My thesis explores the artistic effects of two different kinds of financial investment on Broadway. I define and then trace the rise of what I term the "corporate producer" over the past twenty years, then document the fall of the independent creative producer, which had been the traditional means of producing shows on Broadway prior to the 1980s. This rise and fall is documented through personal interviews with Broadway professionals, and through newspapers, magazines, and literature on current and past practices in theatre production both on Broadway and on tours. The rise of the corporate producer has resulted in an increasing pattern of revivals, musicals based on movies from the past, and expanded musical revues. Broadway has begun to resemble the mass produced product seen in any department store across the country, and Broadway's actors are turning into assembly line workers exercising in front of a constant stream of mediatized and mass marketed consumers. The demands of such a life are changing the concepts of theatre, performance, and acting. In addition to life on Broadway, the touring business of Broadway has been taken over by corporate producers as well, and tours have begun to take on characteristics of other industries based upon the principles of Henry Ford, suffering from downsizing of labor and materials, division of labor to its smallest units, and de-unionizing and control by and ever expanding middle management with an eye on the bottom line. The Broadway actor is becoming standardized, like a piece of machinery on an assembly-line. Liveness is being traded for frozen or "cinematized" events, and Broadway is becoming a movie. These theatrical movies are being taken across the country, changing what the United States views as theatre, and preparing the next generation for accepting these movies as Broadway. / A Thesis Submitted to the School of Theatre in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2003. / October 30, 2003. / Corporate Theater / Includes bibliographical references. / Mary Karen Dahl, Professor Directing Thesis; Carrie Sandahl, Committee Member; Laura Edmondson, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_176414 |
| Contributors | Russell, Susan (authoraut), Dahl, Mary Karen (professor directing thesis), Sandahl, Carrie (committee member), Edmondson, Laura (committee member), School of Theatre (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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