GROUNDHOG DAY scraps its national tour!?!?

[brdwybound04]

Posted: 1/8/18 at 11:55pm

Wow totally did not see this coming, especially considering that many other inferior shows (Bandstand, Great Comet, Bright Star) seem to be getting tours... some even have gone Equity... I'm shocked a non-equity tour group hasn't agreed to produce the tour!

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Stuck-GROUNDHOG-DAY-Scraps-Plans-for-a-US-National-Tour-20180108

[Kitsune]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 12:08am

brdwybound04 said: "Wow totally did not see this coming, especially considering that many other inferior shows (Bandstand, Great Comet, Bright Star) seem to be getting tours... some even have gone Equity... I'm shocked a non-equity tour group hasn't agreed to produce the tour!

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Stuck-GROUNDHOG-DAY-Scraps-Plans-for-a-US-National-Tour-20180108"

I'm heartbroken (Groundhog Day *really* has a huge place in my heart), but not entirely surprised.  The staging seems really hard to tour, and without it the show would have to be re-conceptualized.  

Here's hoping it goes back to London, at least.

(My heartbreak is *somewhat* mitigated by the fact that I get to see Andy Karl and Orfeh's show this weekend )

[uncageg]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 12:16am

brdwybound04 said: "Wow totally did not see this coming, especially considering that many other inferior shows (Bandstand, Great Comet, Bright Star) seem to be getting tours...

I would not call those shows inferior. But matter of opinion. 

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 12:17am

I too am shocked this couldn’t even go non-Equity

[Bwayfan292]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 12:23am

Im kinda bummed I thought this was happening. When i saw something rotten on tour in the playbill it listed the Allied Touring Market in the back and had Groundhog Day as upcoming. I guess it just wasnt meant to be

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 1:12am

brdwybound04 said: "many other inferior shows (Bandstand, Great Comet, Bright Star) seem to be getting tours... "

"Seem to be" is the key phrase.

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 3:12am

"Inferior" is a matter of subjectivity, but even this is too far-fetched when you put Comet in the bracket.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 4:02am

I'm not in the least surprised.

[jbird5]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 6:30am

Damn, I was so looking forward to hearing Playing Nancy again.

[Skimbleshanks2]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 6:41am

Wouldn't it have cost too much money to tour GROUNDHOG DAY? Reports that it planned to tour always seemed suspect to me...

Any chance this will return to LONDON? I am surprised ANDY KARL has not lined up any gigs since the BROADWAY run ended -- what a shame!!

[jbird5]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 7:24am

Based on some chatter on Tim’s Twitter feed,, it sounds like it is returning to the UK.

[The Other One]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 7:37am

A very likable show that was produced on Broadway at the wrong time.  The cost of mounting it for a tour is probably too prohibitive.  

I'm not very surprised, but I am sorry.

[Lot666]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 8:08am

The Other One said: "A very likable show that was produced on Broadway at the wrong time. The cost of mounting it for a tour is probably too prohibitive.

I'm not very surprised, but I am sorry."

I agree; I think the field was just too crowded last year.

I'm very sad to hear that they've scrapped the tour because, despite seeing it three times on Broadway and liking it more every time, I was hoping to catch it yet again. 

Updated On: 1/9/18 at 08:08 AM

[newintown]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 8:31am

I would imagine that it's hard to sell too many tours of flops in one season. Every market needs to fill out their subscription, but you can't offer your public a slate of shows that all closed on Bway in less than 1/2 a year. Isn't Bright Star doing a very abbreviated idea of a tour (less than 10 stops)? Have Bandstand and Comet tours actually been booked? I've not heard of any dates - and imagine that Comet would be a significantly different show on the road.

It seems that there's very little potential payoff putting flops on the road, unless you're lucky enough to fill in a bunch of guaranteed markets when Wicked, Lion King, etc. are away.

[Babe_Williams]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 8:38am

newintown said: "I would imagine that it's hard to sell too many tours of flops in one season. Every market needs to fill out their subscription, but you can't offer your public a slate of shows that all closed on Bway in less than 1/2 a year. Isn'tBright Stardoing a very abbreviated idea of a tour (less than 10 stops)? HaveBandstandandComettours actually been booked? I've not heard of any dates - and imagine that Comet would be a significantly different show on the road.

