Answer:
The best thing about theatre is also the worst thing.
Its transience.
One of the most magical things about live theatre is that when you’re in that theatre space, either performing in or seeing a show, you’re in something completely unique.
This exact thing will never be seen by anyone else. It will never happen again.
It’s not like watching a movie or seeing a painting, where everyone who sees it will see the exact same thing every single time.
Theatre exists only in the moment. That’s the best part.
It’s also the worst part.
You never hear people worrying about the Mona Lisa ending her contract with the Louvre and being replaced by a new face in the paintings community.
The Mona Lisa exists. It will always exist somewhere—if not the original, you can always look up images of it online.
But most people will never see the original Broadway cast of a show. Some shows are videotaped and those videos are eventually released, but plenty aren’t.
They’ll never be seen again.
The shows still exist, but those actors in those roles and that set and that director and those costumes—
It’ll never happen again. If you missed it, you missed it.
That’s the worst part about theatre. It exists only in that moment to those lucky enough to be in the room where it happens.
It’s painful that a painter’s portfolio can be displayed on a wall but an actor is relegated to playbills and posters, with the words “I was in this cast”.
Maybe a name. A photograph.
But you’ll never see their art.
Perhaps that’s why I love writing so much—it’s an art that doesn’t rely on an audience.