Such a silly controversy, but you're right: a HUGE amount is being made of it.
And quite a lot of it is being made over at CBS. These are the nice people who are bringing you a glorified one-hour infomercial sponsored by Victoria's Secret. In prime time, no less. Whatta buncha hypocrites; you can tease all you want, but when it comes to The Goods...
watch out!And speaking of The Goods (oooh, a
Full Monty reference!) on Broadway, I think a good deal of the current malaise on the Great White Way is the fault of unimaginative and uninspired producers, as well as audiences that have come to expect A Big Star. And Big Stars cost Big Bucks! (How many performances of
9 were there after Antonio Banderas went off to be in
Zorro 2, or whatever? It was pretty obvious he was the draw in that show...)
Another factor is the quality of the roadshows. I recently saw the roadshow version of
The Full Monty in St. Paul, which was every bit as good as the one I saw on Broadway. It didn't have either Patrick Wilson or Kathleen Freeman, but it was still a terrific show. If you only have to wait for the show to hit your town, why bother making a trip to NYC to see it?