Embedded Files
A digital exhibition by Claire Hubble
LIS 717 | Fall 2024
Daveed Diggs and cast of Hamilton: An American Musical, © Joan Marcus
2.68 million TVs
2.68 million TVs
On July 3, 2020, not even four months after the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hamilton the musical premiered on Disney+. The entertainment conglomerate acquired worldwide distribution rights in February 2020, four years after the show was initially filmed on Broadway in June 2016. Though Disney has not released viewing numbers, according to SambaTV, 2.68 million unique households watched Hamilton at least once in the first two weeks of its release on the streaming site. This number does not account for any tablets, phones, or computers also streaming the musical, or the amount of people per household watching on the same device.
Hamilton is one recent production that proves American people love a stage show, even if it doesn't take place in a theatre.
To understand the history of streamed stage shows, though, closer attention must be paid to its predecessors, such as televised performances and movie musicals.
"Transmitted by electronic television"
"Transmitted by electronic television"
Though most histories point to the BBC's West End televised performance of the 1938 play "When We Are Married" as the beginning of televised theatre, there were a few key shows that were produced before. Scenes from The Tiger and Marigold were produced as soon as normal programming began on the BBC channels. During World War II, most theatre for television production stopped.
It wasn't until 1959 when plays became part of regular programming in America, featuring The Play of the Week from the NTA Film Network. The plays produced in this series had scripts that were adapted for television specifically. Though Play of the Week only lasted until 1961, it helped lay the groundwork for commercial movie adaptations of plays to become popular in the next few decades.
Use the image carousel to the right to swipe through televised theatre history. Below is a copy of the first episode of Play of the Week, featuring Judith Anderson as Medea in Euripides' iconic play, adapted by Robinson Jeffers.
Jeffers originally adapted Medea with Anderson in mind. Broadway audiences (1947) and those around the world during her (1950s/1960s) tours revered her performance.
Plays as Movies
Plays as Movies
During the 1950s-1970s, movie theaters were hosts to some of the most important movie musicals in history. Movie musicals, however, are distinct from filmed stage productions and require the skills of only movie-makers instead of a marriage between the two artforms and their workers.
The King and I movie poster (1959)
The Sound of Music movie poster (1965)
Fiddler on the Roof movie poster (1971)
Man of La Mancha movie poster (1971)
Behind the curtain...
Behind the curtain...
The Theatre on Film and Tape Archive, or TOFT, began in 1970 at the New York Public Library. Their mission of preserving professional theatre and documenting contributions from significant artists. This collection is full of professionally recorded Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, interviews, behind-the-scenes videos and is unavailable to most of America.
In order to view a show, a user must have a New York Public Library card and until this decade, appointments made in advance were required. The process to view shows that are kept in this collection prohibits the majority of Americans--the people being represented within the plays--away from these iconic moments of American theatrical history. It also protects artists and theatre workers, the contracts they sign in order to perform and produce, and the unions that represent these artists. During the COVID-19 pandemic, NYPL digitized a select number of interviews with theatre artists from this collection. Click the button on the right to view TOFT's very limited digital collection.
Movies as Plays
Movies as Plays
Opposed to movie musicals, that sometimes add new scenes here or delete monologues there, the American Film Theatre wanted to try something new. Ely and Edie Landau, husband and wife producers and self-proclaimed "Theatre People," produced the American Film Theatre series beginning in 1973. Their goal was a simple one: adapt plays for the screen, while keeping the play as in tact as possible. While some of the movies shown in this series were already made by 1973, some of them were fully made by the Landaus. The scripts used for the screen versions were the scripts used for the stage play. Original Broadway casts were asked to perform. Sometimes, even the original play director was asked to direct the movie version. However, the films were shot up close to the actors and within immersive sets, like a regular movie.
Paul Scofield as Tobias and Katherine Hepburn as Agnes in Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance (December 1973)
Jeanne Watts as Olga Prozorova, Louise Purnell as Irina Prozorova, and Joan Plowright as Masha Kulighina in Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters (1970)
AFT struck an amazing balance between the life of the play and the magic of the movies, exemplified by the examples above. AFT movies were then shown in movie theatres across the country. Like the Landaus, Theatre People around America loved this series. Unfortunately the rest of the country did not care that much about it; critics said the movies were too much like plays. The project ended after just two seasons of 13 plays shown.
