DEH Flops in Toronto

[Tag]

The Toronto production of Dear Evan Hansen (the 1st international production), which just opened in March, will now close in mid-July after just 20 weeks.

[NOWaWarning]

I didn’t realize it had opened there. There wasn’t much talk about it around these parts. Anyone of note in the cast?

[qolbinau]

If anyone is familiar with the Toronto theatre scene how much of a flop is this? Depending on the theatre size, ticket prices and sales it might be typical for the region? The runs of shows outside New York tend to be shorter....

[Tag]

^Well the cast were all signed through next year, and tickets were on sale until the end of September.  They anticipated at least a year long run (if not more).

[Charley Kringas Inc]

This was definitely expected to be a big deal up here - they even painted the entire theater building blue.

[Theatrefanboy1]

Considering. Kinky boots ran over six months. Matilda ran long than deh and come from away is now on an open run having returned after their pre broadway run and has now been running for 15 months. Yes. 20 weeks is quite a flop. But ticket sales have always been sluggish for this show. I went early during its run and was told at the box office you could almost always get a ticket in every price range and hour or so before the show

[dramamama611]

Wow....didn't see that happening.  

[fashionguru_23]

Is this surprising? Yes, and no.

For me, Toronto is an interesting city for sit down productions. The Producers flopped here, and the rumour always was that Toronto should have had a sit down of Wicked. 

There is a debate that I have mentioned a few times before about Garth Drabinsky in the 1980/1990's of having the national tour of Phantom not play cities close to Toronto, (Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, etc.), and force people who really wanted to see the smash musical, had to come to Toronto if they wanted something close. Marketing like this, may help. Buffalo just had the tour of DEH come through, lost Americans crossing the boarder, and the exchange rate between the two countries works in favour of the US right now. BUT, this is a shoulda, coulda, woulda situation. 

Personally, watching the Tony's, and hearing all the hype about the show made it fizzle for me (that and Evan looks 34 years old). I'm surprised the teen-20's aren't eating this up is weird to me. But, this one has to hurt Mr. Mirvish. He moved a sold out show to a new theatre that he doesn't own, where he made fake walls to make the theatre more intimate. This one has to hurt a bit more than some others. 

I hope we still continue to get Canadian productions of shows. But, maybe the 6 month tour stop for these huge shows might be better. 

[Call_me_jorge]

On the bright side, they’ll probably save money on set costs for the west end production.

[AEA AGMA SM]

fashionguru_23 said: "There is a debate that I have mentioned a few times before about Garth Drabinsky in the 1980/1990's of having the national tour of Phantom not play cities close to Toronto, (Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, etc.), and force people who really wanted to see the smash musical, had to come to Toronto if they wanted something close."

Just a side note, the national tour of Phantom came to Cleveland twice while the Toronto production was still running in the 90s. Though we did have commercials for the Toronto production airing in Cleveland (I still remember the "Buy Phantom by phone" tag line followed by the Ticketmaster(?) phone number), Drabinsky was not able to block the tour from playing there.

[SomethingPeculiar]

Yikes.

Though, the presence of Come From Away (a Canadian show about Canada that opened a month before DEH) could be cutting into the numbers for DEH. Is CFA doing well in Toronto?

Without knowing any numbers or anything about Toronto, I also question how well some of those Garth Drabinsky engagements actually did in the 90s. He's the type of guy who would have kept a show going 6 months or a year longer than it should have, so he could reach a milestone or get bragging rights.

[castlestreet]

I still miss the Toronto theater scene of the 90’s

I think it’s slightly surprising that DEH only lasted 20 weeks.

It’s worth noting that the SARS outbreak/scar greatly effected The Producers run in Toronto. My wife and I got super cheap tickets to the run and I remember everyone walking around The Eaton Center with masks on their faces.

[ACL2006]

The COME FROM AWAY production has been running for over a year now and is still selling out. It's scheduled to run until September, but I'd expect another extension.

[fashionguru_23]

AEA AGMA SM said: "Just a side note, the national tour ofPhantomcame to Cleveland twicewhile the Toronto production was still running in the 90s. Though we did have commercials for the Toronto production airing in Cleveland (I still remember the "Buy Phantom by phone" tag line followed by the Ticketmaster(?) phone number), Drabinsky was not able to block the tour from playing there."

AGA AGMA SM, thank you for the clarification! I guess I misunderstood the conversation. I assumed that with commercials advertising the Toronto production, that meant the tour didn't go to Cleveland or Detroit. 

[VotePeron]

Super curious if this is any indication of how it’ll do in London. Not sure how much other countries are interested in a severely overhyped musical about a boy who lies to solve all his problems and then faces no consequences.

