The Master and Margarita on Broadway
American people, beware! For the megalomaniacal St. Petersburg musical Master i Margarita might come to Broadway. The production house Makers Lab says that it is talking with two Broadway theaters: the Imperial theatre (1443 seats) and the Minskoff theatre (1710 seats).
The Imperial theatre of the Shubert Organisation is known for the musical Les Misérables, which premiered on March 12, 1987, and which returned to the theatre after not having been represented for several years. The Minskoff theatre of the Nederlander Organisation is renowned for the musical The Lion King, which premiered on October 15, 1997, and which welcomed its 80 millionth visitor five days ago, on June 15, 2015. Frankly speaking, it seems unlikely to us that any of these productions would be removed to make room for The Master and Margarita, and none of both theaters could or wanted to confirm that there were any negotiations ongoing.
The St. Petersburg musical has little to do with the spirit of Bulgakov, as you can read elsewhere on this website. The TV station Piter TV said that the musical is «a mixture of a Disney movie and a lingerie store» and concluded that «Bulgakov must have turned in his grave». Yet, show director Sophia Sirakanyan announced that the story is going to be simplified even more, just to make sure that the Broadway public would understand it. «Broadway always focuses on international audiences,» she said, «therefore, we need to adapt the material to make the story more understandable. We can't expect that most of the public will have read the book.» In other words: if you’re smart to read a book, don’t go to watch the musical.
According to Sirakanyan, it is expected that The Master and Margarita will be on the Broadway repertoire for one year, but it will certainly not be before the year 2016.