Ya got trouble, my friends, right here in New York City.

As most of you are aware, the United States economy is in a time of crisis. No matter where we are in the country or what our professions or interests involve, in some way this recession is affecting all of us.

Thus, it saddens me to the core to admit that even Broadway is experiencing economic hardship.

While it's true that there have been a significant lack of new shows appearing on the Great White Way for quite some time, Broadway has elegantly survived over recent years through revivals of popular musicals like Grease and Gypsy and by bringing in larger audiences by casting superstars from the film industry in new shows it DOES manage to import, such as Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame, who plays a young man with a sexual fascination to horses in Peter Shaffer's Equus.

Even so, the reality of the economy's current devastation hit the New York theatre scene heavily this past January, when 13 shows closed, including the new Tony Award-winning sensation The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein and the classic French farce Boeing-Boeing. Other popular favorites like Spamalot, Hairspray, and Spring Awakening also watched the final curtain fall.

The Curator and I agree that audiences are dying for new subject matter in the theatrical realm, which isn't exactly easily accomplished when one considers that the cost of putting up a production, especially one as high-scale as a Broadway show, goes much beyond what you see on the stage in performance. The production staff demands a hefty salary, as does the cost of equipment needed for the set and lighting. There are numerous other fees that must be accounted for, and consideration must first and foremost go to the performers whose talents you employ to make your show a success.

It's a cruel contradiction to that old stage adage, "the show must go on," but if you can't pay your actors, you don't have a show.

Through the good and bad, I remain your Drama Queen.