In every theater producer, hope springs eternal. But, on Broadway,
theater producers hope spring’s eternal. In April and early May,
the wide open spaces of the schedule are suddenly invaded by an
expeditionary force of new plays. Why? Not because the lifting of
winter causes a sudden rush of New Yorkers to the box office, but
because of the finely calculated formula on which theatrical success
is deemed to rest. If you open just before the Tony cut-off date
in early May, you only have to keep running until the award
nominations are announced. After that, with a clutch of Tony
nominations under your belt, you only have to keep running until the
ceremony in early June. After that, with a clutch of Tony Awards
under your belt, you’ll run forever. QED. Quite Extraordinarily
Deranged.

The cut-off this year was midnight, Tuesday, May 2.
Conventional wisdom says: you’d have to be nuts to open after May 2,
so nothing’s scheduled now until October. Instead, says conventional
wisdom, do what My Thing of Love did. This play made it with a
couple of hours to spare, having sacrificed during previews both its
director and two-thirds of the cast—all just to scrape in on May 2
and thus make the Tony eligibility period. On Wednesday, it woke up
to stinko reviews; the following Monday, it was frozen out by the
Tonys; on Sunday, it was gone. Within days, the Tony deadline forms a
line of the dead: Monday,