Corrections: March 19, 2025
A picture caption with an article on Saturday about Robert Indiana misstated the closing date of an exhibition. It closes March 29; it does not open on March 29. Another picture caption with the article also misidentified the gallery exhibiting an artwork. 'The American Dream,' from 1992, is in the Pace exhibition, not the Kasmin exhibition.
A picture caption with an article on Monday about the Broadway play 'Othello' incorrectly described what fans were doing outside the Ethel Barrymore Theater. They were waiting to see Denzel Washington after the performance, not waiting to get into the show.
Errors are corrected during the press run whenever possible, so some errors noted here may not have appeared in all editions.
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Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
Why Hollywood Stars Make Bank On Broadway—For Producers
George Clooney could not have asked for a much bigger or better Broadway debut. Good Night, and Good Luck—the show he cowrote, produced and stars in—is nominated for five Tony Awards at this Sunday's ceremony, including Clooney for Best Actor, and has broken weekly box office records as the highest-grossing non-musical play in history. Its penultimate performance on Saturday will be broadcast live on CNN and HBO Max, a first for a Broadway show. Through 12 weeks of its 13-week run, the stage adaptation of the showdown between journalist Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy has grossed more on Broadway ($44 million) than its source material. The 2005 film of the same name cowritten and directed by Clooney, earned just $32 million at the domestic box office despite earning six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Director. But this much is clear—Clooney didn't come to Broadway for the money. Forbes estimates the 64-year-old Clooney will earn $6 million in salary and gross royalties for his numerous roles in the show, more than any other theater performer over that span, but a fraction of what Hollywood's highest-paid actors can expect to make on each movie project. For last year's Wolfs, for instance, Forbes estimates Apple paid Clooney and his co-star Brad Pitt $30 million each. Whether it's the purity or the prestige of acting on stage—"Movies will make you famous, television will make you rich, but theatre will make you good," the Broadway stalwart Terrence Mann famously quipped—A-list stars like Clooney have become a vital of the Broadway ecosystem. Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal currently headline Othello, while Kieren Culkin, Bob Odenkirk and Bill Burr lead Glengarry Glen Ross. In April, Gladiator II star Paul Mescal wrapped up a run in A Streetcar Named Desire. And the 2024 theater season included Robert Downey Jr., Rachel McAdams, Steve Carrell, Eddie Redmayne and Jeremy Strong, all leading non-musical plays that ran 10-16 weeks with a hard closing date to accommodate the actors' busy schedules. While Hollywood stars have made appearances on Broadway for decades, in recent years, producers and investors have been increasingly eager to stage these short-run, star-driven productions, which considerably lower their financial risk. A play typically requires a $6 to $9 million investment to get to opening night, compared to $20-25 million for new musicals, according to Forbes estimates. Weekly operating costs run in the $400,000-$600,000 range for plays versus $800,000-$900,000 for musicals. 'Your likelihood of losing all your money [as an investor] is near zero, because of the projections of sales based on that actor," says Jason Turchin, a Tony-winning producer and founder of the Broadway Investors Club. 'You may not make multiples back but you should get a healthy return.' Good Night, and Good Luck, for example, recouped its initial $9.5 million investment just seven and a half weeks into its run. Othello and Glengarry Glen Ross made their money back ($9 million and $7.5 million respectively) in nine weeks. Reputation, Reputation, Reputation: Stars such as Othello's Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington can sell out limited-edition runs on Broadway and then return to the more lucrative world of movies. While the upside of these shows is capped by the limited run, investors can expect to make 10-30% return on their capital, Turchin says. Considering only about a quarter of all Broadway shows fully pay back their investors, or less, it's the kind of safe bet he believes producers will lean into even more in future years. A-list stars meanwhile, some of whom are paid upwards of $20 million per movie, are typically given a minimum weekly salary—around $100,000 per week for the highest-level talent—as an advance against a percentage of the show's net gross, after expenses such as credit card fees and theater restoration charges are deducted from the raw receipts. An actor's gross royalty points are highly variable, but the top end can reach 10%. Other significant members of a show, such as the writers, producers, and directors, are either paid royalties from a small percentage of the gross or a larger percentage of a show's profits after recoupment. For ongoing shows, almost all have moved toward paying out of the profits to mitigate risk, but for sure-thing star vehicles—say, Hugh Jackman's year-long run in the 2022 revival of The Music Man—the standard is gross participation. Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck deal would include net gross points for starring, cowriting, producing and owning the underlying IP, adding up to his impressive total. Until this year, a Broadway actor's gross percentage only modestly exceeded the weekly minimums. Most hits gross just over $1 million per week, and over the run of a show, a star performer could expect to earn between $1-3 million. But if you're the type of actor who has made a fortune playing a superhero (Jackman), selling a tequila company (Clooney) or being one of the most bankable box office draws of the last 30 years (Washington), the money matters less. What's changed in the 2025 season is that producers are realizing just how far they can push the ticket pricing with a bankable star, particularly for the most expensive seats. Average ticket prices for Good Night, and Good Luck, Othello and Glengarry Glen Ross hover between $250-$400, and premium seats have routinely sold in the $700-$900 range, more than double the cost of top tickets to last year's star-driven plays or long-running hits like Wicked and Hamilton. Of the shows that started their runs in March, they account for three of the top four highest-grossers on Broadway, with Good Night, and Good Luck and Othello averaging more than $3 million per week, and Clooney's show cracking the previously untouchable $4 million threshold for non-musicals on three occasions. For deep-pocketed theatergoers, the appeal of seeing a movie star perform live has proven immune to traditional hurdles for other shows, such as negative reviews. According to Broadway review aggregator Did They Like It?, Good Night, and Good Luck received eight positive reviews, 9 mixed reviews and four negative reviews from major critics. Othello logged two positive reviews, 15 mixed reviews and three negative, and was completely shut out at the Tony Awards. Yet ticket sales remain robust. Last year's Robert Downey Jr.-led McNeal—his Broadway debut—was one of the worst reviewed shows of the season (one positive, five mixed, eight negative) and grossed $14 million across its 12-week run. Compare that to a play like John Proctor Is The Villain—a revisionist telling of Arthur Miller's The Crucible starring Sadie Sink of Stranger Things—which received 17 positive reviews, three mixed and one negative, plus seven Tony nominations, but averages less than $500,000 in weekly grosses, and one can quickly see the disconnect. "It does seem that theatergoers want to see Hollywood celebrities, in the same space at the same time. They crave that experience,' says one major Broadway dealmaker. 'And for the star? A standing ovation from a thousand people every night doesn't hurt the ego.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Wicked: For Good : Trailer, Release Date, Cast, Soundtrack, and Everything You Need to Know
Courtesy of Universal If you have the first Wicked movie on repeat now that it is on streaming, that means you surely think about Wicked: For Good at least once a day. But let's recap a little. Wicked first debuted on Broadway in 2003, where Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel originated the roles of Glinda and Elphaba. The interconnected story of the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West takes place long before Dorothy drops into the wonderful land of Oz. In fact, the prequel details the unlikely friendship between the two then-aspiring witches in their youth before they became enemies, changing the fate of their lives — and Oz — for good. The Tony-winning Broadway musical — a Wizard of Oz prequel based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West — is establishing itself as a mainstay of the holiday seasons, being adapted for not one but two major motion pictures under Universal, and more and more confirmed details about the second film are slowly trickling in. The Wicked movies are led by mega pop star Ariana Grande and Tony-winner Cynthia Erivo as witches Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, and directed by Jon M. Chu of Crazy Rich Asians and In The Heights fame. As people from all around the world get ready to see Wicked Part One at home, our gaze is already on Wicked Part Two — a.k.a Wicked: For Good. Below, we've gathered everything you need to know about the project. Jump to your preferred section: Announcement Plot Title explained Release date Trailer and photos Filming details