst at just how much thinner the lineup would probably be for the next Emmys.Some television genres seem to be in some degree of peril. Limited series — six to 10 episodes shows that became a sensation over the past decade, particularly after the 2014 debut of “True Detective,” the 2016 premiere of “American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson” and the 2017 start of “Big Little Lies” — have been a hallmark of the Peak TV era. The shows stood out in part because of the big stars and lavish budgets involved.At the 2021 Emmys, the statue for best limited series was the final award presented. This had long been a designation for best drama, and it signaled an admission by organizers that the category had become television’s most prestigious prize.Not anymore.As part of programming budget cuts, executives now see significantly less benefit to deploying lavish resources to a show that ends after a matter of weeks.Once again, investing in series with lots of seasons is a much bigger priority. And there is a good chance that television may start to look a lot like television from a couple of decades ago.Executives at Max, the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service formerly known as HBO Max, are looking for a medical drama. “Suits,” a 2010s legal procedural from the USA Network, became an unexpected streaming hit last summer, after millions of people began watching reruns of the show on Netflix. “Next year, you’ll probably see a bunch of lawyer shows,” Netflix’s co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, said at an investor conference last month.To wit, Hulu recently ordered a project from the star producer Ryan Murphy that will chronicle an all-female divorce legal firm.Of course, Peak TV-era quality television is not going away. “The Bear,” the best-comedy winner and already the runaway favorite for the next Emmys, will return. Also coming back are “Abbott Elementary,” the beloved ABC sitcom, and “The Last of Us,” HBO’s hit adaptation of a video game, which won a haul of Emmys.Even the origin story of “Succession” seems tailor-made for the new television era. When HBO executives ordered the series, they wanted to put their spin on a classic television genre — a family drama — but had low expectations. The show did not command “Game of Thrones” or “Stranger Things” budgets. It was light on stars. Armstrong was not a brand name yet. And yet, it became a hit.Less than an hour after the Emmys ceremony ended, when Armstrong was asked at a news conference what he would turn to next, he demurred.Instead, he reflected on the past.“This group of people, I don’t expect to ever be repeated,” he said, of “Succession.” “I hope I do interesting work the rest of my life. But I’m quite comfortable with the feeling that I might not ever be involved with something quite as good.” More

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    Covid, Crutches, Surgery: For Christopher Abbott the Show Somehow Went On

    “I thought this could be my swan song, in terms of the angry-young-man thing,” said the actor of his rocky run of “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea.”Christopher Abbott was about halfway through a performance of “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea” when he felt something go wrong. The 37-year-old actor had been sitting onstage — his character, a brutish trucker, proposing marriage to a tormented woman played by Aubrey Plaza — and as he went to get up, he couldn’t straighten his leg.That early December injury — he had a bucket handle meniscus tear — was followed in short order by a case of Covid and arthroscopic surgery. And then he returned to the stage, performing for several weeks on crutches, through the end of the show’s 11-week run on Saturday night.The play, a two-hander, is a 1984 drama by John Patrick Shanley about two hardened people who meet in a Bronx bar and wind up spending a night together. The run, staged Off Broadway at the 295-seat Lucille Lortel Theater, was unusually bumpy.Abbott and his co-star, Aubrey Plaza, during a curtain call on the final day of performances.Lanna Apisukh for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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    Charlotte St. Martin to Step Down as President of Broadway League

    No reason was given for her unexpected retirement after 18 years in the pivotal role.In a surprise announcement on Tuesday, Charlotte St. Martin, who has served as president of the Broadway League since 2006, said she would be stepping down from her current role next month.As the leader of the league, a trade association representing producers and theater owners as well as presenters from around the nation, Martin has held one of the most pivotal positions in the theater industry. The league plays an important role in promoting Broadway, handles labor negotiations with the many unions representing theater workers on Broadway and on tour, and collects and distributes data about Broadway’s economic health and the demographics of its audience.The League also presents, alongside the American Theater Wing, the Tony Awards, which is the annual ceremony honoring the best shows and performances on Broadway.St. Martin’s retirement, effective Feb. 16, comes as Broadway — which is made up of 41 theaters concentrated in and around Times Square — is still struggling to rebound from the lengthy pandemic shutdown. The economics of Broadway have become increasingly challenging as production costs have risen while audience levels remain lower than they were before the pandemic.The league said in a statement that St. Martin would continue to advise the organization through this year’s Tony Awards, which are scheduled to take place on June 16. Jason Laks, the league’s executive vice president and general counsel, will run the organization on a day-to-day basis until St. Martin’s replacement is chosen; the league is overseen by a board that is chaired by Kristin Caskey, an executive vice president of the Ambassador Theater Group. More

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    ‘The Emigrants’ Review: A Troubled Show Finally Debuts

