By now, September 2025, a certain formula has solidified on Broadway: stage a familiar-ish play, cast well-known film and TV actors, set a limited run and tickets will hopefully sell, or at least command high prices. It’s a commercially strong bet – while most Broadway musicals are failing financially, six plays have already become profitable: Oh, Mary! (starring Cole Escola), All In: Comedy About Love (John Mulaney, Jimmy Fallon, et al), Romeo + Juliet (Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler), Othello (Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal), Glengarry Glen Ross (Bob Odenkirk, Kieran Culkin and Bill Burr) and Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney).
It’s led to some grousing – about ticket prices, about a Hollywood invasion, about the spirit of Broadway. I’m generally agnostic on this – Broadway has always run on star wattage, and screen actors certainly provide some – but it does change how audiences interact with the material. People enter the theater with preconceived notions, certain expectations or, in the case of John Krasinski’s solo show Angry Alan, the specter of one very beloved sitcom character. Actors and directors can work with it, subvert it, challenge it, submit to it, but the celebrity factor won’t disappear. There’s no such thing as a blank canvas.
