National Tour Flops- Page 2

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 6/23/18 at 8:59pm

Dallas Theatre Fan said: "If I remember correctly in Dallas The Bodyguard sold really poorly even with Deborah Cox."

It seems each season as a SHN subscriber in SF, one set of tickets goes straight to StubHub. This was our immediate "StubHub show" a couple of years ago. Updated On: 6/23/18 at 08:59 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/23/18 at 10:04pm

David10086 said: "ClumsyDude15 said: "As Dave mentioned, national tours are sold through subscription in each city and subscribers purchase these packages of performances - they are generally new tours making their first engagements or revivals of classic musicals that have been apart of the recent Broadway season..."

I must add - sometimes these shows in the Broadway subscriber package are not from Broadway at all. For example (and I started a thread on this back in February), in my city "The Bodyguard" was an 8 show production, boasting "direct from Broadway - the smash hit musical..'

We all know that show never touched a stage on Broadway, yet it was promoted as a huge Broadway hit finally touring. And before that, in late December, we had "Love Never Dies" under the same 'Direct from Broadway - smash hit Broadway musical' banner. That's 2 misleading productions in one season. (Both shows got awful reviews from the local critics, but no mention of the fact that neither one was so bad they never played Broadway).

An interesting - if unethical - practice to lure innocent people to the box office."

Keep in mind that local advertising is handled by the local presenters. So if you feel there is a show that is being misrepresented a lot of that is on the presenters and not the producers.

[nsguy45]

Posted: 6/23/18 at 10:28pm

Legends with Joan Collins and Linda Evans.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/23/18 at 11:55pm

David10086 said: "I must add - sometimes these shows in the Broadway subscriber package are not from Broadway at all....


An interesting - if unethical - practice to lure innocent people to the box office."

And not the only one. At the subscription houses where I've worked, it was common practice to announce stars for particular shows during the period when subscription packages were on sale. Then those same stars developed "conflicts" during the season and were replaced by others.

Of course the original announcements were our "dream casts" and weren't yet under contract at all.

***

And, yes, there have always been tours that stumbled: as I've related elsewhere on Christmas Eve of 1976 I had to rush a check for $50,000 (of my boss' money) to famed Broadway producer Alexander Cohen. His tour of RAISIN was so bankrupt he couldn't make the payroll and his actors were facing eviction on Christmas morning. (RAISIN wasn't booked into a subscription house; instead it played the municipal barn in Miami proper in the hope an African-American audience was anxious to go to the theater. It wasn't. At least not for RAISIN, no matter how much Virginia Capers deserved her Tony.) The tour closed soon thereafter, IIRC.

[LesMisRulz]

Posted: 6/24/18 at 1:46am

adamgreer said: "bk said: "adamgreer said: "LesMisRulz said: "Call_me_jorge said: "The cheers tour???

I do remember reading how Matilda was doing poorly on tour."

As qolbinau noted, perhaps you are referring to the sound design issues?

Matilda did not strugglefinanciallyon tour, extending to asecond year, and running from May 2015 thru June 2017.
It doesn’t.
Based on figures publishedbyBroadway League on IBDB, attendance in the second yearconsistently averaged close to 90% andpotential of gross appears to be in the mid-80% range, slightly higher than the first year when it had a multi-month stay at the Mirvish in Toronto.

IBDB linkto Matilda figures"



Are you sure those are figures for Matilda? It looks to be figures for all shows combined. As successful as it may have been, I doubt the Matilda tour was pulling in $39 million a week.

"

Does it even say Matilda on that page??? Of course it's combined grosses. I gotta tell you."

It doesn’t. But if you read his link it specifically says “Matilda figures.” That’s why I was asking. Calm down."

Sorry for the link! Of course, you are correct, those must be combined figures, not just for Matilda, and I will delete the link if I can to avoid confusion. I was on IBDB’s Matilda tour page, but mistakenly clicked on the top menu which is general information.

The extended tour dates of over two years that I referenced are correct (including the long stay in Toronto), and that could indicate a profitable production. However, at present I can only provide personal, anecdotal evidence of its financial success, having seen it five times on the tour with capacity or near-capacity crowds at each performance in Canada and the Midwest. I realize that is only a small fraction of the tour stops and that I lack production costs.

(Edit update: Incorrect link in previous post has been deleted.)

Updated On: 6/24/18 at 01:46 AM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/25/18 at 1:30pm

For example (and I started a thread on this back in February), in my city "The Bodyguard" was an 8 show production, boasting "direct from Broadway - the smash hit musical..'

We all know that show never touched a stage on Broadway, yet it was promoted as a huge Broadway hit finally touring. And before that, in late December, we had "Love Never Dies" under the same'Direct from Broadway - smash hit Broadway musical' banner. That's 2 misleading productions in one season. 

What city was that?  Neither show advertised in Chicago as "direct from Broadway".

