How Musical Theater Historian Margaret Hall Sees Broadway’s Future
The writer’s breadth of knowledge about Broadway’s past earned her the nickname “Encyclopedia” at NYU. Now, she’s using that knowledge to fuel her optimism for the industry’s future.
From her father ensuring “The Wizard of Oz” was the first moving picture she saw to her mother being a stagehand for the iconic Kenley Players, Margaret Hall has been surrounded by musical theater history her entire life. When she decided to pursue a graduate degree in it, though, she couldn’t find a single program in the country. So she made her own through NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
“I did it partially out of spite,” she recalls. “I was so frustrated with them saying ‘no one’s done this, so you can’t do it.’ So I’m like, ‘Great. I’ll just force my body through this door, and then other people can also come through it.’”
Hall has since parlayed that degree into writing for Playbill, penning the biography of famed music director Paul Gemignani, and work as a theater disability and neurodivergence advocate.
With the industry still not fully recovered from its COVID-induced shutdown, Hall sat down with me to talk about what makes her hopeful for Broadway’s comeback and evolution.
In your piece about the Kenley Players, you wrote about your mom’s tie to theater history. Is there more to that background?
My maternal great-grandfather was a plaster and filigree worker who helped build [the Ohio Theater]. When my mom would take me to see a show there, she’d always stop and say, “Let’s look at Grandpa’s work. Let’s appreciate it. Everyone’s just walking by it, but let’s look at how intricate these details are.” No one is writing about the theaters themselves, but they’re important.
What about on Broadway? Do you have a favorite theater?
Yes! The “Broadway,” where I saw my first Broadway show. Regrettably, people don’t tend to do a lot with it. It’s colloquially referred to as a barn because it’s huge and it’s why there’s frankly less competition to get into a theater like that. Think about how long it’s sat empty since “Here Lies Love” closed and how empty it was before it came in. (When “The Great Gatsby” opens at the “Broadway” in April, the theater will have been unoccupied for a total of 18 months over the span of two years.)
But Broadway, in general, is currently having a tough time filling seats. An outcome of this is the increase in star and stunt casting and ticket prices. How do you explain this surge?
We’ve seen a lot more people leaning on star casting since the pandemic for a multitude of reasons. It’s a way that producers know they can bring in audiences. I’ve worked very closely with some producers this season; you cannot charge less than $50 without the [theater] landlords being like, “You can’t even pay your rent on that.” When we’re in a world where our feet are really unstable, the certainty of knowing is something everyone is craving.
Would you say that’s healthy for Broadway’s ecosystem?
I wouldn’t use the word healthy; it’s a survival instinct. I think lot of things are gonna change in the next 30 years. I mean, everything changes in 30 years. But specifically, we’re on the precipice of a really major power change.
You’re talking about the theater mergers?
Right — between Jujamcyn and ATG (Ambassador Theatre Group from London). Suddenly, now this is a whole new infusion of people from a different industry. Broadway and the West End operate very differently.
Are you optimistic about it?
Absolutely. Take a look at the renovation of the Lyric [Theater] — it made it ADA accessible and expanded the size of their seats and the accessibility of their backstage, which is something a lot of people don’t talk about.
Your diversity advocacy is admirable. In your review of “Ratatouille: the TikTok Musical” during the pandemic, you praised its diverse casting and said it was “theater for modern times.” Is Broadway still on the right track?
The supermodel Iman did a really wonderful cover interview with British Vogue where she talked about the fashion industry. Specifically, she used the concept that everything’s always three steps forward, five steps back. I think that’s what we’re seeing right now. When the fire was burning and the pressure was on, diversity was focused on. Now that people’s attention has been diverted elsewhere, it’s not being done as much.
Isn’t that disappointing?
I don’t think we necessarily have to look at it like that. We do have incredible pieces, like “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.” I don’t know if that play would have been produced on Broadway before 2020. Maybe I can have that kind of faith in [Manhattan Theatre Club], but I don’t know for sure. I think about something like “Purlie Victorious” and the renaissance that Kenny Leon (“Purlie’s” director) has had in the last couple of seasons. That man is everywhere to the point that sometimes when I see him, I’m like, “Do you go on vacation? Are you okay?” I think that was partially kicked off by the demand that everyone was pushing for.
But he’s just one guy. Surely that doesn’t mean diversity, right?
Well no, but he was the black director that a lot of people — when I say people here, I mean white people — were like, “Okay. We know Kenny Leon. We’ll hire him.” And then he stepped up to the plate and showed how good he was in that first season back, so he keeps getting hired.
That first season back from COVID was pretty groundbreaking. Do you have hope that it’ll ever be like that again?
I don’t think of it as a moment or an aberration or a trend or whatever diminutive term you wanna put on it. I think it was a watershed. We’ve seen that Broadway can hold that much space. We’ve seen that Broadway can do that kind of diverse storytelling. We, hopefully, will not forget that. When they tell us “Oh, it just can’t be done.” Well, it already was. It’s that same thing of “I will brute force my body through this door so others can follow me.”
(This interview was condensed and edited for clarity)
