Stars Multitask and Audiences Delight in Limited Runs

Just steps away from the marquee for the big budget, big hype Young Frankenstein that opens Nov. 8, members and patrons mixed with exuberant producers at The New York Musical Theatre Festival’s (NYMF) closing night party. After 34 full productions, a dozen developmental works, an Ars Nova concert series, and countless other special events, NYMF was finally coming to the end of its three week run. But the world’s largest musical theater showcase had not used month long previews or even multiple dress rehearsals to guarantee its success.

“In the festival atmosphere, and in the New York Musical Theatre Festival specifically, you get one day to load in, tech, and have your first performance. We had access to the stage at 8 o’clock in the morning, and then we had to do our first performance at 8 o’clock at night,” said Michael Height, executive producer of Tully (In No Particular Order). “You really don’t get any true sense of what you have until that first performance.”

The Tully crew faced multiple struggles before this leap of faith— they had been without a lighting director on set until the night before opening, and its venue had become double booked. Battling with Equity showcase contracts, an actor’s prior commitment to another production had conflicted with rehearsal times.

Some in-demand actors split their time between long-running hits and limited run shows. Spring Awakening star Jonathan Groff found that “doing double duty was a real challenge.” While Groff did not appear in a festival show, he was forced to divide his time between playing angst ridden Melchior in Awakening and free love Claude in The Public Theater’s 40-year celebration of Hair.

With only nine days to rehearse, “You just sort of have to jump right in and go for it. No time for second guessing yourself,” Groff said. “Follow your first instinct and don’t look back.”

Understudy Matt Doyle stepped in during the weekend Spring Awakening performances of Sept. 21-23 while Groff was busy with his second show, but the ambitious 22-year-old managed to make each curtain call during the Hair weekday rehearsals.

“I would go to rehearsals downtown at the Public for Hair from 10 to 6:30, then jump on the train to make it back in time to be at Spring Awakening by 7,” Groff said.

The three night revival of Hair, which coincided with New York’s theater festival circuit, came right on the heels of summer, making for a brief extension of theater under the stars. While the 1967 version of Hair opened at the Public’s Astor Library before moving to Broadway for a wildly successful four year run, the current staff decided to host the show’s anniversary within Central Park.

Although NYMF caps most of its tickets at $20, the Public Theater offered free admission into the Park’s Delacorte Theater—resulting in long lines of anxious and excited patrons waiting for hours to get their hands on a golden ticket.
“The audience is filled with people who really want to be there,” said Groff. “For me, Central Park is the most spiritual place in the city, so to perform a show there is a beautiful thing.”

Singing the final song, “Let the Sunshine In,” with members of the original cast and accompanied by a chorus of 2000 audience members will long remain one of Groff’s favorite theatrical moments. “You can’t ask for anything more as a cast member,” he said.

Like Goff, NYMF’s believes the advantages of limited run shows outweigh the demands of performing with limited space and preparation time. “It’s because the motivations of a show in a festival are so non-financially motivated that you really get passionate, honest, soul-crushingly wonderful work from each and every person on the team,” he said. “They’re doing it for the love of the festival itself, of the ideas behind it, or of the show itself. If both the people working in the room and the audience are enjoying it as much as possible, then I’m a very happy man.”