Behind-the-scenes Cast Movie differences New music Previously only referred to as Wicked Part Two, Universal and director Jon M. Chu officially revealed the sequel had been renamed on December 16, 2024, and the new title will give fans of the musical goosebumps. Hold your blue-haired horses because Wicked Part Two is now officially Wicked: For Good. In case you are new here, the new title is a reference to the beloved farewell duet performed by Elphaba and Glinda towards the end of the musical. Fans have been anticipating Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande's take on the song, written and composed by Stephen Schwartz, since casting was announced, and if this is any indication, it will be worth the wait. ↑BACK TO TOP Like Gregory Maguire's book, the Wicked movies follow Glinda and Elphaba as students at Shiz University, where they, despite their differences, navigate friendship, magical training, and even romance, all while discovering their own identities. The Wicked movies follow the storyline of the beloved Broadway musical adapted from the book, so you can think of Wicked Part One as the first act of the musical, which ends with 'Defying Gravity,' and the upcoming Wicked Part Two as the second act. The year-long wait between the movies is, of course, the intermission, so you have plenty of time to get the popcorn ready. Wicked Part One ends after Elphaba and Glinda meet the Wizard, with the former fleeing the Emerald City on a broom. Assuming it will be faithful to the musical, Part Two will begin sometime later, with Elphaba now being known as The Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda as Glinda the Good, working for the Wizard. Fiyero is still looking for Elphaba, and there's a long way ahead (and a few transformations) until we can reach the curtain call. Yes! After much anticipation, Universal put out the first official trailer for on June 4, 2025, and it's a weepy one. In the trailer, which you can watch below, we get a peek at Glinda and Elphaba's reunion, getting glimpses of the pair's new lives outside of Shiz. We also see Madame Morrible plotting for Elphaba's demise while tapping Fiyero in the Wizard's squadron — all set to Cynthia Erivo's version of 'No Good Deed" before transitioning into the long-awaited 'For Good' with the two leads' vocals. We also get an appetizer of Fiyero and Elphaba's reunion before the latter ends the trailer on a familiar note: 'I'm off to see the Wizard.' Previously, only a select few were lucky enough to see the trailer at events. Universal had announced that the Wicked: For Good trailer would premiere in theaters on June 4, 2025, to coincide with the first film's one-night return to the big screen in the United States and Canada. We also have a first look at the movie with the official posters. The first poster, which you can see below, shows Elphaba and Glinda in brand-new attire as the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch facing each other from opposing cliffs with the yellow brick road leading up to the Emerald City in the ravine between them. The poster's logline is 'You will be changed,' as a nod to the lyrics in 'For Good.' A second poster was unveiled to coincide with the release of the trailer, and it features Glinda inside her bubble and Elphaba flying high with her broom on opposite sides of the frame, holding up their arms to each other à la Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. Before the trailer was released, Vanity Fair also got a bunch of exclusive first-look pictures from the upcoming movie, which you can see here. To get a better understanding of when Wicked Part Two will come out, we need to look at the release calendar of Wicked Part One. Between calendar shifts and COVID-19-related production delays, the release of the first Wicked movie was moved around quite a bit. A few months before its 2019 premiere, Universal announced that the movie had been pushed to December 22, 2021, though the pandemic set that date back, too. The next date was intended to be December 25, 2024, for Wicked: Part 1 and December 25, 2025, for Part 2. However, both dates were moved up during the spring and summer of 2023. On June 20, 2023, Deadline reported that the first film was slated for a November 27, 2024, theatrical release just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. The pub also noted the second installment would be released almost exactly one year later, on November 26, 2025. However, things changed again in 2024. On July 1, 2024, Jon M. Chu himself announced that the release date for the first Wicked movie had been moved up, setting the final official premiere for November 22, 2024. '5. DAYS. EARLIER!!!! Let's goooo!!" Chu announced on X. The date for the second movie, which was previously expected to be November 26, 2025, also changed. On September 12, 2024, official accounts announced that will premiere on November 21, 2025, ahead of Thanksgiving. Ahead of the release of Wicked: For Good, NBC and Peacock will air an all-new Wicked special led by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. 