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Long Form

Persisting Pauses: The Status of Intermissions on Broadway

By Ben Togut

For many Broadway lovers, the intermission is a welcome interlude in the theater-going experience, providing audience members with the opportunity to get out of their seats, use the restroom, or head to the concession stand. However, it appears the well-worn tradition of the intermission is at a critical juncture. According to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, of the 80 new plays that opened in the U.S. 2019-2020 theater season, 62% had no intermission. This development begs a vital question: are intermissions a thing of the past?

The intermission has a storied history. Before electricity, they allowed theater staff the opportunity to trim and relight the wicks of candles illuminating the stage. Intermissions served a similar purpose in movies, giving projectionists the time to change film reels. Over time, the intermission gained commercial as well as practical value. In the 1950s and 60s, advertisers enticed moviegoers to make trips to the concession stand with commercials like Let’s All Go to the Lobby, featuring dancing candy, popcorn, and soft drinks. Likewise, Broadway theaters encourage audience members to open their wallets during intermission with flashy merch tables and cocktails with names relevant to the show, allowing the audience to continue engaging with the production between acts. 

In recent years, more and more Broadway shows have been presented without an intermission, including musicals such as Come From Away and the most recent revival of West Side Story (which was pared down to a single act), and plays like Leopoldstadt, The Minutes, The Shark is Broken, Ohio State Murders, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, and The Sound Inside alike. Why has there been a trend away from intermission in recent years? Given shorter attention spans and an increased focus on accessibility in the theater, it seems that the absence of an intermission would be counterintuitive.

Come From Away
The 2017 musical Come From Away had a runtime of approximately 90 minutes with no intermission at the Schoenfeld Theatre. Photo by Matthew Murphy

However, having an intermission doesn’t always make sense for a production. In an interview with the L.A. Times, playwright and director Robert O’Hara argues that a “seismic shift” must occur between acts for an intermission to be justified. From this angle, productions shouldn’t have intermissions just because they are expected. Instead, an intermission should only occur if it serves the narrative of the show and how the audience experiences the story. 

More and more, having an intermission in theater seems arbitrary, especially when audiences are willing to sit through long movies without a break. Recently, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Avatar: The Way of Water have been hits at the box office while all running three hours or longer. If audience members can watch the latest Scorsese saga straight through, a two-hour Broadway show should be a walk in the park.

The 2023 Broadway revival of Purlie Victorious is performed without an intermission at the Music Box Theatre. Photo by Marc J. Franklin

What’s more, not having an intermission often has strategic value to theatermakers, allowing them to heighten the emotional and narrative arc of their plays. The current revival of Purlie Victorious is a timely example. While the original 1961 production had an intermission, standard for straight plays of the era, the 2023 revival runs without one. Without an interruption, Purlie Victorious builds tension and maintains its comedic momentum, taking audience members on an uproarious journey as they root for Purlie to win back his family’s inheritance. Foregoing an intermission, Purlie Victorious sustains its dramatic thrust, providing no shortage of laughs and surprises over its two hours.

While plenty of shows continue to have intermissions, playwrights and directors are reconsidering the efficacy of this tradition, not having a break in their shows’ runtime unless it makes sense as a narrative tool. Although not having an intermission can have strategic value, it raises concerns about accessibility, especially for the elderly and people with disabilities, for whom sitting for extended periods of time can be physically challenging. Going forward, Broadway may consider taking further measures to ensure that everyone has a more comfortable and enjoyable time at the theater.

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Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best Directors Who Started As Actors

By Katie Devin Orenstein

Which Broadway directors gave onstage performances before leaping to the other side of the table? Find out below!

George Abbott

The larger-than-life Abbott, who lived until he was 107, directed over 50 Broadway shows, including the original productions of Pal Joey, On the Town, The Pajama Game, Once Upon a Mattress, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He made his Broadway debut as an actor in The Misleading Lady all the way back in 1913. 

Michael Arden

This year’s Tony winner for Best Direction of a Musical for Parade, Arden made his Broadway debut as an actor in the 2003 revival of Big River, and also performed in Twyla Tharp’s The Times They Are A-Changin’. 

Vinnette Justine Carroll

Vinnette Carroll became the first Black woman to be nominated for a directing Tony in 1973, for Micki Grant’s Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope. She was nominated for both directing and writing the book of Your Arms Too Short to Box With God in 1976. Her numerous acting credits include the 1961 revival of The Octoroon. 

Gower Champion

Champion was the original director and choreographer of hits like Bye Bye Birdie, Hello, Dolly!, and 42nd Street. He got his start as a dancer in 1940s revues like The Streets of Paris. 

David Cromer

In between directing The House of Blue Leaves and The Band’s Visit on Broadway, Cromer found time to play racist Homeowner’s Association member Karl Lindner in Kenny Leon’s revival of A Raisin in the Sun, as well as appear opposite Jeff Daniels in the pilot of HBO’s The Newsroom. He is also currently starring in an off-Broadway production of Uncle Vanya.

Graciela Daniele

Graciela Daniele started her career as a dancer for legends like Bob Fosse and Michael Bennett – she was in the original company of Follies, and was the original Hunyak, a.k.a. Uh-Uh in “Cell Block Tango,” in Chicago. She’s since choreographed 9 Broadway shows, and directed and choreographed another 6, including Once on this Island. She is the only Latina nominee in history for Best Choreography and Best Direction of a Musical at the Tonys, and she won a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2020. 

Graciela Daniele’s Tony-nominated choreography:

Bob Fosse

Before he was the legendary director-choreographer of Pippin, Chicago, The Pajama Game, Sweet Charity, and the director of movies like Cabaret and All That Jazz, he made his Broadway debut as a dancer in the forgotten 1950 revue Dance Me a Song. He understudied the role of Joey in the 1953 Pal Joey revival that turned it into a hit, and played the role at City Center in between choreography jobs in 1963. 

