Thank Heaven for GIGI

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/15/15 at 12:18am

Vanessa finally addressed the closing on her twitter page: 

This was from my first fitting for GIGI on Broadway and what a wonderful ride it has been. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and we only have one more week to share this wonderful love story on Broadway. I will be forever grateful for the audiences who came to see the show, everyone who made the show a reality and my cast mates who have become family. I have truly enjoyed every second of this journey and am very excited for the next chapter of my life.???

 

I feel extremely lucky for being able to see this wonderful show so many times. It was my absolute favorite show of the season. The audience left the show very uplifted. It brought nothing buy joy to me and many of my friends that saw the show with me. It should have won a Tony for the best revival of the year in my opinion, and Vanessa, Corey, Dee and Howard should have been recognized as well.

For those who missed it, I'll share a clip of "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" performed by
Victoria Clark and Dee Hoty:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsrwacKhNTs

[TBone]

Posted: 6/15/15 at 12:49am

I'm seeing this on Tuesday night and I'm very much looking forward to it!

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/15/15 at 11:33pm

Tbone, please post on here what you thought of it. Enjoy!

[uncageg]

Posted: 6/16/15 at 4:04pm

I saw it and enjoyed it overall. It dragged in a few spots and I don't agree with giving "Thank Heavens for Little Girls" to the females but I got over it. Beautiful sets and costumes and enjoyed the choreography. I was very impresse with Ms. Hudgins. She was excellent and looking like she was having the time of her life onstage. I do hope she returns to Broadway.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/16/15 at 4:57pm

See what happens when you revive a show not on the list of shows approved for revival

The show was a hell of a lot better than some f the stuff now on the boards.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 6/16/15 at 9:34pm

Holy. Dear. God. Are you kidding Broadwayworld? They used the second part of Muscle's post and claimed Vanessa Hudgens wrote it on her Facebook, then deleted it

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/GIGIs-Vanessa-Hudgens-Addresses-Shows-Closing-On-Social-Media-What-A-Wonderful-Ride-It-Has-Been-20150616

MAJOR head desk

[NewsiesForever]

Posted: 6/16/15 at 9:40pm

At first I admit I was turned off by the reviews and Vanessa Hudgens, but now that I see the pictures of the crowds outside the stage door, I kind of feel bad that it is closing.

The question is if Vanessa Hudgens will come back to Broadway. This show was taylor made for her and her audience, pretty costumes, elaborate sets, story about a girl growing into a woman. Not mention she had her own personal Newsie as her leading man. But there were problems from the begining, first the butchered the original story to 'update' it, there were holes and errors, the reviews were terrible and her performance was destroyed by the critics. Now it is possible to survive on broadway after being panned by the critics, most recently Finding Neverland seems to be doing well. But the producers must have uderestimated her ability to attract an audience. Even with a show made for her, she still could not bring in the crowds. That may have an effect on her ability to not only get hired for another show but her appeal to audiences.

Corey Cott and Vicki Clark will be picked up by another show soon enough. 

I do find it interesting that it lasted on Broadway the exact same time as the previous 1973 revival-three months. 

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 1:04am

I think that this 12 million dollar production of GIGI was absolutely stunning, but yes, the bad reviews prevented a lot of people from going to see the show, which is a bummer, and other panned shows like Finding Neverland are able to sell pretty well despite bad reviews. Have you seen GIGI mr. Newsies? I remember I also loved Newsies (I saw the amazing Corey Cott in it), and I remember a lot of people on this board saying it was terrible, I thought it was fantastic though. I think the key is to ignore what people are saying and just go with an open mind.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 8:20am

Could not agree more.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 8:39am

Bad reviews no longer close shows. Disinterest and bad word of mouth closes shows.

This lowbrow, low-budget, and misguided Gigi just didn't have what it takes to draw audiences.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 8:59am

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion whether or not it agrees with yours.

Bad reviews,especially like Gigi's, do not help a show to have a successful run.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 9:07am

"Bad reviews,especially like Gigi's, do not help a show to have a successful run."

Lovely bit of backpedalling there.

Of course, you could also say that "good reviews, especially like those for Honeymoon in Vegas, do not help a show to have a successful run ," too.

Don't focus on reviews; they no longer have power - do you know why?

Because no one reads any more.

 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 9:09am

But the point is:  Why is Finding Neverland succeeding while Gigi failed?   You cannot blame it on reviews as FN's reviews were worse than Gigi's. (Maybe not by much, but they were more scathing.)

 

Yes, there are wonderful shows that fail (Scottsboro Boys), and mediocre shows (FN) that succeed.  No one will ever be able to point to the exact reason for any specific show.  It didn't speak to audiences, they didn't buy tickets, period.  OUR individual opinions don't matter.  

[bjh2114]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 9:13am

I can point to a reason.  Finding Neverland has two big TV stars (Morrison and Grammer), which aren't even the main selling point.  That distinction goes to the recognizable commodity that is Peter Pan.  The show is a perceived as a family friendly show, which is HUGE when it comes to ticket sales.

