Barry Manilow ‘fighting horribly’ with hubby manager amid Broadway flop

[Papi2013]

https://pagesix.com/2019/08/10/barry-manilow-fighting-horribly-with-hubby-manager-amid-broadway-flop/

 

But The Post has reported it’s struggling to sell tickets and the “Copacabana” star is facing an “ocean of empty seats.”

 “about half the seats for the next three weeks … are still empty.”

[Papi2013]

And of course it is page 6.  Facts mixed with fiction.

[bwaylvsong]

It’s not being well advertised at all- I didn’t even know it was happening until I passed the theatre last week and saw the marquee.

[GreasedLightning]

Did they ever even consider that maybe.... just maybe.... no one wants to pay over $150 to sit in the Orchestra for Manilow’s hundredth Broadway run? Lower the ticket prices and maybe you won’t be faced with “oceans of empty seats” or stop whining.

[sabrelady]

The Bubbies and Zaydes are dying out so he doesn't have a demographic any more. 

Who thought this was a good idea?

[Broadway212]

I went last week, it was a full house, I had the best time! He performed for 2 hours no intermission, he’s a true legend and I’m glad I got to see him perform live.

[bk]

sabrelady said: "The Bubbies and Zaydes are dying out so he doesn't have a demographic any more.

Who thoughtthis was a good idea?"

What a lovely post.

[markypoo]

My one and only time seeing him was in July 1975 at the Ravinia Festival outside Chicago.
Mandy and It's A Miracle were both being played endlessly on the local radio.
Now that was exciting!

[WldKingdomHM]

He was amazing last week. Worth every penny.

[DAME]

Sirius XM broadcast the show this last Saturday.

[rg7759]

Yes. I and all the elders in attendance loved it. Full house. Fake news

[HogansHero]

The article has that Post dynamic to it for sure: a few grains of truth, a lot of supposition, and off the rails we go. 

It was marketed horribly (or perhaps more accurately, not marketed). The target for this is not on knee jerk buy-buttons, and yes it is a dwindling market unlike some of these other residencies, with (to my knowledge) very little cross-over, also unlike some of the others. And while I am sure the anecdotes about folks who have gone having a great time, the grosses speak for themselves, as do the seating charts (and neither of those things are fake).

[David10086]

This was in the NY Post a few weeks ago, just before his show opened and the box office was already struggling to sell tickets  past his opening weekend:

 

Manilow’s looming flameout has surprised a few insiders, who note that in April he extended a residency in Las Vegas after performing his 500th show at the International Theater at Westgate.

“The Vegas crowd is all tourists who will buy tickets or discount tickets to just about anyone who’s playing — even if the performer, like Barry, hasn’t had a hit in years,” one insider said. “The Broadway crowd is more sophisticated and a tougher sell.”

[zainmax]

Seems to be selling fine at the box office.

[DAME]

zainmax said: "Seems to be selling fine at the box office."

They had a up week.  I don’t know ifI would call it selling well.  I don’t know if I’d call it a flop either.  To me they are probably pulling in the numbers they expected .

[rosheider]

Oh look, another thinly-veiled homophobic/racist/misogynist/ (interchangeable) piece of crap from Page Six and its toadies.  

[darquegk]

One of my regular cruise ships, the Celebrity Summit, had (as of 2015) not transitioned from song and dance "floor show" revues to full Broadway musicals. They also had not changed their floor shows since 2009, leaving a few somewhat dated choices and inclusions. One of these was a full fifteen-minute tribute to "arguably the greatest songwriter of our time," Barry Manilow.

The audience reaction each year was priceless; half were little sighs of pleasure, the other half were guffaws, as though the "greatest songwriter" were a fantastic, subversive punchline and not (as it was meant) sincere.

[GavestonPS]

sabrelady said: "The Bubbies and Zaydes are dying out so he doesn't have a demographic any more.

Who thoughtthis was a good idea?"

He just finished a successful, multi-year run in Vegas, so some of the Bubbies are hanging in there. (I'm not disagreeing with you in terms of his basic demo.) I'm not sure if I'm a Bubbie or a Zayde, but I'm 65--not at death's door, I hope--and grew up listening to Manilow on the radio.

