The Playgoer: Quote of the Day

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Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Quote of the Day

"It is a delicious irony that Broadway, the ultimate temple of commerce, depends heavily on work subsidised by the British taxpayer."

-The Guardian's eminence grise Michael Billington, in town to review The Vertical Hour.

Quite a different take on the play, by the way, worth checking out. Especially notable that he does not trash Julianne Moore.

His overall point is that the play's merit is apparent in how starved Broadway audiences seem for substantive drama about contemporary issues. Good point. I only wish, though, that Billington took a wider look around the New York scene before making statements like, "Subtract the Brits and Broadway drama is negligible." Broadway drama has become an outright impossibility, I'd argue. (Reminds me of what Ghandhi said when asked about "Western Civilization"--"Sounds like a good idea," he replied.)

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