BroadwayCon 2022: The Ups & Downs
Greg Ehrhardt, OnStage Blog Editorial Staff
BroadwayCon 2022 was the first year it was in-person since the pandemic, and you could tell everyone involved, from the attendees to the staff to the special guests, were so happy to see everyone’s smiling faces again.
I was one of those faces because nothing beats in-person interaction; we are social creatures after all. BroadwayCon is no exception; to meet fellow Broadway fans in person, to see live performances, and to see your favorite Broadway actors in the flesh can’t be replicated online.
So that by itself makes BroadwayCon a positive experience; but what about the attendee experience, the specific panels, and how easy it was to find everything?
Like all conventions, there were positives and negatives. It should be said I only attended the Friday sessions, so it’s likely I’m missing some really great panel sessions to recap. Let’s go through the positives first:
(Please note, all videos were filmed with permission by BroadwayCon)
The Ups
1) The “Here’s to the Ladies” Panel (sometimes referred to as “The First Ladies of Theatre” Panel)
It was a jaw-dropper when BroadwayCon announced that Hillary Clinton would not only participate in a panel but moderate it herself. Clinton is a known Broadway fanatic, and her fandom was very apparent during the entire panel. Clinton’s presence alone was enough to sell the panel, but pairing her with Donna Murphy, Vanessa Williams, LaChanze and Jule White made it the first “Must See” panel since they brought the entire cast of ‘In The Heights’ to BroadwayCon back in 2018.
There was an excellent discussion about facing the unique challenges women have in the workplace in general, but also in theatre specifically. Clinton asked a great question to the panelists: “How many women directors have you worked with”, and the answers were depressingly low. They spoke about the unique perspectives women have in the arts, and how narrow-minded the perspective is when it’s men staffing all of the key positions.
To those wondering if Clinton “stuck to theatre”, she did for the most part, while sneaking in a joke about Trump drinking bleach and speaking a couple of times broadly about the perilous times we face as a country. She did tell a great story about her time working “as a recovering lawyer” and how the male lawyers would give her advice on how to look like you were working long hours at the firm, and her point was, as a woman, work 9-5 and be home with your family (it received raucous applause).
I have to say, as someone who came in as not the biggest Clinton Family fan, when she is relaxed, Clinton is super interesting and (gulp) someone you would definitely want to have a beer with. She is super awkward when she has to fake enthusiasm (which made her a terrible campaigner), but she was totally natural in the role of moderating a talk between these four famous Broadway women.
2) The ‘A Strange Loop’ Panel
This was another big get by BroadwayCon, getting a panel of 8 actors, understudies, and production staff to sit for a panel discussion of the Tony award-winning musical. The entire cast came off positively, and you could hear their passion for being in a play that speaks for the queer theatre fans in the world.
A Strange Loop Cast reflecting on what their success means
3) ‘Kimberly Akimbo The Musical’
‘Kimberly Akimbo’ is the much-anticipated musical coming out this fall, and we got a sneak preview of it via one of the songs sung by Bonnie Milligan during the “First Look” panel. If the musical is anything like this song, its going to be a smash hit (Video courtesy of Broadway Wiz).
4) Wendell Pierce and Andre DeShields
They came on the ‘First Look’ Panel to talk about “Death of a Salesman”, and well I could listen to both of them talk about acting for the entire weekend if I wanted to. Pierce speaks with such eloquence about the power of acting and the specialness it has in our hearts, it makes you reconsider why you don’t quit your day job to pursue acting full time.
Andre Deshields spoke with a gravitas that is nearly unmatched. When he spoke, you listened. Deshields wasn’t particularly optimistic about the world, comparing capitalism to a cancer and looking at the American Dream as something unattainable in 2022. Agree or disagree, his perspective was special to listen to.
