Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
#1Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:11am
as previously rumored & now offical per their Facebook, Billy Porter & Stark Sands will return to KINKY BOOTS starting September 26 and through January 7. Odds that the show closes January 7?
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
#2Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:14am
This is very exciting. I told myself I would only see the show on Broadway (having seen the tour) if Porter came back, and here we have it!
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
Clyde15
Leading Actor Joined: 5/9/15
#3Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:23am
I'm sure the producers original plan was to cloze with them. However I'm sure they are reevaluating after how well Urie did for the show. Unless there is a huge drops after he leaves this week I can't imagine them closing up shop soon
#4Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:25am
Guess I'm doing a show weekend in January.
BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
#5Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:26am
Thrilling! Might warrant a return trip for me to the Hirschfeld this fall.
It says they're set to stay with the show until January 7, 2018, which sounds very potentially "closing date"-y to me. Thoughts?
barcelona20
Broadway Star Joined: 1/19/08
#6Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:28am
Yeah, unless they can get another mega star for the lead, I'd say it's a safe bet that it will close in January.
ren598
Leading Actor Joined: 10/13/15
#7Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:31am
Not sure why they are selling tickets well into next year if they are closing in January.
#8Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:33am
^but don't all shows do that? They can't know what their advance will look like if they don't try to sell tickets. Like Great Comet is selling tickets until January, but they might close in a week or so.
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
#9Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:34am
My first thought upon reading this news was, they're coming back to close the show.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#10Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:36am
As soon as I get more money, I'll buy tickets for that day.
raddersons
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/14/13
#11Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:55am
Billy Porter's Lola is incredible, probably the only reason to see the show, in my opinion. Glad to see him back. Hopefully they close out the show -- this show has had it's time, time to make room for something else.
#12Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 11:07am
Interesting that the press release also mentions a new block of tickets being placed on sale through August 2108.
Updated On: 8/2/17 at 11:07 AM
#13Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 11:10am
I definitely could see this being a way to keep things running until January when they bring a pair of people in to replace Billy and Stark, but it also would be a sweet send off if the show were to close. I do love the show and would be sad to see it go, but everything does have its time. That being said, if they can bring in a knockout pair of people for Lola and Charlie in January, let's make some shoes!
"Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we’re all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.” --- Patti LuPone.
#14Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 11:49am
This very much sounds like a pre-Closing announcement alla Hairspray. There are 3 things that make me re-evaluate that thought though:
- For a True long running musical that has been on the boards for 4+ years a closing announcement normally comes about 4-6 months prior to the actual closing date, which would we are right in the middle of that period for a January 2018 closing. Although January closings of long runners can be announced in October, if there is a new buzzy production vying for that theater and the long running is running on fumes. For example Hairspray was pushed out for Love Never Dies, which then delayed its run 3 months after Hairspray closed and then eventually never opened.
- Normally the a show announces its closing to build some sales buzz before building even more buzz that the original cast is returning to close the show. Hairspray's closing was announced before it was officially announced Harvey and Marissa would be returning. Aida's closing was announced before Adam Pascal was announced to return. On a different note but still casting announcements post closing announcements Mark Ballas in Jersey Boys and Anneliese Van der Pol in Beauty and the Beast.
- The SRO crowds Urie brought to Kinky Boots were surprising to almost all of us, and I am sure the producers as well. Considering there was speculation, that at least Porter, would be returning to close the show when Urie was first announced to be joined the cast, the fact that Kinky Boots grosses have climbed to the highest they have been since the first 6 months after it won the Tony, has definitely completely changed Kinky Boot's financial picture.
If I had to suspect, we will know by week 2 of Porter and Sand's run if the show is going to definitively close in January, as by then producers will have a true grasp of whether or not Urie had a long term impact on grosses.
It should also be noted that a long runner that is starting to wane can get maintain and sustain a jolt of a great PR/Marketing blitz as we saw with The Lion King's 15th Anniversary campaign that brought the show back from discounting to sustained SRO for nearly 5 years now. Do I think Kinky will sustain 1.4 million a week? No, but I do think it might remain in the $1million dollar club through labor day and maintain $900k a week through years end.
#15Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 12:06pm
Yeah, it's going to close in January. Don't forget they were ready to dump Kinky Boots for Cursed Child last year, so unless something miraculous happens with the grosses, it's packing up its heels.
