Broadway Run Limit

[jimmirae]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 12:12am

Do you think they will ever make a limit to how many years a show can run? Like a 25 year top and then it MUST close?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 12:14am

I don't think Broadway will get their version of FDR. But you never know. Enough people might hate Phantom for it to happen.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 12:15am

The way I see it, is if something is making money, it will stay open.

Updated On: 1/10/06 at 12:15 AM

[LilBwayLady]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 12:15am

As long as its still making money....i dont this it would close enless the producers agree it should

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 12:32am

I think perhaps, a show that runs for 20 years, should shut down, tour the country and let all the people who flock to NYC every year to see said show, and then maybe open a sit down production somewhere else, then just let the show fade.

[jimmirae]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 1:03am

One never knows, new rules all the time...

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 1:13am

This isn't about art. It's about commerce. Broadway is a business, first and foremost. There will NEVER EVER EVER be a limit on how long show that is still profitable every week can run. NEVER.

The MOUSETRAP has been running in London for over 50 years now still attracting audiences (for some reason) and shows no sign of stopping. Why on earth would a theatre owner kick that play out (not that it COULD) as long as the show is still covering its costs every week?

There's nothing whatsoever romantic about this. Long runs are about money and nothing else. If a show can still earn a profit weekly for whatever reason, it will never close - until it doesn't anymore. For most shows, the audiences dry up within weeks or months, for the big hits, it's years. For those astounding rare productions, it's decades -- for whatever reason. Phantom will close when it stops covering its weekly cost and not before. When will that be? Lord knows.

[jimmirae]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 1:24am

Thanks Margo. You are the voice of reason.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 3:23am

As always.

[WalveMalve]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 6:35am

It must've been interesting that in The Fantasticks they were trying to remember a time in September fifty years ago by the time it closed. It was off-broadway but there's a good example of show that managed to last for nearly half a century and only closed due to 9/11. When there's money to be had the show must go on!

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 6:57am

Ummm..no!

THE FANTASTICKS opened May 3, 1960 and closed Jan 13, 2002.

It did NOT run 50 years, and it closed because the building that housed the theatre was sold and the new owners wanted to use the space for something else. It had been operating close to break-even for several years and had in fact posted then withdrawn closing notices a couple of times between 1986 and 2002.

[WalveMalve]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 7:03am

I'm pretty sure it closed due to financial issues which was a deal with most shows following 9/11.

As far as saying 50, I thought it was a reasonable hyperbole, if I wanted an exact number I probably would've looked up the dates.

..
NEW YORK (Reuters) - ``Try to remember' a time when the musical ``The Fantasticks' wasn't playing in Greenwich Village. If you're under 40, you can't.

But the longest-running musical has posted a closing notice for Jan. 6, 2002, the producer said on Wednesday.

Producer Lore Noto said that ``dwindling grosses with escalating costs decided the issue for us.'
Updated On: 1/10/06 at 07:03 AM

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 7:09am

What was the point of that article it reinforces everything frontrowcentre2 said...

[WalveMalve]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 7:13am

Well, I'm contradicting the fact that the reason for closing was due to the fact the building that housed the theatre was sold. It was due to financial reasons, it closed 3 months after 9/11 which would suggest its final decline in ticket sales was due to 9/11.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 9:28am

Whatever the case of any show, Irving Berlin said it best -

"The closing when the customers don't come."

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 1/10/06 at 10:18am

Here is a segment from a Playbill article on the Fantasticks closing:

By late July 2001, however, dire warnings were already emerging from producer Lore Noto and his son, Tony Noto, who began advertising "last weeks" for the show. The closing notice wan't so much the result of low grosses or even the overall national economic slump. Producer Noto made clear that real estate was the main culprit. The Sullivan Street Playhouse is on the desirably Village-y Sullivan Street, and the building's new landlord noticed that real estate prices were escalating precipitously. As such, a flat-lining box office killed a show that four decades of television, movies, rock concerts, computers and virtual reality could not.

In a statement released Sept. 4, the elder Noto said of the landlord, "The new purchasers of the building that houses the Sullivan Street Theater, had certain plans in regards to us, and we felt that we couldn't accommodate them. We came to an amicable agreement and let them have the building for their purposes. We felt we had to be honest and fair to our cast and crew who have supported the show for these many years."