In the New York theater, between the crud-mongers who talk down to it, and the culture snobs who yap over its heads, the audience is the one party that rarely gets a voice in the debates. The vagueness of its platform is partly to blame: If the policies it loves aren't accessible, it will seize on those it likes most—or dislikes least—of the proposals currently on offer. If Cole Porter and Richard Rodgers are out of the running, it will pool its votes, temporarily, to support an Andrew Lloyd Webber, while perhaps showing more respect for an alternative candidate, urged by its pundits, of the Sondheim sort. Observers of its shifting enthusiasms naturally conclude that such a party is not to be trusted, but in fact, it always knows what it wants; it's just politically savvy enough to settle for what it can get. It will be cautiously sympathetic toward Kander and Ebb—too Sondheimish in certain... More >>>