'Erivo and Grande will be joined by their co-stars and other surprise guests to perform many songs from the first movie — and maybe, just maybe, a little bit from the upcoming Wicked: For Good as well — for a special that will air exclusively on NBC this November and stream on Peacock the following day.' The initial news of Universal's Wicked movie adaptation broke in 2016, with its original theatrical release set for December 20, 2019. Evidently, there have since been delays. On April 26, 2022, Chu shared news that clarified the reason behind the long wait, announcing the story would be split into two movies. 'As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of Wicked into a single film without doing some real damage to it,' he wrote in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter). 'As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one Wicked movie but two! With more space, we can tell the story of Wicked as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.' Chu's two-part announcement delighted some fans while downright annoying others. On February 11, 2024, the day the first trailer dropped, Wicked producer Marc Platt defended the decision to split up the movies to Vanity Fair. 'We didn't want to end up making one four-hour movie and then cutting out songs. We want to satisfy the fans of the musical,' said Platt. 'Film allows you to create a place and a time — a university like Shiz, an extraordinary Emerald City governor's mansion. There's so much more to explore.' On December 7, 2022, Grande, Erivo, and Chu confirmed filming on the movie adaptations had begun via several Instagram Stories posts. In one post, the director shared a Wicked-themed drawing from his daughter 'to commemorate the first day of shooting.' Production temporarily shut down amid the SAG-AFTRA strike in the 2023 summer. At the time, Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz confirmed to Variety that there were only 10 days left to complete filming parts one and two. Chu also shared an update during the strike, assuring fans that the 'release date shouldn't be affected' on X: 'Not done yet. Just paused until the strike is over and we can finish the last pieces of the movie. We were only a few days away from being done so we were SO close. It's been very painful to put a halt to it all but we will be back! And we will finish properly strong when the time is right." And time was eventually right: Ariana Grande herself announced she had wrapped filming for both of the movies with a cryptic post on January 25, 2023. 'Like a handprint on my heart,' the star captioned a post on Instagram in reference to the song 'For Good.' The post showed the silhouette of Grande as Glinda on set. Resharing Grande's post to his stories, director Jon M. Chu wrote: 'Will never forget my year with our Galinda. Can't wait for you to meet her. Thank you Ariana Grande for pouring your heart into Oz.' In another story, Chu tagged Cynthia Erivo, adding: 'One more day left. Cynthia Erivo, are you ready?' Erivo replied: 'As ready as I'll ever be!! Let's goooooo!' As of January 26, 2024, filming on both movies had wrapped. There is, indeed. On July 24, 2024, Universal put out a two-minute behind-the-scenes featurette showing viewers how the Wicked world was built brick by brick for the movie. 'We knew that we wanted Wicked to be immersive,' director Jon M. Chu says in the video. 'What does it feel like to be in Oz? To feel it in your fingertips? If you want to be inside that world, you've got to build it.' The next few clips give us an aerial view of the set, including Emerald City and Munchkinland, being built by hand as a 1:1 recreation, including the infamous yellow bricks being painted one by one. 'A lot of it is real. physical, tangible sets,' Ariana Grande adds before Chu shows the field of tulips that were planted and the train that was built for the movie. On September 25, 2024, another featurette called Celebrating Wicked was released. The video shows some behind-the-scenes footage from the movie's filming, as well as interviews with the cast and director. Universal had also put out another Wicked featurette called Wicked - Passion Project with interviews from the cast and crew about joining the project. The two-minute featurette features scenes from Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo's auditions and more, with commentary from director Jon M. Chu, as well as clips from the set. You can watch it below: As previously mentioned, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo star as leads Glinda and Elphaba, the blonde-haired and green-skinned witches who anchor the movies' musical extravaganza. During an appearance on Amazon Music's Zach Sang Show on February 26, 2024, Grande said she has 'never wanted something as badly' as she wanted the role of Glinda, 'hunting' producer Marc Platt for the past ten years. 