[BuddyStarr]

Posted: 6/25/18 at 2:17pm

The Lincoln Center tour of "Anything Goes" with Leslie Uggams, Rex Smith and Rip Taylor opened and closed in Boston in the late 80's.  It was pretty much the exact same production as the Bway prod.  Rip Taylor was a hoot.

[David10086]

Posted: 6/25/18 at 2:44pm

GavestonPS said: 
And not the only one. At the subscription houses where I've worked, it was common practice to announce stars for particular shows during the period when subscription packages were on sale. Then those same stars developed "conflicts" during the season and were replaced by others.

Of course the original announcements were our "dream casts" and weren't yet under contract at all.

*** ."

I remember when Toni Tennille was touring with "Victor Victoria" back in the 90s. The tour came to our area, and a customer of mine worked for the box office at the theater. As the week of the tour was drawing closer, she told me tickets weren't selling like they thought they would. It was the slowest 'ticket seller' (outside subscriptions) of the season. More than once she offered me free tickets to the show for just about any night (they were running promos as well) but I wasn't interested. (In all fairness, I believe the show was running during a 'school vacation' week - which meant a great deal of their demo was in Disney that week and not in the city). 

When the tour came, Toni Tennille was suddenly 'out with laryngitis' of some sort. She missed all the weeknight performances as well as Sunday night and the weekend matinees, but her voice did 'heal' for Friday night and Saturday night. (IIRC her understudy went on and got a decent review). 

Of course, my customer explained that according to Tennille's contract, she did not have to perform to a house if ticket sales were under a certain percentage for that evening. Friday and Saturday evenings were close to a full house, so she performed. The other six performances were not - so she sat them out, and the official word was 'slight case of layryngitis' rather than 'lack of ticket sales'. 

[bdboston]

Posted: 6/25/18 at 3:08pm

Actually the Lincoln Center 'Anything Goes" tour with Uggams/Smith/Taylor opened in New Haven, traveled to Boston (Shubert) and DC (National), and closed in Jan. 1989 in Pittsburgh. Here's an article from the LA Times:

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-01-10/entertainment/ca-315_1_west-coast

[faceleg]

Posted: 6/25/18 at 7:38pm

Didn't the Urinetown tour close early as well? 

[CollegeDreamer]

Posted: 6/25/18 at 9:53pm

Clyde15 said: "How did the Hedwig tour do? When I went in Seattle on a Saturday night the theatre was pretty empty "

Seeing the Paramount almost empty is so sad! Although I’m sure it’s the same with other theatres. I saw the 20th Anniversary tour of Rent in Seattle, and I’ve never been to a more empty theatre. The loge which is where I sat and the first 3 rows behind me were the only taken seats in the balcony. No joke. 

[MorrisLACat]

Posted: 6/26/18 at 1:31am

National Tours that were scheduled to perform in Los Angeles but shut down due to $$ . (top of my head)

1. SHE LOVES ME -- 1994 (?) @ Wilshire Theatre, Beverly Hills

2. 101 DALMATIANS -- 2010 @ Pantages Theatre

3. WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND  -- 2008 (?) @ Wilshire Theare, Beverly Hills.

[BuddyStarr]

Posted: 6/26/18 at 8:32am

bdboston said: "Actually the Lincoln Center 'Anything Goes" tour with Uggams/Smith/Taylor opened in New Haven, traveled to Boston (Shubert) and DC (National), and closed in Jan. 1989 in Pittsburgh. Here's an article from the LA Times:

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-01-10/entertainment/ca-315_1_west-coast"

Ah!  Thanks for the correction.  It was so long ago and while I got to NYC, Boston/East Coast was my center of the universe.  I am surprised it played as long as it did.

[Babe_Williams]

Posted: 6/26/18 at 10:16am

I know that ALW has money to burn, but wonder how the School of Rock tour is faring. At the Detroit stop, there was an embarrassing number of tickets available and the show did very little to promote itself or try to move tickets (unlike On Your Feet, Cinderella, Motown, all of which did a lot of press and specials to get bodies in seats). 

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 6/26/18 at 10:42am

Doctor Do little closed after nine very slow weeks on the road. I think they gave it another shot a year later. I'm not sure how that run turned out.

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 6/26/18 at 10:52am

CollegeDreamer said: "Clyde15 said: "How did the Hedwig tour do? When I went in Seattle on a Saturday night the theatre was pretty empty "

Seeing the Paramount almost empty is so sad! Although I’m sure it’s the same with other theatres. I saw the 20th Anniversary tour of Rent in Seattle, and I’ve never been to a more empty theatre. The loge which is where I sat and the first 3 rows behind me were the only taken seats in the balcony. No joke."

I saw Hedwig in a half full house of senior citizens in Durham, NC.  And, you know what?  It was a damn good time to see the elderly get into the show.  It really proves that Hedwig is an universal story that shoots right to the soul of anyone willing to experience it!

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/26/18 at 1:42pm

How do tour finances work? For something like Love Never Dies or 101 Dalmatians. Isn't it the theater's job to get people in the seats, not the tours? The tours are bought, so they aren't technically losing money on a half-empty house?

