People like to complain about the high cost of theater tickets in Manhattan, but the truth is that there are bargains to be had all over town.
Only suckers — or the very rich — will shell out more than $100 to see a play or musical on Broadway.
If you check Web sites like broadwaybox.com or playbill.com there are dozens of great shows to be seen for $50 or under.
Right now, the fifth annual Summer Play Festival is underway at the Public Theater with $10 tickets — less than what you would pay for the latest Hollywood bomb at your local multiplex.
As exciting as the pricing at SPF is, what really powers the festival is the chance to see fresh new work by some of the best talent in the city.
Earlier in the week, I talked with the singer-songwriter John Bucchino whose “It’s Only Life” (left) was presented at the first SPF four years ago and has been wending its way to a possible off-Broadway staging next season. The show just opened to strong press and audience response at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, California.
Bucchino is well known within the New York cabaret community for writing some of the best songs of the past two decades.
One tune in particular, “Grateful,” has been recorded by everyone from Michael Feinstein to Art Garfunkel. Other songs by Bucchino have been performed and recorded by Judy Collins, Barbara Cook, Patti Lupone and many other top contemporary singers.
The songwriter made his Broadway debut with “A Catered Affair” which is running through July 27 at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
The show divided critics but has been embraced warmly by many audiences. A cast recording has preserved the score and should lead to productions at regional theaters and colleges all over the country in years to come. It’s a small, intimate piece that doesn’t deliver the spectacle and chorus lines that many theatergoers associate with “Broadway.”
The composer said it was a real challenge to channel his songwriting into the specifics of a book musical.
“That was very different for me…I’m used to letting the spirit move me when it does and documenting that in a song. It’s very challenging to have to write songs for an individual character…to shoehorn a song into a story,” he said of working on “A Catered Affair” for the past two years.
Bucchino said he remains very grateful to SPF for choosing “It’s Only Life” for its inaugural season.
The show brings together a wide array of songs Bucchino has written over the years and turns them into an evening of theater.
“Revues are really hard to do,” the songwriter said of shows that try to give an overview of a composer’s work. “You want the songs to be elevated by the (new) context. Several people tried to do that in the past but I’ve never been happy with the results.”
For “It’s Only Life,” Bucchino joined forces with an old friend — director Daisy Prince — who told him she would “like to take a crack it it.”
“She knew my songs very well and I thought she could do it,” he recalled.
A reading Prince put together with Bucchino got a thumbs up from the SPF folks for their first season.
“Because of that (production) we were asked to be part of the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center and we got a great review in The Times and PS Classics recorded it,” Bucchino said of the growing interest in the piece since SPF put it on four years ago.
Now that “A Catered Affair” is behind him, Bucchino is ready to get back to the “freer” feeling of writing individual tunes when the spirit moves him. He will soon be flying out to California to see “It’s Only Life” in what he hopes is a pre-New York engagement.
Meanwhile, theatergoers can check out the eight new shows on the Summer Play Festival slate between now and July 27.
For ticket information, visit the group’s Web site at www.spfnyc.com.
