Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 1/22- Page 2

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 1/24/12 at 10:56pm

Yes, it's a big feat and I don't think anyone's denying that but a show that's purging money isn't going to stay open so a composer can have "an impressive feat." There are producers and other management who get to make the decision who care about the cash, not an accomplishment of some composer. It's not as if Alan Menken gets to decide when to close Sister Act.

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 12:19am

Having 3 multi-million dollar shows running at the same time is a pretty big feat, regardless of the outcome.

I think you're absolutelty right. However he manages to keep getting his shows produced makes him one of the best businessmen on Broadway.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 12:31am

I know this has been mentioned before, but there are no shows that want the Broadway or the Palace right now which is most likely why Sister Act and Priscilla are staying open despite their low numbers.

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 12:39am

Uh no, love. Doubt that producers would want to keep losing money week after week just because there is no one in line to kick them out.

[newintown]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 10:00am

"Having 3 multi-million dollar shows running at the same time is a pretty big feat, regardless of the outcome."

I think that the only thing it shows is that some fools part with their money with very little thought.

Like poor old Richard Rodgers: everyone would say, "He wrote Oklahoma! Carousel! South Pacific! The King & I! The Sound of Music!," and they kept investing in his works, despite the fact that everything he wrote after Hammerstein died was not only inferior, but lost money.

As Sondheim points out in his book, after a certain age (he starts it at 50), the creative process begins to dry up. Menken is now 62 (and he was never an adventurous composer, just a simple tunesmith); Wildhorn is only 52, but he could never write well anyway, usually relying on his arrangers to turn his scribbling into something remotely feasible.

So, as I said, the only honor having three Menken or Wildhorn shows running simultaneously consists in their ability to ally themselves with producers who are vulpine enough to trick cash from fools.

[showchoirguy]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 10:12am

I wonder how much longer Priscilla will last...

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 2:11pm

No offense Newintown, but the fact that you say that about Wildhorn with in a "definitive-not questions ask" way is very narrow minded. I personally think Wildhorn's music is leagues better then some composers that are highly held on these boards (no I am not speaking of Sondheim, but others.)

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 2:19pm

I personally think Wildhorn's music is leagues better then some composers that are highly held on these boards

Examples?

[newintown]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 2:22pm

fingerlakes, I speak from direct reports from a few of Wildhorn's arrangers. Philly disagrees with this (but doesn't divulge from what knowledge, if any), but Wildhorn is not respected by his musical co-workers.

He may be more adept than Mel Brooks humming a tune, or Bob Merrill writing melodies on a toy xylophone, but only marginally so.