[Enter PBS]
[Enter PBS]
Born from New York Playhouse, PBS' Great Performances began in 1974. To date, it is longest-running performing arts anthology on television, currently in its 52nd season, and has featured an international roster of renowned artists and performing art companies of all genres. This series was televised and today streams from the PBS website. Below are some examples of full productions available to watch for free. Subscribers can also pay for PBS Passport for access to even more shows. Even more Great Performances are on YouTube, ripped from VHS and DVD copies of recordings from the 70s on. Titles include The Gospel at Colonus (1985), The World of Jim Henson (1994), and The Nutcracker from the Royal Ballet (2001).
Logo used in 1985 through 1991 with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
Great Performances began with funding from the NEA and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This is the closest model that imitates the National Theatre's funding model, but still emphasizes the gap between funding for theatre in American vs. Britian and Europe at large.
While PBS does have a subscription model, they often stream performances for free for all for a specific amount of time, usually two to three weeks.
Merry Wives, adapted by Jocelyn Bioh for the Shakespeare in the Park program produced by the Public Theatre, was one of these shows. This performance was filmed in 2021, after summer 2020 without Shakespeare in the Park performances due to COVID-19.
The show was not only a celebration of Black joy in the form of a Shakespeare play, it was a celebration of being allowed to perform once again.
Preview of Merry Wives.
Streaming Firsts
Streaming Firsts
In 2016, Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City produced She Loves Me, a revival of the original 1963 show. This show received the Guinness World Record for first live-streamed, full-length Broadway show when the broadcast began on June 20, 2016 at 8:00pm EST. For subscribers of BroadwayHD, an on-demand streaming service, the show was made available after the initial live stream as well.
A clip from the 2016 streamed show is to the right, featuring Zachary Levi as Georg Nowack.
The British Influence
The British Influence
Two dominating institutions come to mind when discussing streamed theatre. Those being the National Theatre and Digital Theatre.
National Theatre, funded publicly and privately, produces West End shows with British theatre, television, and movie stars. Their National Theatre At Home subscription service allows users to view a library of professionally recorded content, with hefty discounts for educators and students. Their shows are also played--livestreamed directly occasionally--to cinemas across the entire world, including America. While their focus is mostly stage plays and musicals, they also include recordings of concerts, operas, and dance.
Digital Theatre, produced by a number of UK and international theatre and entertainment companies, hosts an even bigger library than National Theatre's At Home. Another subscription service, Digital Theatre Plus is their educational database which librarians, teachers, and institutions can subscribe to and access more than 650 professional performances.
Use the buttons on the left to explore the digital theatre streaming services.
Slime for Breakfast
Slime for Breakfast
The demand for high quality, accessible, affordable theatre has never been higher. Since the COVID-19 pandemic and its various economic and cultural effects, getting to the theatre has been hard for all parties: audience members, actors, technical workers, and producers. The hunger for this form of art is apparent on YouTube, as there are countless, easily findable bootleg recordings from Broadway and Broadway tour productions. Below are a few examples of these, found by searching "[Title of Musical] slime tutorial," in order to somewhat trick the YouTube algorithms into thinking the video is an innocent, step-by-step guide on how to make puddy.
Hadestown (229,821 views)
Posted May 2020 with the title, "HADESTOWN - The Myth Behind the Musical" to mirror the musical's documentary title.
The Cher Show (34,383 views)
Posted June 2020 with the title, "Is this the Cher Show? NO, this is Patrick."
Wicked (30,381 views)
Posted December 2024 with the title, "Idina & Kristen - Wicked Slime Tutorial."
Heathers (107,434 views)
Posted April 2022 with the title "HD Heathers slime tutorial."
*These videos have not been taken down by YouTube, though they are not necessarily endorsed by this exhibition.
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Streams Your Stories
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Streams Your Stories
Original Cast of Hamilton © Joan Marcus
Hamilton may be a once-in-a-lifetime show, however theatre fans are growing by the day with modern movie musicals breaking box office records and bootlegs running up hundreds of thousands of views. In fact, Hamilton was one of the most popular bootlegs when it first premiered Off-Broadway in 2015.
There is a worry that other streaming services saw the impact of Hamilton and understood seeking to obtain distribution rights might be profitable, if not popular among already-viewers. This would have a similar effect to the majority of Americans that TOFT does, catering to those with subscriptions to these services and deterring those who do not.
As of this moment in time, there is no option for non-subscribers to regularly have access to streamed or televised full theatrical productions.
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