Once I turned the final page, a feeling nagged me that a very important chapter to the evolution of the post-modern thriller remained unwritten. This chapter might be called: "Why The Postmodern Comedy Thriller Is No Longer Produced in the West End or Broadway." Granted, there is an odd revival now and then, and certainly community theaters across the world continue to stage the one-set five-character audience-pleasing easy-to-cast and cheap-to-produce thriller, but Broadway has clearly turned its back on the thriller. Aside from a musical like City of Angels - which Carlson categorizes as "the Post-modern private eye", no addition to the canon of the post-modern thriller has been introduced to Broadway since 1992's Solitary Confinement, which had only 25 performances. Prior to that, 1989's Accomplice - which ran for only 52 performances.
Understandably, Marvin Carlson published his book in 1993, so he had no clear vision of the complete death of the genre of the post-modern thriller on stage that the next two decades would reveal. However, even in 1993, as evidenced by his index "Selected Chronology of Mystery and Detectives Dramas and of Comedy Thrillers," the only post-modern thriller of any true success on Broadway (aside from post-modern private eye musicals) was produced nearly a decade before 1993.
Why did producers stop producing thrillers? Twenty years ago, did audiences get bored with the genre? If so, why? Would audiences still not pay for a ticket to a new thriller if one were produced on stage today? Are there no playwrights interested in writing thrillers anymore knowing that such works would never be produced for the stage? I want to know. Responses, thoughts, or previously written articles/essays addressing this curiosity are welcomed.
Yours,
Daniel Tobias
