Productions on Broadway have been a running tradition for over 300 years in New York City, the homeplace of some of the most popular musicals and plays of all time. Other popular theater cities include the West End, Chicago, Toronto, Tokyo and many more around the globe. In recent years, proshots have become a popular way to watch these shows from home. This means that a professional production company will attend a live stage musical or play and film it like a screen movie. A lot of proshots are anticipated to come out soon, including “Hadestown,” “Six,” “Frozen,” “Merrily We Roll Along” and “The Play That Goes Wrong.”
“Hadestown” is a musical that has been on Broadway since 2019, about the Greek love story between Orpheus and Eurydice told through a different, modern lens. In recent years, “Hadestown” has become one of the most popular musicals in the world due to its uniqueness as the entire show is sung-through different forms of jazz-style music. On BroadwayWorld, it was announced that “Hadestown” would be recorded in the West End with the original Broadway principal cast members reprising their roles from February 11 to March 9. Sadly, Patrick Page who originated the role of Hades on Broadway could not fulfill this dream as he was injured just before performances, but he will be in the recording. This is a very long-time-coming production that fans around the world can finally enjoy.
“Six” is a musical that originated in the West End in 2018,about the six ex-wives of King Henry VIII. They all come together to determine who had it worse when they were married to him through pop songs, resembling a fun concert. In recent years, this musical has become very popular on social media, with influencers using small sections of the songs to make TikToks. In 2020, “Six” made its way to Broadway until it was unfortunately shut down due to COVID-19. But, it opened back up and has continued running since September of 2021. In January of this year, it was announced that the West End company would release a proshot of “Six” including the original cast members. It has not been announced if or when North America will release the proshot, but on April 6th the film will be released in UK and Ireland cinemas.
“Frozen” is a well-known animation film produced by Walt Disney Animations in 2013 and has taken over the world as one of Disney’s most popular films of all time. Two sisters, Anna and Elsa, had mostly been shut away their entire lives, due to Elsa having unexplained ice powers. Throughout the story, a running theme is finding true love in ways you would never expect. Five years later, “Frozen” had been interpreted into a Broadway Musical, due to the popularity of the songs throughout the original film. The musical was a big hit on Broadway and the West End, which made it possible for a proshot to happen. The recording will be released in 2025 on Disney Plus.
“Merrily We Roll Along” is a musical by the phenomenal Stephen Sondheim about three friends, spanning their friendship over twenty years. The musical had a revival on Broadway, starting in 2023, and became a success after its original release flopped on Broadway in 1981. People also came to see the show to see Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez as the main characters. The show won Best Revival of a Musical at the Tony Awards in 2024, and it was soon announced that there would be a proshot in the works.
“The Play That Goes Wrong” is a play that quite literally goes wrong as the show continues. It is about an accident-prone theater company that, on the opening night of their production, everything seems to go incredibly wrong. The play started as a one-act play in 2012 but soon became a West End and Broadway production by 2017. It was announced in 2023 that we would soon have a proshot of “The Play That Goes Wrong” with the original UK cast members of the production.
People need these proshots because it is a way to experience theater performances more conveniently. In recent years, theater has begun dying on the vine of entertainment, so these proshots are very important for the industry. I thoroughly enjoy theatre, so all of these productions are incredibly exciting. I cannot wait to see people experience theater from their homes or cinemas, as it is very hard to go to a Broadway theater because it can be very expensive.
