Thursday, March 27, 2008

Glory Daze



We've had some great news for the local theatre community this week. Signature Theatre's original staging of Glory Days will be moving into the Broadway theatre recently vacated by the Putnam County Spelling Bee, and will open in time for Tony consideration. The show's original cast and director will remain.








This is great news because of the rarity of a DC-grown project making it to New York. Jane Horwitz pointed out a few instances where the local gang made good, but they are few and far between. I was not a big fan of Glory Days when I saw it, but I'm thrilled just the same that my opinion was in the minority. It is always good for our community to gain national attention for something other than political hijinks. It's good news for DC theatre, and Signature in particular.







Unless I'm mistaken, this will be director Eric Schaeffer's second Broadway stint. He directed the Sondheim revue Putting it Together a while ago, which transferred from Los Angeles on the star power of Carol Burnett. Sadly, the show did not continue beyond Burnett's involvement in it.





And Eric seemed close to hitting the Broadway boards a number of other times. Over & Over, The Fix, The Rhythm Club, The Witches of Eastwick, and Mame all seemed to be prospects for transfer, though none made the move. Just shows how difficult it is to land on the Great White Way, so Signature Theatre is to be congratulated for getting there this time.





It makes us all look good!