It seems that there's very little potentialpayoff putting flops on the road, unless you're lucky enough to fill in a bunch of guaranteed markets whenWicked,Lion King, etc. are away."

I think a show like Groundhog Day that is already recognizable due to the movie would sell well regionally. But I guess who knows. I am bummed about this. I really wanted to see it. 

[newintown]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 8:47am

"I think a show like Groundhog Day that is already recognizable due to the movie would sell well regionally."

But by that argument, it should have sold well on Broadway. And it didn't. A familiar title alone doesn't guarantee success (a notion that seems to come as a complete, and continual, surprise to producers).

[The Other One]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 9:42am

Groundhog Day is a show about a spoiled, entitled straight white man who learns, over a long period of time, the error of his ways.  Look at the current cultural climate.  No one is lining up to see shows about such people anymore, and that's putting it gently.  This is what I meant about it being produced at the wrong time.

Ironically, it might have played better outside of New York (and California), but because it initially flopped there it lost its chance at being seen where it might have registered.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 10:01am

It will have a healthy life regionally and in educational productions. Shows that flop on Broadway are not really prime tour material as they are a hard sell.

Also, the Great Comet tour is, I imagine, very unlikely. Every time a big show closes prematurely the producers say there is going to be a tour as a way of saving face.

I’m still waiting for the previously announced Spider-Man tour, btw.

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 10:17am

Frankly, I'm not sure it'll survive in licensing- or even be licensed at all. Groundhog Day, due to the time-shifting stunts, is one of the more technically demanding "trick-heavy" shows of the recent era, which is undoubtedly going to make people reluctant to pick it up for their own theatre. The fact that Andy Karl was somewhat famously injured performing the stunts in the show may hurt it as well...

I imagine a lot of theatres saying "we've got a guy who'd be a great Phil, but look at all this stuff in the script- we don't have trapdoors, we don't want to use stunt doubles, let's just make him Bobby and do Company instead."

[JustAnotherNewYorker]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 10:20am

darquegk said: "Frankly, I'm not sure it'll survive in licensing- or even be licensed at all. Groundhog Day, due to the time-shifting stunts, is one of the more technically demanding "trick-heavy" shows of the recent era, which is undoubtedly going to make people reluctant to pick it up for their own theatre. The fact that Andy Karl was somewhat famously injured performing the stunts in the show may hurt it as well..."

The "stunt" in which he was injured was running across the stage and jumping, where he would end up at the base of a ladder and catch someone. Not only was that jump removed, but the "stunt" itself was pretty run of the mill--this was no Spider Man. While I think the amount and level of choreography is a valid concern, the injury is somewhat of a red herring

[nightnic001]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 10:25am

The Distinctive Baritone said: "

I’m still waiting for the previously announced Spider-Man tour, btw."

 

Wasn't there talk of a Las Vegas residency at some point?

 

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 10:42am

nightnic001 said: "The Distinctive Baritone said: "

I’m still waiting for the previously announced Spider-Man tour, btw."



Wasn't there talk of a Las Vegas residency at some point?"

Name some sort of after-life for that show and it was "talked" about at some point; Vegas, touring, arena touring, and any other sort of version you could imagine.

[After Eight]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 5:39pm

I would say this is a wise decision. It was a very bad show, and its prospects for success on tour strike me as nil.

[Californian]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 7:28pm

"I am surprised ANDY KARL has not lined up any gigs since the BROADWAY run ended -- what a shame!!"

 

From what I understand, he's had surgery to repair the knee he injured in the show, and has been recuperating 

 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 8:07pm

pretty sure groundhog day did not fail on bway because the lead character was a white male with a good job...
i saw it and while im glad to have seen andy karls performance the shows songs were mostly unmemorable(i cant name one and i own the cast recording) karl couldnt and didnt try to replicate murrays comic genius that carried the film, and i also dont feel karl or the script created the same level of empathy for the lead character and go along and engage in his transformation.