2017-2018 Touring Season

[RoadGypsy2010]

You would be surprised how much it costs to rent a Charter Bus in some markets. 

On a recent tour we were flown between 2 cities in the same state, which we have always traveled the easy- one day (about 5 hours)- drive on a bus because the cost of flying everyone on an airline like Southwest, booking early and with a group rate, where all checked bags are free, was still significantly cheaper than it would have cost for a Bus. 

Much of how the road is booked has to do with the Venue and what they have scheduled in house. For many tour markets, the Broadway Series is only one small part of their yearly season. If they have Opera/Symphony/Philharmonic in house, or if there is a city wide conference that has booked out all of the hotels and convention/performance venues for their conference, it would create a booking issue. 

Cases like Boston/Providence/Worcester also exist, where a larger Tour market wouldn't want a smaller market to actively advertise the same product in the same viewing markets (TV and Radio adverts) in the same season.

Years back, when two similarly themed musicals were both touring, I asked a locally based road presenter if they would ever try to book them back-to-back and create an combined event, and I was told that one of the 2 shows had a non-competition clause in their rider, that no other similarly themed product could be booked in the same season, be advertised on the same marketing materials, etc. Which would also create booking logistic issues. 

[Call_me_jorge]

pg1287 said: "Is Gentleman's Guide a 2nd National Tour or is it a non-equity production? Thought I saw that the current tour had only a few stops left before it closed.

 

"

Kara Lindsay talks about the gentlemans guide tour closing, pretty early on in her Show People interview. I think it would be pretty safe to say the tour for the stops in 2017-2018 are non-eq.

heres the interview: https://youtu.be/mjvyg014Zao

[Babe_Williams]

lambchop2 said: "Broadway in Detroit:

Love Never Dies

An American in Paris

The Bodyguard

Fidning Neverland

School of Rock

On Your Feet

A disappointment for me. I might try to catch Finding Neverland with cheap seats because I loved the film but that's it. The Broadway in Detroit series used to get the better shows in Michigan, now it gets the same stuff that the Wharton Center and other venues get. What happened? Here's hoping the Opera House season makes up for this.

 

"

I agree. The only ones I am really interested in are the non subscription, Les Miz, and The Color Purple. MIght take my kid to School of Rock, but that's it. Love Never dies? Ew. I wish we were getting Waitress.

[Tonyz2]

Buffalo's season gets announced on Tuesday. I'm really hoping it looks more like Cleveland than Detroit. We've got one of the strongest markets for touring engagements in the country, so I'm hopeful we're gonna get a great year (this year's was pretty weak). 

[maxd]

Buffalo got mostly first string tours this season, American in Paris, the launching of Finding Neverland tour, Gentleman's Guide, Sound of Music, Cabaret and A Christmas Story-- The only thing we didn't really get was King and I-- Hardly a slouch of a season!

[Tonyz2]

maxd said: "Buffalo got mostly first string tours this season, American in Paris, the launching of Finding Neverland tour, Gentleman's Guide, Sound of Music, Cabaret and A Christmas Story-- The only thing we didn't really get was King and I-- Hardly a slouch of a season!

 

"

Yeah very good point! I was thinking more personal preference.

[whizzer_wins]

When does the Kimmel Center tend to release their show season?

[HSky]

The Kimmel Center is usually one of the last to announce their season. I think it's late April or early May.

[ClumsyDude15]

The Kimmel Center will announce in the next week to two weeks. 

Edit: It just came up in my TimeHop today that they were teasing the 2016-2017 season around this time last year for a similar time frame announcement. 

[LizzieCurry]

Chicago!

https://twitter.com/krisvire/status/841304398009622529

[Call_me_jorge]

Kind of upset waitress isn't on there. Other than that, it's only four shows which is kind of upsetting. The Humans being including gives me more reason to believe the private bank will be open come January.

[mcsquared]

Hartford's Bushnell is supposed to announce tonight to their suscribers and to the public this week I assume. Hope someone can post that when it happens

[GreasedLightning]

Did the Shubert in New Haven announce yet? 

[asmith0307]

Call_me_jorge said: "Kind of upset waitress isn't on there. Other than that, it's only four shows which is kind of upsetting. The Humans being including gives me more reason to believe the private bank will be open come January."

That spring looks pretty thin for Chicago, so there should be more.  

[TheSassySam]

I am shocked that The Color Purple isn't on Chicago's next season. Maybe there will be a pre-Broadway show.

[ClumsyDude15]

Kimmel Center has started teasing shows for the upcoming season and will be doing so all week. 

1: https://twitter.com/KimmelCenter/status/841080139144413185 - Finding Neverland.

2. https://twitter.com/KimmelCenter/status/841318048481058816 - Something Rotten. 

3. https://twitter.com/KimmelCenter/status/841378487176949760 - Waitress. 

4. https://twitter.com/kimmelcenter/status/841620219349094400 - The Color Purple. 

[IdinaBellFoster]

Buffalo does announce tomorrow but from their advertisement it's clear these two shows are coming:

 

WAITRESS

LOVE NEVER DIES

Can't wait to hear the rest! 

[bdboston]

Here is the Bushnell/Hartford 2017/2018 season:

FINDING NEVERLAND - August 1-6, 2017
SCHOOL OF ROCK - October 24-29, 2017
THE COLOR PURPLE - December 5-10, 2017
SOMETHING ROTTEN - January 30, 2018 - February 4, 2018
THE BODYGUARD - February 20-25, 2018
LOVE NEVER DIES - May 29 - June 3, 2018
ON YOUR FEET - June 19-24, 2018

[99pandas]

IdinaBellFoster - What ad? Was it something season ticket holders received? I can't wait for Buffalos announcement tomorrow! It's going to be a very long day of waiting for me!

[IdinaBellFoster]

99pandas said: "IdinaBellFoster - What ad? Was it something season ticket holders received? I can't wait for Buffalos announcement tomorrow! It's going to be a very long day of waiting for me!"

Yes it was sent to season ticket holders! It was written in the WAITRESS font and said that "America's love for apple pie never dies".

Looks like the season announcement has been canceled due to the incoming storm. Hopefully they still announce it without the event. 

[99pandas]

Ah, thank you! According to the Shea's website they will announce live via Facebook at 7 pm & the season will be posted on their site at 8 pm. Like Tonyz2, I really hope Buffalo looks a lot like Cleveland, if it does I might need to become a season ticket holder for the first time! 

[IdinaBellFoster]

I don't believe we will be getting HAMILTON this season...but I think they will announce that it is coming Fall 2018 (the start of the next next season). 

[99pandas]

I'd still be perfectly happy if we got the other 6 shows from Cleveland sans Hamilton. Now if we got the same 6 shows as the Cleveland season plus 1 or 2 of the add ons that Detroit (The Color Purple, Les Mis) got... that would be truly spectacular for me. 

[Babe_Williams]

Totally random, are there any "big" shows that run tours in subsequent years to the same cities like I remember back in the 1990s? I remember Les Miz coming to Detroit multiple times (I saw it two years in a row) and Miss Saigon also coming several years in a row. Seems like lately most shows hit a major city once and that's it. 

[LizzieCurry]

Wicked and Book of Mormon have both repeated many cities.