The majority of people these days knows anything about Gigi.  And Hudgens is hardly a draw for older audiences who will actually know a little about the movie/original production.

[JayG 2]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 9:25am

The revival was not in the same caliber as King and I or 20Th Century. It is rather ordinary, but nonetheless, enjoyable with some really wonderful performances. It surely deserved at least a season's run (especially when one considers the slop that has run for years and years stinking up the theater district).

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 9:34am

If another revival could have been nominated (no idea why it was not) I would say Sideshow over Gigi

Gigi was enjoyable but as Jay noted above,not in the same league as the 3 nominated.Beautiful sets & costumes, good performances but nothing spectacular. It did deserve better than a 3 & out run

Updated On: 6/17/15 at 09:34 AM

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 11:01am

I think "King" was a very sophisticated production, yet, "On the 20th Century"- I didn't find that great. "Sideshow" I didn't really enjoy either. I think "Gigi" deserved the 4th spot. They also should have nominated Vanessa, Corey and Dee.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 11:20am

"I can point to a reason.  Finding Neverland has two big TV stars (Morrison and Grammer), which aren't even the main selling point.  That distinction goes to the recognizable commodity that is Peter Pan.  The show is a perceived as a family friendly show, which is HUGE when it comes to ticket sales.
The majority of people these days knows anything about Gigi.  And Hudgens is hardly a draw for older audiences who will actually know a little about the movie/original production."

I think you're right. Also, those older audiences are the ones that will pay for full priced tickets and teenagers won't. I think you meant to say they "don't know anything about GIGI" by the way.

I remember seeing Barbara Walters at the opening, saying that GIGI is her favorite show, and thought more older people would be drawn to the show. Oh well.

I always remember when the revival of La Cage won the Tony for best revival and then announced their closing the following week. I guess even a Tony won't assure you a long run either nowadays.

 

[NewsiesForever]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 11:37am

I saw Newsies numerous times, so I know that while some did not like Newises MOST did and it still has a strong following on tour. Newsies may have only had a three year run, but it will live on forever on tour, and maybe someday with a revival. 

While Newsies is a movie and now a musical with a cult following, Gigi did not have that. There was alot going against Gigi from the start. So its short run does not suprise me, but at the same time it was a visually impressive musical, probobly better than some of the shows coming in the new season. 

I did see Gigi, and while Corey Cott and Victoria Clark were amazing, I was not blown away by Vanessa Hudgens. 

 

 

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 12:11pm

La Cage may have closed a couple of weeks after the Tonys, but it also began previews in November, for a total of 228 performances. Gigi will close after 86 performances.

I don't think bad reviews killed this show. I think indifferent reviews killed this show. And that led to people quickly forgetting the thing was even running. I won't even discuss the Vanessa Hudgens waving her hands in the air thing they called a commercial. So who knew what it was about and coming up during the busiest time of the year, no one bothered to care.

That said, I thought it was beautifully done for the most part, with winning performances by everyone except Vanessa. I'm not sure I can think of a better word that strident to describe her performance.

[TBone]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 2:13pm

I saw the show last night and while I really wanted to, I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as I'd hoped. The show is beautiful to look at, and most of the cast is great, but about twenty minutes into act two I got so bored and nothing that happened after that drew me back in. I've never seen the movie so this was my first exposure to most of the score and story. I've read that the story & book were altered a bit, and even without any prior exposure something just seemed "off." I can understand why this didn't do better.

I was not impressed at all with Vanessa Hudgens. Her acting as a girl in the beginning was just over-the-top and distracting. Bless her heart for giving it her all though.

I'm glad I got to see it, and I'm looking forward to checking out the film at some point soon.

Updated On: 6/17/15 at 02:13 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 5:21pm

"If another revival could have been nominated (no idea why it was not) I would say Sideshow over Gigi"

There's no mystery as to why it was not. It was determined that with the number of eligible revivals there would only be three nominees unless there was a tie between the shows with the third and fourth highest number of votes. Obviously that did not happen, thus only three nominees.  I see nothing wrong with the decision to limit the number of nominees when the field is smaller, as it was this year.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/18/15 at 12:21am

Oh well, me and other friends are shocked it's closing. I get bored a lot at shows and I must say I was engaged until the last second, all 6 x I saw it. haha.

[A Director]

Posted: 6/18/15 at 2:09am

muscle23ftl - The producers should have hired you to be a shill. You could have kept the production open!

[newintown]

Posted: 6/18/15 at 9:04am

Shill is right - "shocked" to see it's closing, after those reviews, no Tony Awards, and the total lack of buzz? I could see "disappointed," perhaps, but - "shocked?"

Are you shocked that we're having a presidential election next year? That Rachel Dolezal resigned her position? That a Clinton Correctional Facility employee fooled around with two convicts and helped them escape? All of these things are about as surprising as the closing of a poorly-executed, poorly-received Broadway show.