The rumors began late summer. A major theatre site was going down. Those who really knew weren't talking, but eventually word leaked out. And then the goodbyes begain. Broadway Online, formerly Theatre.com, formerly Broadway Now, formerly Buy Broadway, was shutting down for good. No more name changes or redesigns. The site remains, but almost solely as shill for owners Broadway Television Network's line of videos. You can still find archives of old articles by their featured writers, Peter Filichia (now at TheatreMania), Randy Gener (now at the New York Theatre Wire), Jessica Brower , Michael Buckley, and Robert Viagas (who returns to Playbill Online). Broadway Online also served sites for a number of clients which, thankfully, were unaffected by the closing. Although I often felt the need to take them to task for interface flaws and exclusionary plug-in requirements (their final re-design was a dog), their news was always newsworthy and they'll be sorely missed.
So, the newsgathering and newsgatherers have spread out to other sites. Our favorite writers can be found elsewhere, or perhaps it's time to develop new allegiances. With the end of Broadway Online, Talkin' Broadway can now be found in the Suite101.com Theatre Top 5. We've always admired their work and now we can show it.
And speaking of goodbyes, I'm afraid that my work has become too all consuming to maintain a significant presence here at Suite101.com Theatre -- at least for the next several months. Our musical, The Immigrant, is bound for the Denver Center Theatre Company where we'll be revising, rehearsing, and revamping, and my efforts towards the show must take precedence over all else. We've got new personnel (Adam Heller is now playing Haskell, Kimberly Grigsby is musical director; the designers are Ralph Funicello - sets, Andrew V. Yelusich - costumes, and Don Darnutzer - lights), and we've done a lot of work since our days at CAP21, reworking and reshaping. Plus the orchestra is expanding 33% -- yup, we'll have four pieces! Denver's where the play on which our musical is based premiered, so the artistic staff and the audiences have high hopes for our project.
I do expect to start up with all new articles probably at the beginning of February after the show opens in Denver and before the show moves down to the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami in March. Please check back.
And look for me; I'll...
Originally published at Suite101.com Theatre, 12/11/01
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