Jesus Christ Superstar: Arena Spectacular

[Melissa25]

Thanks Play It Again for the info. Had no idea who Michael Cohl was before you mentioned him. Now that I have looked him up, I will never spend a dime on anything he's associated with. Yep, he was the lead producer on "A Night with Janis Joplin."

[TomSloan]

"When they cancelled the movie theater showings they had to know this wouldn't do well live either."

They cancelled the movie theatre showings because Sandy hit the east coast and they were unable send out the video. If Sandy had not hit, the video would have played US movie theatres

[theatregoer3]

Wow! How is Mr. Cohl still getting investors?! How are agents still submitting their clients to his projects?! Between this, Janis and Spider-Man, Mr. Cohl is the common denominator. Clearly he is not fro be trusted with these endeavors.

Granted, I thought this arena tour seemed like an awful idea, but c'mon!

I sincerely hope equity steps in and does something about this proposed Spider-Man 2015 arena tour. If Mr. Cohl is involved I think we can all agree it will be abruptly cancelled or filled with injuries.

[RippedMan]

I think this probably would have sold better than they initially thought. This is one of those day of kind of tickets. You hear the spot on the radio and think "Why not?" and go get a ticket. I don't think it's a plan-ahead type situation.

[RW3]

The cast is not giving up. They are trying to convince people to retweet the hashtag #JCSglasto in order to try to perform the show at the Glastonbury Festival in England.

[FindingNamo]

Oh good lord. Would that be before or after Metallica? #terribleidea

[South Fl Marc]

I'm curious, why was a US tour being done with 70 British Ensemble members?

So ... a really lousy 70's show ( I never want to to see Jesus Christ Superstar again), that was employing mainly British actors, produced by the most incompetent producer/promoter ever (Michael Cohl) and booked into huge arenas that make any theatrical experience impossible was cancelled.

Good riddance to bad rubbage.

But Michael Cohl should be banned from theatre.

[ukpuppetboy]

#JCSGlasto

God help anyone stupid enough to throw a plastic pint of piss at Johnny Rotten.

[RippedMan]

Were any designs released for the production? I'm so curious to know how it was going to look.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Same as the Occupy London-inspired mess that traipsed the boards in the last couple of years overseas.

[Wee Thomas2]

I saw an ad on TV in Boston on Saturday afternoon. Thought "John Rotten Lydon" was a pretty funny way for him to be billed. Ah well, wasn't gonna pay that for this anyway


Edit: It was playing the Boston Garden, so there was a local Boston show planned, not sure if it was elsewhere in New England as well

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

The New York Times did a piece on this over the weekend:

Mr. Lydon, never one to hold his tongue, strongly rebuked Mr. Cohl in an interview on Friday night. “I had a run-in with the alleged promoter in New York,” Mr. Lydon said. “I didn’t like him and I instinctively didn’t trust him.”

Mr. Cohl’s treatment of cast and crew members, who set aside months of their lives for the tour, has been “devoid of human contact,” Mr. Lydon said.

“The excuses are going to have to be phenomenal,” he said. With a mischievous smile, he added, “All that Mr. Cohl had to do was ring me up, and I’d have lent him $5.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/arts/music/anger-for-jesus-christ-superstar-cast-and-a-black-eye-for-its-promoter.html

[FindingNamo]

Johnny being Johnny in the NYTimes:

Mr. Lydon, never one to hold his tongue, strongly rebuked Mr. Cohl in an interview on Friday night. “I had a run-in with the alleged promoter in New York,” Mr. Lydon said. “I didn’t like him and I instinctively didn’t trust him.”

Mr. Cohl’s treatment of cast and crew members, who set aside months of their lives for the tour, has been “devoid of human contact,” Mr. Lydon said.

“The excuses are going to have to be phenomenal,” he said. With a mischievous smile, he added, “All that Mr. Cohl had to do was ring me up, and I’d have lent him $5.”

[sr4mjc]

Well I hope this closing doesn't deter a movie remake. A well thought out remake with a good director and my dream casting of Jared Leto as Jesus and Adam Lambert as Judas. They would both sing the hell out of that score.

[FindingNamo]

Adam Lambert is an old-school Herod at best.

[ajh]

While it's sad for the performers who needed the work, this really isn't (wasn't?) a very good production. I saw it on tour in UK and found it ponderous and dull then gave it a second chance on DVD and actually fell asleep. Certainly not worth the high pricing quoted; also Ben Forster is hugely uninspiring (lacking charisma, and vocally not a patch on Paul Nolan in the last Broadway revival, which I wish they'd recorded just to preserve his singing of Gethsemane).

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

And now we have Michael Cohl's side of the story (link below).

In summary... from day one, the ticket sales were in the toilet. They worked their asses off to create a tour that would sell in spite of many missteps from the beginning (he felt that only one or two star leads and a cheaper ticket price might have changed things), but finally they couldn't ignore the writing on the wall: their production was not catching on with the public, and it wasn't worth continuing.

More intriguing is the note that they were so confident in this idea that Cohl's company signed on for a multiple-show deal that involved proposed arena tours of Cats, Phantom, Starlight Express, and Evita. Judging by the end of the article, twenty years from now will be far too early to attempt something like this again with one of those shows.

'Jesus Christ Superstar' Tour Failed Due to 'Horrific' Ticket Sales, Says Promoter

[Starship]

....because Cats would sell as an arena tour? Um????? Not even Phantom could fill an arena.

[Joviedamian]

Ted Neeley wasn't available?

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Busy in Italy playing to sell-out crowds of Catholics.

Jesus Christ Superstar | Peep Arrow

[RippedMan]

As much as I hate Cats, an arena tour would be kinda cool.