Recent Closings

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/21/03 at 8:26pm

The spate of vicious & nasty reviews followed by the rapid closings of many shows should make potential investors think twice about investing in a show.. You literally have to be out of your blooming mind to invest in a Broadway show. If , however , you are looking for a tax write off, Broadway is for you. Again I say, a modern day Max & Leo could make a killing based on the current climate on Broadway. Overselling a show is a calculated risk producers could actually make

The Tony Awards this year ought to be a laugh & a half trying to fill enough slots for plays & musicals. Most of the shows in the play category will be gone by than which should be a tad embarrassing @ tony time

Updated On: 11/21/03 at 08:26 PM

[Sunfish]

Posted: 11/21/03 at 9:40pm

I really can't comment on the relative quality of the shows, as I haven't seen them yet (soon!!) but the way the critics have written about them boggles me. It is like trash tv, where each "guest" tries to me more obnoxious and nasty than the last. Do "the critics" even LIKE theater, or would they be happier reviewing guests on the Jerry Springer show?

It is great to demand excellence and all, but they should also try demanding it of themselves. The shows may not be the best, but many apparently savvy regular theater goers seem to enjoy them, so I just cannot believe they are as bad as these critics say. And I do wonder if the audience that is staying away because of them are missing shows they would enjoy, maybe even love. I'm finding, more and more, than I am at complete odds with their assessments. I like, they don't, and vice versa.

Keep it up and they will smart crack themselves right out of a job. No Broadway, no critics.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 11/21/03 at 10:37pm

I can't believe it is entirely the fault of the critics that shows are closing. We are still in an "iffy" economy and people are just afraid to spend money for things that are not absolute necessities. The only full price shows I've bought this year were "Wicked" and the "Encores" series.

[localonecrew]

Posted: 11/22/03 at 12:33am

to be honest I think the critics have been right on the money this season. just because they have panned most shows doesnt mean they hate theater. the pan them because they love theater and dont like to see this trash. i have seen or worked on most of the shows that have opened this season and i really have to say they they are for the most part subpar. oz was a mess but jackman was great. wicked is boring and the music sounds like castoffs from some early 80's musical. LSOH is ok but not great.taboo is a mess that should have been killed at birth.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 11/22/03 at 1:34am

I agree with you, Local. I think critics really want a show to be good. (Reidel excepted. But by his own admission, he is not a critic.) And Gotham, you have a point about the economy and people's priorities.

I have not seen the shows, either, but I think this season abounds with shows that will really only draw intrest from small sectors of theatre goers. As I have said before, how much of that 10 Million advance that BOY FROM OZ recieved would have happened without Hugh? Most people don't really care about Peter Allen. I don't think most savy people believe this show will ever go on with out him.

TABOO seems to have bitten off more than they should have too soon. It should have had a more modest off-B'way run, build a following and word of mouth before plucking itself down in the heart of Broadway.

I have already posted about how I feel in reguards to OLDEST LIVING CONFEDERATE WIDDOW.

So, it is a crummy season...SO FAR! Let's hope there is something waiting to open that will redeem it. And if not, well, there is always next year, as we in Cubbyland like to say.

Sueleen

[TEACHEROFTHEATER]

Posted: 11/22/03 at 12:05pm

I really don't recall any season even close to this before. So many unfortunate misfires.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/22/03 at 12:10pm

Sueleen and local, you articulate something I have been trying to say to Roxy for months but he seems to just refuse to believe that anything other than critics cause a show's failure. The shows fail, the critics report it. I agree with both of you and am tired of Roxy's constructs that have no basis in fact. Yes, if only no critic had reported on Oldest Confederate Widow or Bobbi Boland, both shows would be playing to full houses every night!!!!!!!

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/22/03 at 12:28pm

This season doesn't feel all that different from many others, just not recent ones. Those of us who are older can certainly recall autumns like this one in the 70s and 80s. A major composer like Jule Styne had a show close before opening, ONE NIGHT STAND. There is a lot more product this fall, after leaner years, so exponentially, the number of failues is greater. Look back 40-50 years, read Ken Mandlebaum's NOT SINCE CARRIE. Shows have always bombed big, the odds have always been bad -- even Farrah F rather accurately stated on Today that at best 3 out of 10 make it -- and, shows have opened and closed quickly since the very beginning of b'way. And more often than not, there was a big spring crunch of new shows that squeeze in under the Tony wire and upstage the struggling Sept/October stuff.

What we do have this season? The backstage soap opera of a Rosie Against The Free World, creeping Revival-itis, and a post-mega musical climate, i.e. no one is waiting for the big import as before. (Sorry, fans, I don't really thing BOMBAY has the sense of expectation of the MIZ's and SUNSETS.) Seems to me that producers used to want a new PHANTOM; now they want the new MILLIE or HAIRSPRAY. The winter will be rough, there will be more discounts and people shaking their heads (forgetting that twofers used to be stacked 3 deep in every dry cleaner and Sloanes in NY)... and then by Tony time, there will be lots of nominations, press about the hotly anticipated autumn of 2004, and it will just seem like another season.

Updated On: 11/22/03 at 12:28 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/22/03 at 12:34pm

No no no. It's the critics. Please do not refute Roxy's blanket assertions with FACTS.

Posted: 11/22/03 at 12:53pm

Shows close for a very simple reason, in my opinion.

Audience says "no interest."

Whether by not buying advance tickets even before the critics put pen to paper thus leaving the production with no advance to tough out the opening days/weeks/months. Or, after after word-of-mouth and the reviews have been circulated, not being energized by anything they have heard/read to purchase tickets.

I believe that true theatrical criticism ended decades ago. What one reads today is simply more media clutter.

But, what do I know? I wasn't born a Roxy.

Yours for a better Broadway.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/22/03 at 10:35pm

I remember in the 60's ( when I first started going ) there were more reviewers ( so you had a better chance of getting some good reviews). They also gave more insightful criticisms & were not as mean spirited as some of the critics of today

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/23/03 at 8:29pm

Really? Is that a fact or is it just your perception that there were more reviewers?

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/23/03 at 8:34pm

Another reason so-so shows fail: People just don't have the extra gelt to experiment on something offbeat and almost-really-good.

Posted: 11/23/03 at 8:36pm

I don't know the full facts but there were more newspapers in the 60s in NYC. There were more newspaper reviewers. But comparing sheer numbers against today's "everybody's a critic" Internet age, I think the 60's numbers wouldn't stand against the 00's.

In terms of intelligent critics...the 60's win hands down, in my opinion.

Bulldog.

[lc1965]

Posted: 11/24/03 at 11:46am

localonecrew: I tend to agree. However I think it's fair to say a show is subpar artistically but an audience will like this & this. After all, critics are essentially there to help people make a decision about which show to see, not just fill paper space.

[QueenS]

Posted: 11/24/03 at 12:51pm

I don't think that the critics have been overly harsh this season. Why should they say that a play as painful to watch as "6 Dance Lessons" is good? It isn't fair to the performance or show that comes along worthy of praise (check out the "Wonderful Town" reviews).

Critics certainly cannot be blamed for the closing of Bobbi Boland- they were not even given the chance to see the show.