[adam.peterson44]

Come From Away is still going strong, but i am curious if the massive advance hype for DEH hurt it here?  CFA's hype grew organically as people watched the show during its pre-Broadway run and raved about it.  DEH was massively hyped before it ever arrived here, which may have raised expectations to unsustainably high levels. 

To the poster who was surprised that teens and 20-somethings are not filling the seats, i have been noticing in local cabarets/musical theatre performance nights that DEH seems to be the most massively-hyped show now for several years.  Every time that i go to a cabaret/open-mic night for musical theatre, someone sings Waving Through a Window or Requiem (or both happen on the same night).  No other show is so reliably represented.  But maybe that demographic can't keep a show open for more than 6 months or so.  

I wonder also if the lead being cast with a very good-looking actor somewhat hurt the emotional experience of the show?  His performance was fantastic - his singing, acting, emotional levels were all great.  But i noticed that i was feeling some prejudice at the beginning of the show in the form of skepticism that someone who looks like that would be a social outcast in high school.  Maybe my school was unusually shallow, but all of the good-looking people there were popular - it seemed to be the only requirement.  I got over that prejudice once he started singing, but it might hurt the relate-ability factor somewhat?  I don't know. 

[RippedMan]

It’s not a good show. That’s prob why. The main character is unlikable and the songs all the sound the same.

Any pics of the blue theater? Or the fake walls built for the other theater? Never been to Toronto but might have to check it out.

[KJisgroovy]

Robert Markus is a good actor and phenomenal singer but he looks like a conventionally attractive 40 year old. And I think an audience accepting Evan's choices is already an iffy situation going in. I imagine the casting doesn't help. 

Also. I'm not totally sure Dear Evan Hansen is a destination show. I certainly wouldn't cross provinces to see a show about suicide. 

[adw7984]

I just bought my ticket for July 12th......what the heck!  I hope it is still open then!

[Charley Kringas Inc]

RippedMan said: "Any pics of the blue theater?"

I pass it on my commute every day:



Something else I would note is that they did open this during a particularly gloomy spring (that picture is from today, lmao - no leaves on the tree), and before kids are on vacation. 

[JennH]

I won't say I know a ton about the Toronto scene, but it seems shows there never run what one could call super long anyway. CFA of course would run long for what should be obvious reasons to everyone. An acquaintance of mine was in the Toronto production of Once and that lasted only four months. Matilda wasn't technically a sit down, it was a very long tour stop, I remember having to look that up to alleviate my confusion as yet another acquaintance of mine was in the Matilda tour and remember her saying she was gonna be in Toronto and saw that it was the same cast as the tour. To be honest, when it was announced DEH was going to have a Toronto production, I raised an eyebrow...but their website says limited engagement so, wasn't it always gonna be a short run? Granted, Tag says the cast was signed until next year and tickets were on sale until September so I can't speak to that.

But....now we have Cursed Child coming to Toronto. I'm shocked nobody has talked about it on these boards yet. 

[fashionguru_23]

http://www.playbill.com/article/toronto-production-of-dear-evan-hansen-will-close-in-july

Here's an article!

[Wick3]

adam.peterson44 said: "I wonder also if the lead being cast with a very good-looking actor somewhat hurt the emotional experience of the show? His performance was fantastic - his singing, acting, emotional levels were all great. But i noticed that i was feeling some prejudice at the beginning of the show in the form of skepticism that someone who looks like that would be a social outcast in high school. Maybe my school was unusually shallow, but all of the good-looking people there were popular - it seemed to be the only requirement. I got over that prejudice once he started singing, but it might hurt the relate-ability factor somewhat? I don't know."

I agree with you. When I saw DEH with Ben Platt, it was an amazing experience. When Ben was out and Colton Ryan performed, the experience was very different. Colton was very good looking and will admit it was harder to believe him to be a social outcast. 

[JBroadway]

RippedMan said: "It’s not a good show. That’s prob why. The main character is unlikable and the songs all the sound the same.
 

 

I don’t care much for Dear Evan Hansen either, but surely you know that’s not why it flopped in Toronto. If that were all there is to it, it would have flopped here in NY too. 

[Fosse76]

I don't really know much about Toronto's theater scene, but is it possible that its ability to sustain long runs is overblown? Looking at the open-run shows from the 90s, it seems like supporters ignore the fact these were the blockbuster musicals that were instant sell-outs everywhere. Like Chicago, San Francisco, and LA, Toronto was large and tourist-y enough to sustain long runs of these shows. But I'd argue that Dear Evan Hansen is nowhere near the hype levels of those shows, especially when looking at hit shows like The Color Purple or Billy Elliot. Also, I remember much of the show's hype was due to Ben Platt in the lead, which made it a must-see.