'Since I was 20, I was like, 'Hey, I don't know when this is happening, but when it's happening, may I please at least just audition?'" recalled Grande. "That's all I wanted, was an audition. I've never wanted anything more.' Grande revealed that 'prepping for the auditions [took] six months," involving rigorous 'voice lessons every day [and] acting lessons every day." 'I trained every single day to prove to [Wicked producers] that I could handle taking on this other person," Grande explained to Sang. "I had to completely erase popstar Ari, the person they know so well, because it's harder to believe someone as someone else because they're so branded as one thing. I had to really go all the way to strip that down.' 'I learned so much from Glinda,' Grande continued, calling the day she got the part 'the best day of my life.' 'I kind of healed a lot of parts of myself alongside and through her. And it actually helped me heal a lot of my own personal, weird stuff that I had with my relationship with music and to being an artist.' Grande and Erivo announced their casting news in respective Instagram posts on November 4, 2021. Wicked alum Chenoweth gave the two stars her seal of approval via another IG post, which included a screenshot of one of Grande's 2011 tweets where she called Glinda her '#dreamrole.' Chenoweth wrote: 'I'm not sure if I've ever been this proud. From the very first day I met you (swipe to see!!), you were destined for this role. Congratulations @arianagrande! The best Glinda you will be with @cynthiaerivo by your side 💗💚 I love you!! 🧚♀️👑🪄 @wickedmovie @wicked_musical #wicked.' Chenoweth's former costar, Menzel, echoed similar sentiments when she commented on Grande and Erivo's casting news on X as well. 'Congrats to two amazing women,' Menzel wrote. 'May it change your lives for the better forever and ever as it has for us. So much love.' Joining Erivo and Grande in the Wicked movies is Bridgerton breakout star Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, the witches' love interest. On August 12, 2024, Universal gave us our first proper first-look at movie Fiyero in action with a teaser focused on the character and, yes, he has a British accent and is as charming as the musical's. The teaser gives us a glimpse at Ariana Grande's Glinda finding out Fiyero is in town reading The Shiz Gazette. 'Fiyero Spotted at Shiz,' the headline reads. 'Meet Oz's most eligible bachelor,' the screen then proclaims. 'I see that the responsibility to corrupt my fellow students falls to me,' cheeky Fiyero then proclaims before we get a teaser of his dynamic with both Glinda and Elphaba — IYKYK. The cast also includes Everything Everywhere All At Once star Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, the headmistress of Crage Hall at Shiz University; Broadway veteran Ethan Slater (also Grande's rumored boyfriend) as Boq, the romantic interest of Elphaba's younger sister, Nessarose; and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard. Newcomer Marissa Bode makes feature debut as Nessarose. Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang and Lockwood & Co. actor Bronwyn James also joined the roster as Pfannee and ShenShen, respectively, Elphaba and Glinda's classmates. Additional Wicked casting includes The Greatest Showman star Keala Settle as Miss Coddle, Hot Fuzz actor Colin Michael Carmichael as Professor Nikidik, and Aaron Teoh as Avaric. As mentioned, the Wicked movies will similarly follow the Broadway musical's plot, though star Cynthia Erivo previously teased that some parts will take a slight departure from the original material. 'I think it's going to be unlike anything you've ever seen before,' she told Entertainment Tonight in 2022. 'I think we're going to enjoy the magic of it. We're going to try and put our own spin on what we know already and show you a story about two women [who] are sisters." According to composer Schwartz, the upcoming Wicked movies will, indeed, include new musical material. Back in 2016, while speaking at a Behind the Music panel during Comic-Con, he predicted that there would 'probably four new songs in the movie." At the time, Playbill reported that three of the songs would be newly written, while one was cut from the original Broadway production. Be that as it may, on December 6, 2023, Schwartz shared an updated count of the new music with The Messenger: two brand-new songs, written exclusively for the film adaptations, will be featured in Wicked Part Two. 'There are some expansions of stuff in the first movie. The point being, the new songs were written because of the demand of the story, not, 'Oh, let's write a new song and stick it in just because,'' said Schwartz. "The storytelling required it, and therefore they were created — the intention was that they were organic and not imposed on the movie." 