Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
#1Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 7:21pmI've been thinking about this show a lot lately. Really one of the best things I've ever seen. I know the movie Kickstarter failed, but I remember around the time of closing Brittain Ashford tweeted something along the lines of "With the Comet done for the moment..." That was months ago so I doubt anything will come of it, but it's so sad to think that with touring obviously not a possibility this is probably the last we'll ever hear of this one.
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GreasedLightning
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/11/14
#2Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 9:19pmI wouldn't completely rule it out. Who knows if a Broadway transfer is in the works (with no appropriate theatre available at the moment or in the near future) or if a return off-Broadway engagement will happen. This was clearly a well-liked, popular event in the New York theatre realm and I doubt we've seen the last of it.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#3Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 9:30pm
I hope not. The should it-it shouldn't transfer argument has been had many, many times, but like it was said, this was a well-liked and well-received production. The cast was marvelous, but the music was a step beyond that and I think it deserves to be heard by more people.
#4Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 9:37pmThe last I heard the cast had offers to be in a Broadway transfer for the fall, depending on securing a theatre. The specific theatre I had heard mentioned will not be available come fall, so who knows if the transfer is looking for other options or if it's not going to come to pass.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
#5Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 10:27pmI assume the theatre they were looking after is the Circle in the Square, provided they wanted to keep the Kazino angle. I know The River is going into Circle in the Square downtown. Is the regular Circle booked?
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#6Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 10:33pmI would love to have this show back in New York. I saw it twice and loved it both times, and it breaks my heart a little to walk down 45th Street and see that empty lot.
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#7Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 10:35pm
What other Circle? Hugh is playing Broadway.
Also, this is way too big of a show to put into the Circle and expect to return a profit. It's a tough sell regardless. I don't see why they couldn't tour it. Set it down in Chicago for a few months in a tent. In LA. In Seattle.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#8Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 10:38pmI would think it tapped the New York market. I would probably go see it again in a theater but maybe they should wait a few years for the big ticket audiences to catch up.
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#9Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 10:45pm
The theatre I had heard was a proscenium theatre, not Circle in the Square. So presumably they were making plans to modify the environmental staging. Perhaps not unlike whatever Jujamcyn was planning for GREAT COMET at the St. James.
But as I said, plans must be changing as the fall real estate picture is not what it was when I last heard an update.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
#10Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 10:46pm
According to this, The River is playing on Bleecker Street. I'll admit I only checked it out for the purposes of this thread, and didn't know another Circle existed.
Link
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#11Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 10:49pm
Ohhh, BWW. Ever a reliable source.
They are playing on 50th. The website for the show plainly states that.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#12Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 11:48pm
Hugh Jackman at the Bleeker St. would be one hot ticket, ha.
The problem with COMET is that it's just such a big show. I wonder if the show even made a profit Off-Broadway or came class? I think it could work in a normal theater, just extend some ramps into the audience, build some platforms in the audience or something or just keep it flat on the sage.
matineeidol2591
Stand-by Joined: 6/10/09
#13Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 11:52pmI certainly hope we don't see the end of Comet in NYC. By far my favorite theatrical experience of 2013.
#14Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 11:54pm
It's not THAT large. It's a unit set and the cast is still smaller than a standard Broadway musical.
It would require a lot of restaging and re-thinking; the whole supper club atmosphere was integral to the production. I don't think the piece needs that kind of staging to be effective (the score holds up extremely well on its own on the cast recording), but a transfer would require a lot of re-designing and re-thinking.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#15Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/25/14 at 11:56pm
I guess you're right. It just seems like a fairly large show.
And I agree. I think it could hold up as a traditional proscenium musical, but it would lose some flair. I think the Winter Garden would be a nice fit. It has that wrap around balcony and it's so wide, it would work well if they had platforms out in the audience, etc.
#16Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/26/14 at 3:04amI too think that it stands up well detached from the staging, as someone who loves the score and the cast album but didn't have a chance to actually experience it.
Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated
#17Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/26/14 at 7:42am
Oh, I'd tickle you all if I could!
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#18Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/26/14 at 9:41amIt should play Rockwell Table + Stage in Los Angeles. Perfect venue for the show!
"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop
mjohnson2
Broadway Star Joined: 11/2/13
#19Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/26/14 at 6:31pm
Okay, everybody forgets this:
Great Comet closed from a COMMERCIAL run because ticket sales dried up. It wasn't ever a limited run, and it didn't recoup its budget, so a Broadway transfer would be highly unlikely unless somebody with a lot of money decided to take an interest in the show.
Anything regarding shows stated by this account is an attempt to convey opinion and not fact.
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
#20Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/26/14 at 6:35pmRegional theaters are already lining up for this. "New York is the center of New York. There's a whole country out there!"
#21Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/26/14 at 6:45pm
I may be mistaken, but given the unusual grounds on which the show was staged, I believe it was limited to a certain timeframe they were allowed in that lot last year. Not to mention that new investors might infuse the show with more marketing and try and capitalize on rave reviews, being "on Broadway" as opposed to "off" which does matter to some, sadly, and also maybe reconceive how the food menu works (if they keep that at all in a Broadway house) there are different fiscal considerations to consider.
But I agree in general, that regional theatres should be champing at the bit to license so if NYC has seen the last of the Great Comet, the nation at large will only just start.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
#22Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/26/14 at 6:48pm
"It wasn't ever a limited run"
It actually WAS a limited run, both in the Meatpacking distract and in midtown. The midtown engagement even extended.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Updated On: 6/26/14 at 06:48 PM
#23Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 6/26/14 at 7:55pmListening to Sonya Alone now. I know No One Else is acknowledged as the gem of the score but I am much more partial to this one. The first time I saw the show I remember saying "Is the cousin ever gonna do anything?" at intermission. Then the second act started and Brittain Ashford stood on the far side of the room and sang this angelic song about her devotion to her friend and it was one of those rare moments in my theatre-going history where I knew I was in the presence of something very, very special and I didn't want it to be over. I'm getting teary just thinking about it. I think I'd give up Sleep No More for the rest of my life if it meant another live Sonya Alone. :)
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#24Have We Seen the Last of the Great Comet?
Posted: 1/20/15 at 7:15pm
After so many years in the theatrical circle I've become jaded and skeptical of news as tentative as this sounds. But this is my Comet, so I'm gonna make an exception and say oh god oh god oh god oh god.
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