"Musicals are written and then rewritten. Those things used to happen on the road. Now they are done in New York during preview performances"
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Stone is quietly indicting Broadway’s new habit of building the plane while charging full fare for the ticket. On the surface, he’s describing a workflow shift: the messy, essential rewriting that once happened “on the road” now happens in New York during previews. Underneath, he’s mourning a lost buffer zone between experimentation and verdict.
The road used to function as a pressure-release valve. Out-of-town tryouts gave writers and producers room to fail in relative privacy, to listen to audiences without being swallowed by the New York critical-industrial complex. Mistakes could be productive, even invisible. By relocating that chaos to previews, Broadway turns the rehearsal process into a public spectacle and a high-stakes financial instrument. The subtext is about risk management: not less risk, but risk redistributed onto audiences, performers, and the creative team, who now develop the work under the brightest possible spotlight.
Stone, a seasoned musical-theater craftsman, also signals a cultural change in who gets to shape a show. When rewriting happens in New York, the gravitational pull of investors, press, and prestige intensifies. Notes become less about dramaturgy and more about survivability: shortening the second act, clarifying the “I want” song, engineering applause breaks, sanding down anything that might confuse a weekend crowd or spook a reviewer.
The line lands because it’s plainspoken but loaded. “Used to” carries nostalgia without sentimentality; “now” reads like a deadline. Stone isn’t romanticizing the road so much as defending the necessity of incubation, and warning that a preview culture can mistake visibility for readiness.
The road used to function as a pressure-release valve. Out-of-town tryouts gave writers and producers room to fail in relative privacy, to listen to audiences without being swallowed by the New York critical-industrial complex. Mistakes could be productive, even invisible. By relocating that chaos to previews, Broadway turns the rehearsal process into a public spectacle and a high-stakes financial instrument. The subtext is about risk management: not less risk, but risk redistributed onto audiences, performers, and the creative team, who now develop the work under the brightest possible spotlight.
Stone, a seasoned musical-theater craftsman, also signals a cultural change in who gets to shape a show. When rewriting happens in New York, the gravitational pull of investors, press, and prestige intensifies. Notes become less about dramaturgy and more about survivability: shortening the second act, clarifying the “I want” song, engineering applause breaks, sanding down anything that might confuse a weekend crowd or spook a reviewer.
The line lands because it’s plainspoken but loaded. “Used to” carries nostalgia without sentimentality; “now” reads like a deadline. Stone isn’t romanticizing the road so much as defending the necessity of incubation, and warning that a preview culture can mistake visibility for readiness.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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