5) Jared Grimes
Grimes, star of the hit Broadway show ‘Funny Girl’ was the host of the ‘First Look’ panel and participated in other songs and dances throughout the day. His charisma is through the roof, as well as his talent. Check out his tap dance number below:
Jared Grimes Tap Dancing
The Negatives
We at OnStage Blog always tell you we don’t care about relationships with the theatre industry, we will call it like we see it. The following section is proof of this because, we would be lying if we said this was a satisfying experience from start to finish. Let’s start with:
1) They picked a terrible location to host BroadwayCon
I say this knowing how hard it is to find a spot within a budget that has the space you need, but there must have been a better scenario than the one they picked for this year’s BroadwayCon. They held the event in two separate locations.
The marketplace and the main stage were held in the Manhattan Center. All the other panels were held in the New Yorker hotel, across several different conference rooms. There was no way to get to the Manhattan center to the New Yorker without going outside and walking around the corner.
Most importantly, they had no signs outside indicating where you had to check-in! I saw people walking around confused, not knowing where they had to go to register. As it turned out, the press had to check into the Manhattan Center, while the paid attendees had to check in the New Yorker. This was extremely confusing, and no one I talked to had this figured out on the first try.
Worse, the main stage in the Manhattan center (where all of their prime panels were being held, including the Hillary Clinton panel) was on the 7th floor. The only way to the 7th floor were two small elevators that can hold 6 people at a time, or the stairs, which made even the fittest people I was walking with breathless at the end.
When you’re dealing with hundreds of people looking to see any given panel, you either had to wait 20-30 minutes for an elevator or walk up 7 flights of stairs, which is not an option for the infirmed, those with disabilities, the elderly, etc.
Structuring the convention this way with two separate locations also meant that there was no big gathering place to mingle with Broadway fans, other than the small eating areas around the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom and (maybe) the Marketplace (which was a tenth of the size of the last convention).
I can’t emphasize enough how bad the location plan was.
2) Donna Murphy
a. Look, I love Donna Murphy, I want her performing on Broadway until she’s 100. But as a panelist on the ‘First Ladies of Broadway’ panel, she’s a 0. Why? She doesn’t know how to keep in answer under 5 minutes, which is a killer for a panel. Towards the end, Clinton threw a rapid-fire question to all 4 panelists, and Donna Murphy answered the rapid-fire question with a 5-minute monologue. Normally I could listen to her talk forever, but with 3 other stellar panelists, plus Clinton, I wanted to hear all of them!
3) Andre DeShields
So I listed Andre DeShields in the positive section. Why is he a negative too? As noted in the positive section, Andre Deshields was a captivating speaker, but he brought down the room immediately with his anti-capitalistic rant and his frequent statements on how the American Dream is dead.
It’s just a fact it was a huge downer after many hours of repeat of optimism and enthusiasm for the first in-person Broadwaycon event in years. I want Deshields to speak his mind, but if we’re going to give an anti-capitalist, anti-American Dream speech, shouldn’t either he or Wendell Pierce note that the American Dream has worked out well for himself as well as any of the guests who can afford a gold or platinum passes to BroadwayCon?
Just saying!
Best Quotes
Wendell Pierce: "The more specific you are in your role, the more universal your humanity is."
Vanessa Williams: "The resilience that you end up having when you confront struggle, you know who you are. Stay the course"
Donna Murphy: "My life was changed by Steve before ever meeting him...he was so brilliant...Steve (other than husband and father) was the most important man in my life"
Hillary Clinton: "I'm looking forward to the future, because, there's a lot to worry about in the country and the world, but we need theatre and the arts more than ever"
Most Insightful Moment
Earlier in the day, I sat in on noted musical historian Maggie Hall’s lecture on the history of vampire musicals. There’s no one more passionate and knowledgeable about musical theatre history than Maggie, but the best moment was when she dropped the bomb about how the classic 80’s song “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was meant to be a song in a Vampire musical “Dance With the Vampires” with very similar lyrics to those that we know by heart today.
(Some of you are going to say “I knew that already, that’s old news”, to which I say good for you! Let me enjoy my revelations!”).
Maggie Hall played the following YouTube clip of the song performed in the musical, and, now that I heard the song in the context of the vampire musical, it has changed the way I hear this song forever.
Overall, it was great to be back, and BroadwayCon did a bang-up job with their guests. I just hope they go back to the Javits Center again for BroadwayCon 2023.