New York theaters (圖)

Picture shows Mr. Craig and Mr. Jackman Actors for

MANHATTAN’S West 40s have always been a battleground: between tourists and locals, musicals and plays, adults and children. Around 65% of the tickets for Broadway shows are bought by tourists from outside New York’s metropolitan area. A reliable choice for a family on the town has long been a splashy musical with some hearty laughs. But the recession is bringing about changes, some of which may be for the better. These days, the expensive tickets are for maudlin Danish princes, not singing mermaid princesses.

Hard times squelched quite a few shows, especially musicals. Even award-winning crowd-pleasers, such as “Hairspray”, “Spamalot” and “Spring Awakening”, were forced to close because of their high running costs and dwindling sales. Investors were duly squeamish. But then producers began to shift strategy, moving away from extravaganzas towards leaner musicals and straight plays for grown-ups. Many of the shows had had a successful run elsewhere first, which lowered costs and soothed investors. Advertising moved online, where most people buy tickets. One way or another, the policy seems to have paid off: October saw 29 productions in full swing, filled to 87% of capacity.

But some big musicals remain in trouble. They often require at least $10m-12m to get started and years of success to reach a profit. “Shrek the Musical”, for example, is rumoured to have cost investors over $20m to stage, with weekly costs in high six figures. Last week DreamWorks Theatricals announced that the show would close in January, after being open for only a year. Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” met a similar fate in August. An interesting test will come in the spring when the wildly expensive “Spider-Man” musical is due to take off—if it can find more investors.

The new musicals that are doing well are cheaper to produce and not meant for young children. They include the quirky “Next to Normal”, a new production of “Hair” which has already recouped its modest capital cost of $5.76m, and a strong revival of “West Side Story”, which also opened in the spring and has proved popular enough to get back its $14m investment. “Billy Elliot”, an exception to the rule, costs a lot but may succeed in charming its way into the black.

Strong plays with well-known actors, modest sets and few scene changes are doing very well (Broadway stagehands are especially expensive). “God of Carnage”, a darkly hilarious play by Yasmina Reza, has been playing to sold-out audiences since it opened in the spring, and recently broke the $1m a week mark at the box office, a rarity for a non-musical. James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels star as a pair of Brooklyn couples whose polite discussion about their children descends into an absurdist mêlée.

The other big ticket this season is “A Steady Rain”, a taut, one-act, two-character play by Keith Huff about a couple of tough Chicago cops with a tragic story to tell. On a stage with two chairs and two lamps, Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig (see above) trade recollections of the dark events that rearranged their lives. The play is tight and brisk and Mr Craig’s performance is particularly strong, his blunted Chicago accent like rocks hitting concrete. The play closes on December 6th, so hurry.