Broadway Show Draws Young Crowd

Some say that the popular performance by the De La Guarda Theatre company defies description. Words simply don't work. In fact, more and more these days, words seem unnecessary on the stage. CBS News Correspondent Thalia Assuras reports from Broadway.

"We take away the words. We don't need them anymore. It's all about what you feel," says producer Jeffrey Seller.

Thirty-three-year-old Seller brought Rent to Broadway, and a hipper, younger crowd to the theatre. Two-thirds of the weekday Rent audience is under 35.

"The people under 35 had stopped going, period. They didn't exist. Now they have material, they have theatre. They have character and music and experiences that's worth their while again," says Seller.

Young people are being attracted to certain shows because the buzz and the hype are directed at them. The question is whether there is enough for them, and whether they'll keep coming back to theatres.

"You need traditional and non-traditional. You've got to shake it up all over the place, but you also want to come back to just sitting down watching a good play," says Sam Whitehead, Theatre Editor of Time Out New York.

Whitehead worries the audience just wants to experience a spectacle.

"They appreciate an exhilarating good time that doesn't necessarily demand a lot of them mentally," says Sam Whitehead, Theatre Editor of Time Out New York.

But Seller says crowds come because the works reflect their lives.
Some argue that, in his time, Shakespeare's plays were popular in a similar way.

"He would love the fact that young people are going to the theatre to have experiences that are physical, that are emotional, that are about the heart and the head," says Seller.

Both theatre lovers agree Broadway and audiences alike are hungry for new material. In other words, the play's the thing.

Written by CBS News Correspondent Thalia Assuras
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