How Long Do You Think [title of show] will Last

[esparza 333]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:07pm

???????

[tazber]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:08pm

not long

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:08pm

Hopefully, as long as they want it to. It's a terrific show in every way.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:09pm

I would bet Labor Day.

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:10pm

And the point of this thread is...?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:12pm

There's no way they'll get through the winter. With mixed reviews and bad summer numbers, it can't be much longer.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:14pm

If they can get their numbers up a little, they could have a nice run. According to Kevin McCollum, the show costs less than $200,000 to run, so I can't imagine they're losing too much money at this point.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:17pm

Not long, if the numbers keep up like this (and the Average Ticket Price isn't much better).

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:17pm

I really want them to succeed, but I'm surprised at how poorly they are doing at the box office. If their reviews havent brought anyone in, what will? Sure, their costs are low, but they cant be that low, can they?

What will turn them around? The View?

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:20pm

i say Labor Day as well...

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:22pm

The nut is only $200K and they could only clear 150 during OPENING week? Labor day is a pipe dream.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:25pm

Labor Day's only another 5 weeks.

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:26pm

It didn't close yet?

Good for them!

Count me among the surprised.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:39pm

I have tickets for Labor day so I pray it lasts that long. I hope it doesnt close I love the show so much.

[goldenstate5]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:40pm

It'll announce an "engagement" until Labor Day, hoping to grab a quick cash grab from those who decided to wait. A nice little summer run, but honestly, who didn't see this coming? Intellectual and witty small shows must have a gimmick (Avenue Q, Chorus Line, Jersey Boys) that's easy for the pea-brained tourist to understand. [tos] is completely different; the gimmick is something only a Broadway fan who truly understand. It's not flashy, and has a minimal set with a keyboard. Yes, some say it can rise above, but no matter how smart and funny it is, tourists really do see things like that. The want spectacle, not dialouge. Because to some, that's what's worth 100 bucks. That's just the way it is, and it sucks. Avenue Q has some of that, so does other small shows, but not title of show, and that's where it fails in attracting tourists. I know some of you are ready to flame me, but honestly, I loved the title of show show, the video preview cracked me up and the cast album is cherished and played often. If I saw it, I'd think I'd like it very much. But that's the thing: I'm a fan of Broadway, not a tourist. My parents are the typical tourist, and they would hate title of show.

It reminds me almost of another show, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which also (despite playing much, much longer than this ever will) constantly made fun of Broadway and the musical they were in. Tourists just don't get that kind of thing because they don't regularly go to see shows, so it's a foreign concept. Once Lithgow left, the show's numbers plummeted. You can make fun of movies during a movie, because it's a fact that the average American goes to the movies five times a year, many do much more. They can get the joke because they've seen a lot of movies. I don't know what the statistic is for Broadway, but it's probably not a pretty number. (somewhere between 0 and 1 is my guess) Off-Broadway has been making fun of Broadway for years because the theaters are cheap and the shows are cheap and the Broadway fans and the locals flock to them. Broadway is a true pipe dream for any musical, but is also a commercial tourist haven. In other words: you should have stayed off-Broadway, title of show. Go back there even. Or do a tour. Whichever fine for you....

[winston89]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:46pm

goldenstate5,

I want to say I agree with everything you said. Interestingly enough, I know a couple of people who have went and thought that they knew a lot about musical theatre (more then just the typical tourist) and even they felt lost at times while watching the show.w

I do want this show to do well. Hell, I want every show on Broadway to do well because I know how hard it is to get here. I find that it is a common off Broadway thing to make fun of other musicals or to make fun of Broadway shows because the audience is different. The audience for a Broadway show is mostly tourists who love to see a big flashy musical. The audience for an Off Broadway show is New Yorkers who often go to the theatre a lot and thus understand what they are joking about. I think that Title of Show should have stayed Off Broadway and found a theatre to do a commercial run in. Maybe someplace like the Minetta Lane Theatre?

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:52pm

"Intellectual and witty small shows must have a gimmick (Avenue Q, Chorus Line, Jersey Boys)"

Since when are A Chorus Line and Jersey Boys a witty small show? I know Chorus Line is more minimal but Jersey Boys??? Witty?

[goldenstate5]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:57pm

"I know Chorus Line is more minimal but Jersey Boys??? Witty?"

Put the emphasis on "smart" here...

[fvalle24]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 3:23pm

I know that discussion can go on forever, but does it make anyone else kind of sad that 'Broadway' musicals need to have a gimmick, or a "razzle dazzle" factor to survive. The musicals that are at the top of the charts are either "movies, jukebox musicals, or recognizable commodities" with the exception of 'In the Heights'.

What is happening to BROADWAY! jk

[logan0215]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 3:30pm

Whats happened to Broadway is its no longer an art form for the people of New York City.

The ticket prices are too high so for the average New Yorker who is already paying astronomically out their nose to live/survive here, there is no justification in paying $50+ on one night of entertainment. Matinees are no longer for the little purple-haired ladies because it, again, is unjustifiable to drop the dough.

Broadway success has now become solely dependent on the ability to attract tourists in to shows. It sucks, and I hate it, but its the truth. I want nothing more than for [title of show] to survive and I know it could. There are so many non-theater people seeing it and loving it.

As optimistic as it sounds, continue to tell 9 people. Make their URL your FaceBook status, post bulletins on MySpace. An indie hit is what Broadway needs now.

[fvalle24]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 3:33pm

^^^^ I totally wh0re [tos] on myspace, facebook and with friends! I told nine people!
Updated On: 7/29/08 at 03:33 PM

[logan0215]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 3:37pm

Just made a "posted item" on facebook of their "Two Nobodies" montage.

I said:

"Do yourself a favor and go see [title of show] on Broadway.

If need be, I can get you tickets for $35.50

This show is not to be missed if you:

a. Love Broadway
b. Love comedy
c. Have ever wanted something so, so, so badly.

www.titleofshow.com"

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 3:38pm

I think [tos] faces some disadvantages that have nothing to do with the show, per se. First, it's in a fairly large house in an comparatively inconvenient location -- many people just don't want to go that far unless they've been told a show is the greatest thing since sliced bread, which, despite favorable reviews, is not the case here. Xanadu, for instance, is smack in the middle of the Broadway theatre district; disappointed ticket buyers for other shows may turn to it as an alternative. That situation doesn't exist for [tos]. Secondly, and I know I'm going to draw some crossfire here, the name "[tos]" doesn't mean too much to out-of-towners in that it doesn't even SOUND like a musical. You can skip right over it scanning the listings in the NYT. Thirdly, because of budget constraints or whatever, [tos] just doesn't have a powerful-enough advertising campaign -- even the NYT used terms like "enjoyable," "likeable," or other positives that don't carry a big enough punch. It's been a struggle at times for Xanadu, but it did have more in its arsenal -- those quotes from the NYT and New Yorker were powerful with no ****-footing necessary.

I'm forced to the conclusion that [tos] may have been better off remaining Off-Broadway -- there's no shame in being another Fantastiks, Little Mary Sunshine, Threepenny Opera -- all of which ran for years and years, made lots of money and friends for the NY theatre.

Updated On: 7/29/08 at 03:38 PM

[Broadwayboy2631]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 3:42pm

Like 90 minutes without an intermission :P

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 4:01pm

Didn't DRS play for a year after Lithgow left?