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
#16Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 12:07pm
Curious who'll be Charlie from Aug. 8 - Sept. 24?
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
#17Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 12:10pm
ACL2006 said: "Curious who'll be Charlie from Aug. 8 - Sept. 24?"
Andy Kelso!
#18Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 4:44pm
Just a heads up -- Theatermania and BroadwayBox both have an active discount code through 10/1 if you want to catch the first week of these performances. I haven't seen the show yet and was pretty much waiting on a cast-based reason to go (I'd heard this rumor a few months ago), and this was it. Going the 28th and very excited!
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#19Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 4:49pm
Urie should go help out THE GREAT COMET for a few weeks.
#20Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 5:28pm
So glad Ashford isn't also returning.
They/them.
"Get up the nerve to be all you deserve to be."
Jarethan
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/11
#21Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 6:12pm
AC126748 said: "My first thought upon reading this news was, they're coming back to close the show.
"
everythingtaboo said: "Yeah, it's going to close in January. Don't forget they were ready to dump Kinky Boots for Cursed Child last year, so unless something miraculous happens with the grosses, it's packing up its heels.
They were ready or this speculation board was ready?
A couple of thoughts:
1. I think it is great that they are returning. Lots of fresh publicity and a pretty dreary list of new musicals IMO before the spring, other than The Band's Visit. Not knowing enough about TBV, I don't know if that is going to be a big demand show, based on reviews, or more of a Scottsboro Boys / The Visit.
2. I am convinced that Kinky Boots will only close before 2019 only if there is such a demand for available theatres that they are forced out, or paid off to close if they are exceeding their contractual requirements. Why do I think this:
-- Even before Urie, it has grossed significantly more in 2017 than in 2016. Look at the Grosses charts. Why would they close if they continue to achieve of exceed numbers comparable to 2016?
-- If most of the shows close that all are expected to close in the next 6 weeks, there will be slim pickings of shows with easy ticket availability that are also old-fashioned hits 'for the tired businessman' (largely a figure of speech term here). Nix: Hamilton, Dolly, Evan Hansen, CFA, BOM (at least for less than full price) as unavailable without premium tix and / or advanced planning. Nix (potentially) as closed: TGC, War Paint, GHD, Miss Saigon, Bandstand (though I hope not...it is the only one I have not seen that I really want to see, along with Donna Murphy). Nix as a different target audience (some more due to the point at which they are in their life cycle): Lion King, Wicked, Aladdin, Phantom, Charlie, Anastasia, Waitress. That leaves: Kinky Boots, Beautiful, School of Rock and (I guess, though I don't understand A Bronx Tale), and whatever I am forgetting. I really think that Kinky stands to benefit from the publicity / momentum of Urie being followed by the original Tony winning / nominated leads, and that will help get them close enough to next summer's season that they can survive through any downturns that occur during the spring openings.
-- Maybe they will be able to adapt the Weissler model for Kinky Boots, by casting some folks who don't sell a huge number of tickets, but sell enough extra tickets to increase grosses nevertheless?
-- While it is a business, there is also an ego dimension to it. They are close enough to 2,000 performances...then they will be close enough to pass Oklahoma, etc., all along giving employment to a troupe that may otherwise be unemployed.
I was recently accused quite correctly of being perhaps a little too theoretical on some of these posts, and that is probably the case here; but I really do think Kinky Boots is less likely to close at year-end than it was a year ago, unless something changes that can't be anticipated. It is IMO certainly not the overall list of musicals announced for next season so far.
#22Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:06pm
CurtainPullDowner said: "Urie should go help out THE GREAT COMET for a few weeks."
I'm not sure if you're joking or not, but I actually think Urie would be a pretty killer Anatole. I'd return to COMET to see that.
#23Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:39pm
CindersGolightly said: "So glad Ashford isn't also returning.
"
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#24Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/2/17 at 11:23pm
CindersGolightly said: "So glad Ashford isn't also returning.
She would be my reason for seeing it again. Love her.
"
Just give the world Love.
#25Porter, Sands returning to KINKY BOOTS
Posted: 8/3/17 at 12:37am
Oh, no, if she was returning I'd see it just for her, of course, but she was so criminally underused the first time around, and she has much, much better things to do than do a return engagement for a minor role. I'm sure they contacted her about it, and I'm sure she would have likely said yes, honestly, but she'll be busy.
They/them.
"Get up the nerve to be all you deserve to be."