'It's been very important to us to make sure that it is the show, that it is the story that the fans love and that they're coming to expect and not disappoint them,' he continued. 'And at the same time, [it was also important to] be able to expand the story to make use of what the language of film and the technology of film allows you to do. As we talked about the story we wanted to tell, it was impossible really to get into one movie unless the movie were four hours long. And so the decision was made to make two movies. And consequently, there's new stuff that I think the fans will enjoy.' On March 21, 2024, director Jon M. Chu revealed to Vanity Fair that with both the new and old music, the vocals were recorded live — a stunning feat considering a few of the musical numbers require stunts with harnesses and jumps. According to Erivo, Grande even sang live while 'jumping on a chandelier over my head.' 'These are live vocals,' Chu confirmed to VF. 'When we were shooting it, those girls were like, 'F*ck the pre-records. We're going live.'' Universal released a teaser centering on the music of Wicked on October 9, 2024. The snippet previewed 'Popular,' 'Dancing Through Life,' 'The Wizard and I,' 'What Is This Feeling?', and 'Defying Gravity.' Variety confirmed the official soundtrack for the first Wicked movie with 11 songs total, which you can see below: 'No One Mourns the Wicked' 'Dear Old Shiz' 'The Wizard and I' 'What Is This Feeling?' 'Something Bad' 'Dancing Through Life' 'Popular' 'I'm Not That Girl' 'One Short Day' 'A Sentimental Man' 'Defying Gravity' Wicked Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue Want more great Culture stories from Teen Vogue? Check these out: Underneath Chappell Roan's Hannah Montana Wig? A Pop Star for the Ages Is Your New Favorite Song Real or AI? Bridgerton Showrunner Clarifies Benedict's Sexuality & Talks Francesca's Queer Plot Twist The Borders of Country Music Are Finally Crumbling
Hamilton Spectator
5 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Broadway has found its Gen Z audience - by telling Gen Z stories
NEW YORK (AP) — Kimberly Belflower knew 'John Proctor is the Villain' needed its final cathartic scene to work — and, for that, it needed Lorde's 'Green Light.' 'I literally told my agent, 'I would rather the play just not get done if it can't use that song,'' the playwright laughed. She wrote Lorde a letter, explaining what the song meant, and got her green light. Starring Sadie Sink , the staggering play about high schoolers studying 'The Crucible' as the #MeToo movement arrives in their small Georgia town, earned seven Tony nominations , including best new play — the most of any this season. It's among a group of Broadway shows that have centered the stories of young people and attracted audiences to match. Sam Gold's Brooklyn-rave take on 'Romeo + Juliet,' nominated for best revival of a play and led by Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler with music from Jack Antonoff , drew the youngest ticket-buying audience recorded on Broadway, producers reported, with 14% of ticket purchasers aged 18-24, compared to the industry average of 3%. The shows share some DNA: pop music (specifically the stylings of Antonoff, who also produced 'Green Light'), Hollywood stars with established fanbases and stories that reflect the complexity of young adulthood. 'It was very clear that young people found our show because it was doing what theater's supposed to do,' Gold said. 'Be a mirror.' Embracing the poetry of teenage language The themes 'John Proctor' investigates aren't danced around (until they literally are). The girls are quick to discuss #MeToo's impact, intersectional feminism and sexual autonomy. Their conversations, true to teenage girlhood, are laced with comedy and pop culture references — Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, 'Twilight,' and, of course, Lorde. Fina Strazza, 19, portrays Beth, a leader who is whip-smart and well-intentioned — but whose friendships and belief system are shaken by the play's revelations. 'You have so much empathy and are so invested in her, but she still has these mishaps and slip-ups that young people often have,' said Strazza, nominated for best featured actor in a play. Some audience members have given her letters detailing how Beth helped them forgive themselves for how they handled similar experiences. The script is written in prose, with frequent line breaks and infrequent capital letters. Director Danya Taymor, nominated for best direction of a play a year after winning a Tony for another teenage canon classic, 'The Outsiders, ' was drawn to that rhythm — and how Belflower's depiction of adolescence captured its intensity, just as S.E. Hinton had. 'There's something about the teenage years that is so raw,' Taymor said. 