Maria Friedman

Friedman will direct this fall’s upcoming revival of Merrily We Roll Along. She is a celebrated Sondheim interpreter, and earned Olivier awards for her performances as Fosca in Sondheim’s Passion, as well as Mother in Ahrens and Flaherty’s Ragtime. 

Tony Goldwyn

Tony Goldwyn is co-directing the upcoming Pal Joey rework at City Center, but he’s best known to television audiences as Scandal’s President Fitz, and he’s also going to appear this summer in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer

Kenny Leon

While Kenny Leon was the artistic director of Atlanta’s Alliance theater in the 1990s, he also found time to act in a number of TV shows– including The Rosa Parks Story, starring Angela Bassett. He won his Tony for directing A Raisin in the Sun in 2014, and is next represented on Broadway with Purlie Victorious, opening this fall. 

Patrick Marber

Marber actually began his career in British sketch comedy. He then began writing for the English stage, and wrote and directed Closer, which transferred to Broadway in 1999 and was turned into a film directed by Mike Nichols in 2004. He is now known best for his work directing Tom Stoppard plays, including 2017’s Travesties and this season’s Leopoldstadt, for which he won his first Tony award. 

Jerry Mitchell

Jerry Mitchell started dancing on Broadway as a replacement in A Chorus Line. He worked his way up to being Jerome Robbins’ assistant on Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, and choreographed You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown in 1999. His first time directing on Broadway was the beloved Legally Blonde.  

Jerry Mitchell backstage at The Will Rogers Follies,

Casey Nicholaw

Nicholaw, who won a Tony this year for choreographing Some Like It Hot, was an ensemble member in 8 Broadway shows, including dancing Susan Stroman’s choreography in Crazy For You, and understudying Horton the Elephant in the original Seussical. Those performance chops came in handy this March, when Nicholaw went on as an emergency understudy in Some Like It Hot. 

Nicholaw in the ensemble of Seussical (far right).

Jerome Robbins

Robbins, the legend at the helm of West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, and Gypsy, was born Jerome Rabinowitz, and began his career as a dancer in the 1920s in Yiddish modern dance companies. He was also a soloist with American Ballet Theatre in the early 1940s, and danced in George Balanchine’s Broadway revues. He choreographed Fancy Free for ABT, which he and Leonard Bernstein then transformed into his first Broadway choreography credit, On The Town. 

Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Santiago-Hudson was Tony nominated for his direction of August Wilson’s Jitney, and has acted in three other Wilson plays on Broadway. He also wrote, directed, and starred in his one man show Lackawanna Blues. 

Jessica Stone

Stone made her Broadway directing debut this year with Kimberly Akimbo, but her many credits as a performer include Frenchy in the 1994 Grease revival and replacing Sarah Jessica Parker as Rosemary in the 1996 revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Her next project is directing the Broadway-bound Water for Elephants, which just premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. 

Jessica Stone in Grease, with Billy Porter as the Teen Angel.

Susan Stroman

Five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman, represented on Broadway this year with New York, New York, made her debut as a dancer in the country Western musical Whoopee! in 1979. 

Schele Williams

Schele Williams, who will direct the upcoming revivals of The Wiz and Aida, was an ensemble member in the original production of Aida in 2001. 

Williams understudied the title role in Aida – here she is singing “Easy as Life” from that show:

Jerry Zaks

Jerry Zaks is a four-time Tony winning director, including for his Broadway directing debut, The House of Blue Leaves. He’s also known for lavish revivals like Hello, Dolly! and The Music Man. His Broadway resumé goes back quite far – he originated the role of Kenickie in Grease. 

Categories
Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best Performances at the 76th Annual Tony Awards

Broadway’s Biggest Night was held on Sunday, June 11th! Host Ariana DeBose presided over the WGA strike-induced unscripted ceremony, which was held uptown at the United Palace for the first time in the Tonys’ 76-year history. 

Major winning productions included Kimberly Akimbo (Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, Best Lead Actress for Victoria Clark, Best Featured Actress for Bonnie Milligan) and Leopoldstadt (Best Play, Best Direction of a Play, Best Lead Actor for Brandon Uranowitz, and more). Other notable winners included Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee, the first two openly non-binary performers to win Tony Awards, and this season’s productions of the Jason Robert Brown-Alfred Uhry musical Parade and Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog, which nabbed the Best Revival of a Musical and Best Revival of a Play awards, respectively. See a complete list of the night’s winners here.

While the ceremony itself is but a memory now, the performances of all nine nominated musicals (and then some!) live on in the pantheon of Tony telecast performances past, an iconic treasure trove of Broadway history residing mostly on YouTube these days. Here are Broadway’s Best Shows’ picks for the season’s top numbers on the 2023 telecast.

Ariana DeBose leads a lyricless dance medley (no writing, remember?) to kick things off!

Brian D’Arcy James and Sara Bareilles duet ‘It Takes Two’ from Into the Woods, with a little help from Milky White

Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond perform Parade’s act two showstopper ‘This Is Not Over Yet’

Will Swenson whips the crowd up into a singalong of ‘Sweet Caroline’ with the cast of A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical

New York, New York’s Colton Ryan, Anna Uzele, and company croon their show’s opening and title numbers

Some Like It Hot shows off its now-Tony-winning choreography with its title song

Joaquina Kalukango tributes the end of Phantom’s Broadway run and those who the Broadway community has lost this year with an In Memoriam to be remembered

Lea Michele belts out ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade’ with the cast of Funny Girl to close out the ceremony