    Krystian Lupa’s latest work had its premiere in Paris after an earlier attempt collapsed. The delay would have been a good time to rethink the four-and-a-half-hour show.The spotlight is rarely on them. Yet as the technical crew moved furniture between scenes of Krystian Lupa’s new play “The Emigrants,” which finally had its world premiere in Paris on Saturday, they were watched as carefully as headline performers.Without these inconspicuous figures, the show can’t go on — and for much of the past year, a dispute with technicians has kept “The Emigrants” from the stage. Initially scheduled to debut last June at the Comédie de Genève, a prestigious Swiss playhouse, that production was canceled less than a week before opening night.At the time, the Comédie de Genève cited differences in “work philosophy” and “values” between its team and Lupa, 80, a longtime luminary of European theater. An article in the Swiss newspaper Le Temps said that the theater’s crew had been “mentally and physically exhausted” by Lupa’s attitude in rehearsal. In a reply published in the French newspaper Libération, Lupa apologized for two violent outbursts during rehearsals, but maintained that technicians “should at least attempt to adapt” to a director’s creative process.Members of the Comédie de Genève technical crew responded with a long letter, describing “multiple instances of disrespect, scoldings, taunting, scenes of drunkenness and humiliations, as well as chaotic organization.”The play’s director, Kristian Lupa, at the Odéon earlier this month. An earlier attempt to stage “The Emigrants” in Geneva collapsed after members of the technical crew walked out.Woytek Konarzewski/SIPA, via Associated PressThe domino effect was swift, and the prestigious Avignon Festival, which was supposed to present the work this past summer, pulled out, too. The Odéon — Théâtre de l’Europe, a Paris theater where Lupa has been a frequent guest over the years, ultimately stepped in to make up for the lost rehearsal time this winter, allowing for a belated premiere using its own technical crew. (No performances of “The Emigrants” are currently planned beyond the Paris dates.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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    A ‘Great Gatsby’ Musical Is Coming to Broadway in March

    The latest adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel will feature Jeremy Jordan (“Newsies”) as Jay Gatsby and Eva Noblezada (“Hadestown”) as Daisy Buchanan.“The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel of garish glamour and dashed dreams, is coming to Broadway as a musical this spring.The show — the latest in a long string of adaptations of this widely read story — had a pre-Broadway run last fall at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J., where it opened to mixed reviews. (As it happens, the book also arrived to mixed reviews, and is now widely considered a great classic of American literature.)The lavish production will join a spring Broadway season packed with new musicals at a moment when many industry leaders are concerned that there do not seem to be enough patrons to keep most of the shows afloat.This new “Gatsby” musical is backed by Chunsoo Shin, a Korean producer hungering for a Broadway hit after a spate of unsuccessful ventures here. He most recently was part of the producing team for “Once Upon a One More Time,” the short-lived show featuring Britney Spears songs; previous endeavors included a stage adaptation of “Doctor Zhivago” and a Tupac Shakur musical, “Holler if Ya Hear Me.”The “Great Gatsby” musical features songs by Nathan Tysen and Jason Howland, who collaborated on the 2022 musical “Paradise Square,” and a book by the playwright Kait Kerrigan (“The Mad Ones”). (Tysen and Kerrigan are married to each other.) The director is Marc Bruni, whose previous Broadway outing, “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” which opened in 2014, was a significant hit.The musical will star two Broadway fan favorites. Jeremy Jordan, a Tony nominee for “Newsies,” will play the nouveau riche title character, Jay Gatsby, while Eva Noblezada, a two-time Tony nominee, for “Miss Saigon” and “Hadestown,” will play Daisy Buchanan, the young woman with old money whom Gatsby has long desired.“The Great Gatsby” is scheduled to begin previews March 29 and to open April 25 at the Broadway Theater, one of Broadway’s largest houses.The novel has been explored in other media many times, including in a glitzy 2013 Hollywood film directed by Baz Luhrmann that starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan. On Broadway, there was a “Great Gatsby” play staged in 1926, the year after the novel’s publication; Off Broadway there was a highly acclaimed seven-hour version, called “Gatz,” developed by Elevator Repair Service and staged at the Public Theater in 2010.The novel entered the public domain in 2021, opening the door to any number of adaptations. Most significantly, at least for theater audiences, is another musical adaptation in development. It’s called “Gatsby” and is scheduled to start performances in May at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass.That production, which also has Broadway aspirations, has a book by the Pulitzer-winning playwright Martyna Majok (“Cost of Living”), songs by the rock star Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine) and Thomas Bartlett (also known as Doveman), and direction by Rachel Chavkin (a Tony winner for “Hadestown”). More

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    Best Red Carpet Fashion At the Emmys: Suki Waterhouse, Jennifer Coolidge & More

    After being postponed because of labor strikes in Hollywood, the Emmy Awards returned on Monday night and with the ceremony came what might be the television industry’s biggest fashion show.Though the carpet was gray, there was no shortage of red, a color that also proved quite popular at the Golden Globes this month. Bows, an inescapable accessory of 2023, held on as a favorite embellishment: Riley Keough had a black bow in her hair, while her “Daisy Jones and the Six” castmate Suki Waterhouse and the “Abbott Elementary” actress and screenwriter Quinta Brunson each had them on their gowns. (Ms. Waterhouse’s sat beneath her baby bump.)The ceremony was honoring television programs broadcast last year, which gave viewers a chance to catch up with casts like that of “White Lotus” season two. Some of its members seemed to use the occasion to pay homage to the show’s setting by wearing Italian designers: Meghann Fahy chose a rosette-laden strapless gown by Armani (that was red); Simona Tabasco donned full-skirted, floral Marni; and Jennifer Coolidge wore a sheer dress by Etro.Amid a carpet full of feathers, beads, sequins, diamonds and plenty of well-tailored suits, the following 15 outfits stood out from the rest (for better or worse).Aubrey Plaza: Most Dangerous!Looking sharp.Neilson Barnard/Getty ImagesThe actress and a star of “The White Lotus” had a colossal pin stuck through her pale yellow-green Loewe look. If the accessory looked familiar, it might be because the “Past Lives” director Celine Song had a similarly large pin through her Loewe skirt at the Golden Globes.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More