CATCH ME IF YOU CAN/BABY IT'S YOU not to re-open?

[CapnHook]

Do you think it's possible that CATCH ME IF YOU CAN and BABY IT'S YOU would just close and not perform their final week of shows?

[hermionejuliet]

I would say that unless the damage is incredibly significant in Times Square or there is a problem with power they will reopen. I believe by equity rules, they would have to pay the actors anyway.

[RippedMan]

Yeah, seems foolish not to. They've already budgeted, etc.

[CapnHook]

I'm racking my brain trying to remember an instance where a show closed prior to it's posted closing notice. I feel like it was sometime in the past few years...

[aasjb4ever]

Xanadu announced a closing for the end of October 2008 and closed a week after the notice was posted in early October...

Still sad I missed that...

[bwayfan7000]

^I was literally just about to cite that example! Except I wasn't sure if it would count, because it technically closed when it said it was going to, it just posted the second notice very soon before it closed.

Anyway, Capn, it seems like you might know something here? This would be a very sad thing, in my opinion, for the hurricane to further damage Broadway.

[philly03]

Tale of Two Cities also posted 2 weeks notice in November of 2008, then announced that Friday they would be closing a week earlier. But that was a huge economic thing. I would imagine that they probably won't be rewarding refunds to people who can't show because of the weather, and therefore would run unless damage is too much as mentioned.

[bwayfan7000]

Didn't LuPone Gypsy also do this? I seem to remember a March closing date, and then suddenly a January one...

[aasjb4ever]

And then the strange case of my beloved Ragtime which was scheduled to close Jan 3 but it extended a week to Jan 10 of last year :_(

[mikem]

The recent revival of American Buffalo announced on Wed Nov 19 that it was going to close on Sun Nov 23 unless sales picked up, but didn't actually announce until Nov 24 that sales hadn't picked up and the previous day's performance was in fact the last performance.

Natasha Richardson played her final performance in Cabaret without knowing it -- a construction accident closed down the show during her supposed final weeks and she never returned. Mary Louise Wilson also left the show during the hiatus. (And Idina Menzel did not play her final NY performance of Wicked because of injury the day before.)

A number of limited runs have been financial failures and closed before the announced end date (eg, Women on the Verge), although I don't think that's what you're looking for. I don't think the LuPone Gypsy ever formally announced a March closing date, although I think it was pretty well known that LuPone wouldn't be staying past March (if the show had ended up lasting that long).

I think it is unlikely that Catch Me and Baby It's You won't play out their remaining performances. At least in Catch Me's case, I don't think the final week will be a money-losing week.

[qolbinau]

Apparently the LuPone Gypsy was announced to close in March.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/news/2008-11-13-gypsy-closing_N.htm

There were also rumours that it was going to be filmed before this date, but it fell through when it closed early in January, which was a shame.

[RippedMan]

People won't get refunds for the hurricane?

[aasjb4ever]

^I saw the show right after Christmas '08 and on telecharge, it was listed as one of the performances that was 'going to be taped' but that didn't pan out.

[FindingNamo]

"I was literally just about to cite that example!"

I was figuratively going to mock you for it.

[AwesomeDanny]

At least the word "literally" was used to express its true meaning.

[mikem]

People will be getting refunds for the shows that did not take place. It will be interesting to see if ticketbuyers get refunds for upcoming shows that they are unable to attend because of states of emergency, flight cancellations, road closures, etc.

qolbinau, thanks for the link to the announcement about the LuPone Gypsy March closing announcement. The Bernadette Peters Gypsy did the opposite -- originally announced a Feb 28 closing but ended up closing on May 30.

I don't think Glory Days announced its closing until after the day after opening night.

[bwayfan7000]

In this case, I was actually being serious. I typed a response about it and accidentally refreshed the thread, seeing that aasjb had already posted about it. Literally. :)

[philly03]

I meant for performances this week.. obviously they would receive refunds if the performances were officially canceled.

[Mildred Plotka]

If people bought tickets to Catch Me or Baby It's You they should count themselves lucky if they're unable to attend.

[darreyl102]

I seem to remeber Hairspray had set its closing date for a later time in Jan. (Like the 21 or something) and then moved it up to Jan. 4.

[bwayphreak234]

If people bought tickets to Catch Me or Baby It's You they should count themselves lucky if they're unable to attend.

So true.

[dramamama611]

They are going to want to return as little money as possible. This isn't a big tourist week, so most people are locals.

But anything is possible.


(I, too, was going to mention Xanadu as well as I had scrambled to get onstage tickets for my kids before it closed. They were SOOOO excited about it-- and then then changed the date, closing us out.)

[After Eight]

"I'm racking my brain trying to remember an instance where a show closed prior to it's posted closing notice. I feel like it was sometime in the past few years..."


Shows that closed after one performance obviously never posted a notice (at least to the public) during their run.

But there have been instances of longer-running shows that closed without ever having posted a notice at all, and which had not originally intended to. I think of Wildcat, which went on hiatus due to Lucy's illness. Then some weeks later, it was announced the show would not reopen.

I believe a similar situation occurred with Golda, starring Anne Bancroft.

[CapnHook]

And wasn't there something similar with the RAGTIME revival?

[Mildred Plotka]

The Ragtime revival announced its closing, and then extended by a week.