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January 7, 2022 • Volume VII, Number 14
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – Apr 27, 1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He rejected views of God as separate from the world.
At Virginia Rep, we’re working our hardest to make 2022 our best year yet! Let’s start by looking at the last six months of 2021 to establish baselines as we begin our recovery. Box office records show:
- Ella … Fella (5,728 tickets sold = 68.9% of pre-pandemic sales for comparable titles),
- Pipeline (2,209 = 55.5%),
- Wonderful Life (3,642 = 82.6%),
- Barefoot (projected, 2,422 = 66.5%).
Records from The Broadway League during the same half-year show 2,476,217 Broadway tickets sold since reopening = 41.7% of actual 2019 pre-pandemic sales. In other words, adult audience sales at Virginia Rep thus far in fiscal 2022 have bounced back by an average of 68.4%, while Broadway sales recovered at 41.7%. We know it’s apples and oranges. Certainly there’s still a long way to go. Nonetheless, we’re faring well in our recovery efforts. And it’s ALL because of YOU.
Many thanks!
Since its Broadway debut in 1963, Barefoot in the Park has been among America’s favorite Neil Simon plays. It should come as no surprise then to learn that it’s also the only show in Hanover Tavern history to have been produced onstage four times: 1967 (Muriel McAuley’s directorial debut), 1973, 2006 and 2021. When asked why she so loved Barefoot, Muriel quipped, “Because Neil Simon mentions me in it.” If you listen carefully, when Corie begins creating a fictional backstory to make her mother sound more exciting, you’ll hear, “What if she’s a fashion designer, the brains behind Anne Fogarty?” In 1963, Anne Fogarty WAS a world-famous NYC dressmaker, designing for Saks, and praised in Mademoiselle. Here’s the thing. Throughout the early 50’s, before moving to Richmond to start her own theatre, Muriel McAuley herself WAS, always, just behind Anne Fogarty, working as her #1 model, and best friend (pictured).
The Twelfth Night of
Christmas, which provided Shakespeare with a name for one of his greatest
comedies, is also the eve of Epiphany, marking the visit of the Magi. In the
Church of England, Twelfth Night was celebrated on Jan 5. Everyone wassailed
and ate Three Kings’ Cake. The man and
woman who found the bean and pea in their slices were proclaimed Lord and Lady
of Misrule. Like the holiday, Shakespeare’s play revels in merriment and the
overturning of convention. Afterward, we face a bleak winter in which norms
reestablish and there’s little room for joy. James Joyce’s The Dead, the musical version of which we produced in 2003
(pictured), takes place on Twelfth Night and
Epiphany, and focuses on an Irishman who ponders if “we are living in a
skeptical and thought-tormented age, (and) lack those qualities of humanity,
hospitality, and kindly humor” he dearly misses. He later experiences a
personal epiphany that restores his hope. After a bleak 22 months, may we ALL
celebrate with Emerson, Shakespeare and Joyce, and write on our hearts “every day is the best day
in the year.”
After much discussion and out of an abundance of caution for all involved, Virginia Rep has made the decision to postpone our January Anything Goes Gala due to the current state of the pandemic. The new date will be June 11, 2022, at The Jefferson Hotel. Existing ticket reservations will be carried forward to the new date. Tickets are nonrefundable but you may elect to convert them to a tax-deductible donation to Virginia Rep, or transfer them to another party. Please call (804) 783-1688 x1263 for assistance.
Many of you applauded our continuing commitment to inclusion, prompting several queries like this one from C. B. Morton: “How do low income individuals obtain free tickets to Virginia Rep?” For 45 years, we’ve worked using a variety of initiatives. Today let’s highlight one. Tom Tix. Established in 2013 in honor of our late, beloved Facilities Manager, Tom McGranahan, pay-what-you-can Tom Tix are available to low-income seniors on the honor system. Most are distributed via colleague nonprofit organizations. If you know such a group, or an individual senior (age 65 or better) who would like to attend our productions but can’t afford the regular ticket price, please contact our Box Office Manager, Janine Sears, at jsears@virginiarep.org, for more information.
We encourage your comments, corrections and feedback. Please email your thoughts to mhaber@virginiarep.org.
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