'None of us can escape it.' Classic themes, made modern During his Tony-winning production of 'An Enemy of the People,' Gold found himself having conversations with young actors and theatergoers about climate change, politics and how 'theater was something that people their age and younger really need in a different way, as the world is becoming so addicted to technology,' he said. That conjured 'Romeo and Juliet.' The original text 'has it all in terms of what it means to inherit the future that people older than you have created,' Gold said. Building the world of this show, with an ensemble under 30, was not unlike building 'An Enemy of the People,' set in 19th century Norway, Gold said: 'I think the difference is that the world that I made for this show is something that a very hungry audience had not gotten to see.' Fans, Gold correctly predicted, were ravenous. Demand ahead of the first preview prompted a preemptive extension. Word (and bootleg video) of Connor doing a pullup to kiss Zegler made the rounds. 'Man of the House,' an Antonoff-produced ballad sung by Zegler mid-show, was released as a single. With the show premiering just before the U.S. presidential election, Voters of Tomorrow even registered new voters in the lobby. Audiences proved willing to pay: Average ticket prices hovered around $150. Cheaper rush and lottery tickets drew lines hours before the box office opened. Every week but one sold out. 'The show was initially really well sold because we had a cast that appealed to a really specific audience,' said producer Greg Nobile of Seaview Productions. 'We continued to see the houses sell out because these audiences came, and they were all over online talking about the ways in which they actually felt seen.' Building a Gen Z theater experience with Gen Z Thomas Laub, 28, and Alyah Chanelle Scott, 27, started Runyonland Productions for that very reason. 'We both felt a lot of frustration with the industry, and the ways that we were boxed out of it as students in Michigan who were able to come to New York sparingly,' Laub said. Runyonland was launched in 2018 with the premise that highlighting new, bold voices would bring change. This spring, Scott, known for playing Whitney in HBO's 'Sex Lives of College Girls,' acted off-Broadway in Natalie Margolin's 'All Nighter.' 'I was standing onstage and looking out and seeing the college kids that I was playing,' Scott said. 'I was like, 'I respect you so much. I want to do you proud. I want to show you a story that represents you in a way that doesn't belittle or demean you, but uplifts you.'' Co-producing 'John Proctor,' Scott said, gave Runyonland the opportunity to target that audience on a Broadway scale. Belflower developed the show with students as part of a The Farm College Collaboration Project. It's been licensed over 100 times for high school and college productions. The Broadway production's social and influencer marketing is run by 20-somethings, too. Previews attracted fans with a $29 ticket lottery. While average prices jumped to over $100 last week (still below the Broadway-wide average), $40 rush, lottery and standing room tickets have sold out most nights, pushing capacity over 100%. The success is validating Runyonland's mission, Laub said. 'Alyah doesn't believe me that I cry every time at the end,' Laub said. Scott laughs. 'I just want to assure you, on the record, that I do indeed cry every time.' Harnessing a cultural catharsis The final scene of 'John Proctor' is a reclamation fueled by rage and 'Green Light.' Capturing that electricity has been key to the show's marketing. 'The pullup (in 'Romeo + Juliet') is so impactful because it's so real. It's like so exactly what a teenage boy would do,' Taymor said. 'I think when you see the girls in 'John Proctor' screaming ... it hits you in a visceral way.' That screaming made the Playbill cover. 'In my opinion, the look and feel of that campaign feels different from a traditional theatrical campaign, and it feels a lot closer to a film campaign,' Laub said. The show's team indeed considered the zeitgeist-infiltrating work of their sister industries, specifically studios like Neon and A24. In May, 'John Proctor is the Villain' finished its second 'spirit week' with a school spirit day. Earlier events included an ice cream social — actors served Van Leeuwen — a silent disco and a banned book giveaway. For those not in their own school's colors, the merch stand offered T-shirts, including one printed with the Walt Whitman-channeling line said by Sink's Shelby: 'I contain frickin' multitudes.' Julia Lawrence, 26, designed the shirt after the show's team saw her TikTok video reimagining their traditional merch into something more like a concert tee. 'It's just so incredible to bring Gen Z into the theater that way, especially at a time when theater has never been more important,' Lawrence said. 'In a world that's overpowered by screens, live art can be such a powerful way to find understanding.' ___ For more coverage of the 2025 Tony Awards, visit .