But isn't summer "family vacation" time on Broadway? I can't imagine that even the most devoted Zayde plans to drag her pre-teen granddaughter to see Manilow (particularly at those prices).

[GavestonPS]

David10086 said: "This was in the NY Post a few weeks ago, just before his show opened and the box office was already struggling to sell tickets past his opening weekend:



Manilow’s looming flameout has surprised a few insiders, who note that in April he extended a residency in Las Vegas after performing his 500th show at the International Theater at Westgate.

“The Vegas crowd is all tourists who will buy tickets or discount tickets to just about anyone who’s playing — even if the performer, like Barry, hasn’t had a hit in years,” one insider said. “The Broadway crowd is more sophisticated and a tougher sell.”"

I call bull$hit! By the same standard, people who go to see Die Walkure are "less sophisticated" than those who attend The Prom because when is the last time Wagner had a hit anyway? (I'm not throwing shade at The Prom, just pointing out how ridiculous the item in The Post is.)

And, besides, everyone knows the Broadway audience in August is, like Vegas, mostly tourists, because every self-respecting New Yorker is out on the Island.

And while I'm on the subject, I think Springsteen may be the only pop composer who can hold his own with Sondheim, but when was the last time Springsteen had a commercial hit? 1980s? Early 1990s?

The Post article is not just nonsense, it is stupid nonsense.

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Manilow's Vegas show was papered and discounted to the heavens. 

Even then, you have to realize that the middle America contingent for LV is super strong.

 

His time has come and gone.  People clearly don't want to see him at top dollar anymore.  It's akin to the same ideology behind why Michael Feinsteins's shows always include a more major star next to him.

[GavestonPS]

Despite the impression I may have just given, I don't have a dog in this fight. On my budget, I wouldn't pay $150+ to see Manilow (or almost anyone else). I'd save that money to see a good book musical.

To me, Manilow's true genius lies in his arrangements for himself and for Bette Midler back in the day. It's a shame we don't recognize musical arrangement as a talent at least equal to those who hum a tune into a tape recorder for others to arrange and orchestrate.

But to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of Manilow's demise are greatly exaggerated.

[UncleCharlie]

It's a slightly less that 4 week run. It's grossing a tick less than $1 million a week for a 5 performance/week schedule. It consistently has an average ticket price around $155-160 which this week was only behind Hadestown, Hamilton, Lion King, Moulin Rouge and TKAM, and it's filling 80+% of its seats in a 1500 seat house. He's pulling in about $200k per performance in grosses. I know this board has its favorites which it will gush over endlessly and the shows it just doesn't feel have any right being on a Broadway stage which it will crap on endlessly but all this talk about it's bombing, he has no audience anymore, no one wants to see him, blah blah blah. I don't know, a million a week for 5 shows? It's not Springsteen numbers but I'm not sure what people were expecting if these numbers are considered bad.

[DAME]

UncleCharlie said: "It's a slightly less that 4 week run. It's grossinga tick less than $1 million a week for a 5 performance/week schedule. It consistently has an averageticket price around $155-160 which this week was only behind Hadestown, Hamilton, Lion King, Moulin Rouge and TKAM, and it's filling 80+% of its seats in a 1500 seat house. He's pulling in about $200k per performance in grosses. I know this board has its favorites which it will gush over endlessly and the shows it just doesn't feel have any right being on aBroadway stage which it will crap on endlessly but all this talk about it's bombing, he has no audience anymore, no one wants to see him, blahblahblah. I don't know, a million a week for 5 shows? It's not Springsteen numbers but I'm not sure what people were expecting if these numbers are considered bad."

I do think the show is making about as much money as they were expecting.      And any NY Post article should be taken with a grain of salt.   

[qolbinau]

The numbers might look good if this was a long running show but if they budgeted for quick and sharp revenue with expectations of Bruce Springsteen I can see how they would be disappointed and the costs might not have been controlled well enough.

[NYCblurb]

I had a ball too. Sang along the whole time, and suited us just right. I either love or hate PAGE SIX.