[greensgreens]

Posted: 6/26/18 at 3:03pm

Sondheimite said: "Matilda was too smart for American Families and it's a shame."

No, you couldn't understand a single word most of the cast of the Matilda tour spoke or sang. No one had a chance to not "get it" and it wasn't a matter of intelligence. It was a matter of a poor sound design that no one bothered to correct. That was a problem that plagued this show in the US in every iteration.

But, at least it finally gave us all an excuse to cast a pudgy boy in a featured role. So, there's that.

I remember when the tour of Tommy flopped. I was heartbroken I didn't get to see that again after being mind-blown by the B'way production.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/26/18 at 3:27pm

No, you couldn't understand a single word most of the cast of the Matilda tour spoke or sang. No one had a chance to not "get it" and it wasn't a matter of intelligence. It was a matter of a poor sound design that no one bothered to correct. That was a problem that plagued this show in the US in every iteration.

I understood everyone when I saw the Broadway production.

I remember when the tour of Tommy flopped. I was heartbroken I didn't get to see that again after being mind-blown by the B'way production.

It toured for over a year.  I don't remember hearing it flopped.  What happened?  I saw the tour in Houston first and loved it so much, I went the week it closed on Broadway when Cerveris returned to the production.  I wish that exact production would return to Broadway again.  It was fantastic.

 

[VotePeron]

Posted: 6/26/18 at 3:41pm

Mister Matt said: "No, you couldn't understand a single word most of the cast of the Matilda tour spoke or sang. No one had a chance to not "get it" and it wasn't a matter of intelligence. It was a matter of a poor sound design that no one bothered to correct. That was a problem that plagued this show in the US in every iteration.

I understoodeveryone when I saw the Broadway production.

I remember when the tour of Tommy flopped. I was heartbroken I didn't get to see that again after being mind-blown by the B'way production.

It toured for over a year. I don't remember hearing it flopped. What happened? I saw the tour in Houston first and loved it so much, I went the week it closed on Broadway when Cerveris returned to the production. I wish that exact production would return to Broadway again. It was fantastic.

"

The tour production of Matilda was extremely problematic, but not a flop by any means. Very little money was put into it (compared to the Aus traveling production & current European tour), and it lost all of it's magic with it. It looked super cheap (fabric walls instead of wood, no 3D elements, etc), and they didn't even try to accommodate the theaters by using the aisles, and everything they had to re-stage was so boring. 

About halfway through the tour, everyone spoke with an American accent except Matilda and the adults, who did a half-baked accent that they tried on Broadway for the 2nd & 3rd round of Matilda's. The sound design was also very poorly received, but it's hard to say why. The lyrics are dense and it's children, but maybe the sound designer just really f*cked up. Hard to know.

Because the tour finished it's American leg, sat down in Canada, and then went back out on a partial second leg, I don't think we can say it flopped. But when you look at the physical production that is currently touring Europe, the differences are astounding. They're using a full wood set that actually resembles the London original, not some weird alteration. 

(Mega Matilda fan here, saw the show more times on Broadway I'd care to admit, as well as on tour and in London)

 

 

 

 

[Dallas Theatre Fan]

Posted: 6/26/18 at 8:14pm

MarkBearSF said: "I seem to recall that the Billy Elliott tour ended abruptly. (It may have met its contracted cities but then didn't continue as previously announced, or perhaps downsized the production early.

 

If I recall correctly the show was originally going out as a full size tour with long runs in each city. But, the first two stops, (Chicago and Toronto) both closed early so the production closed and got resized so they did 8 show stops and went out again.

 

[Blair5]

Posted: 6/27/18 at 11:01am

I saw Matilda on tour and I agree about the sound issue. It was very difficult to understand anything they were saying, especially when they were singing. I can't remember any of the songs because I couldn't understand any of the lyrics. The little girl playing Matilda couldn't do a British accent and as a result spoke in a weird American/British hybrid that further complicated the intelligibility. It was incredibly frustrating because you had to actually make an effort to understand every word. I think it's the only show I've seen that I would not see again. 

[philly03]

Posted: 6/27/18 at 2:29pm

ALW's Whistle Down the Wind could not sell tickets, even with promo for Andrea Ross (she must have been 16/17 at the time?) who was being hailed as Andrew's next prodigy at the time. It was also one of those "rumored for Broadway" tours. 

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 6/27/18 at 3:29pm

I saw the Matilda tour in Seattle and can attest to its occasional-to-frequent unintelligibility, though I don't remember finding the production itself to be problematic - it was clearly a little bit compacted for the tour, but all the visual elements were entirely satisfactory. But I felt bad for anyone who'd arrived without being familiar with the cast album, because even I had trouble. It was a weird experience because I knew what they were (meant to be) saying, but the actual sounds that arrived at my ears were jumbled.

[Dallas Theatre Fan]

Posted: 6/27/18 at 3:52pm

When the Matilda tour first open the show had a hard time getting the gates out for School Song so, for some performances the song would be skipped. Even though the song was super important it was cool the way it was staged.