Christopher Jackson: There's definitely a rating system in play for Broadway
SameOldShawn: How do you mean?
Christopher Jackson: Well, the thing that drives Broadway sales are tours, tourists, group sales. You go to these conventions and there are 1500 group sales bookers, basically, in a room, and if you've got a family friendly show it's really easy to sell 5 and 600 blocks of tickets. They've been doing that for decades. The reality is though, and I always find it really ironic that the argument has to be made, but Broadway has always been a lot of different things at the same time. It's been the top sort of commercial theater part of the entertainment industry, right? It's a destination event sort of type of booking, like when you buy a ticket to a Broadway show, 30 years ago they were still wearing tuxes and gowns to Broadway shows, right? It's not that anymore. John Q and his family of wife and two kids can wear cut off shorts and go to a Broadway show and vogue just as someone who on a Friday night is wearing three piece suit and gown. But, at some point, Broadway theater, theater in general, but Broadway theater, was supposed to represent the best that theater had to offer. And I don't know at what point that became that it has to be the best white-washed version of what theater has to offer
SameOldShawn: In a lot of cases, literally
Christopher Jackson: It has to be the best movie transferred into a Broadway musical that Broadway has to offer. At some point, there was a time where Broadway was a reflection of the culture of many kinds of culture. Not enough, but certainly there used to be a time where Broadway represented - there was enough room and enough theaters for everyone to go enjoy something that appealed to them. And now we're fighting against the idea - and I'm speaking in ideas now; I'm not talking about one particular show or opinion - but we're fighting against the idea that it has to be h*mogenized. It has to have been a movie franchise. It has to have a bored Hollywood star who's in between projects, you know, coming to do a theater gig. We're fighting against the idea that Broadway shows can't mean something, can't have a message. And I don't know why that is