We all speculated...THE BOY FROM OZ ARENA PRODUCTION 2006 WITH Hugh Jackman- Page 3

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 10/27/05 at 5:48am

IN REPLY TO ROS (AU):

One thing I will say is: I’m not giving up. Frank Wildhorn may have had the most flops in Broadway (or lost the most money) and yet he’s working on dozens of musicals, and has three openings next year: not to mention his latest en route to Broadway and an independent label...

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice were ignored by everyone, and their first producer was a book publisher. They turned to the album, and had to enter the theatre via. the most popular form at the time: making ‘rock records’. Andrew turned away, hoping to make a traditional show, and flopped badly with Jeeves. Cats could have easily been a disaster yet somehow managed to run 21 years and produce this massive phenomenon: a wave of Big 80s spectacles that run for decades...

I once read this article where Lloyd Webber and Mackintosh are complaining about the lack of new shows in the theatre. There were a LOT of new shows premiering before they were famous. It seems that, during and after their “illustrious” reign shows became a lot harder to produce. Even their own (namely Martin Guerre and Whistle Down the Wind) were not as successful. Shows have become a lot harder, and more expensive, to produce over time: and when they are done, they are generally something that was successful last century: which, aside from fans and witnesses to the original shows, no one in the modern world could give a stuff about. Theatre, here, has lost its relevancy as well…

Les Mis and Phantom kept with the music sounds of the time, but Eureka came across as just another Les Miserables: and yet you look at the sound of music today: and none of that is being done in the theatre. But that’s also what I’m doing, contemporary stuff on a theatrical level, and even then: producers are saying “it’s a risk, boy. Go away and do not give us headaches.” People say you can whinge and whine about them all you want, and it’s all about YOU going out and getting things done: but there is only so much you can give yourself: because the reciprocator has to come in and do the next bit. It’s a team-job. You are just the contributor to a wider picture… and if the rest of the parts are not there you’re left holding the bag. You can try and subvert it all you want, and end up doing a one-man musical (with the entire orchestra attached to your costume), but that shouldn’t be the case. Most people seem too afraid.. They are terrified of new things and are terrified of spending money.

I throw money, and if I had more money I’d throw it relentlessly, at my assignments. I am also interested in lost, unheard stuff. But I feel isolated. At least in the 70s or something you could find some insane Fringe to put it on: but even now that’s such a big effort. I’m glad someone sympathizes: because I, and a lot of other people, are out there beating an unconscious horse: trying to make it live.. and hoping it will do so. Maybe it’s just the culture? Whatever the case, I’m not giving up. I’ve been pushing and pushing and pushing for years: just because so many hundreds of cynics can’t see the same thing as my friends do: it’s not my fault. I still see what I see and I’m not going to be blinded

At least with Kennett, he loved the arts. If Kennett wasn’t the premier, we’d have never gotten Sunset Blvd. in the first place. If Bracks had of been in office at the time, we’d have gotten a quarter of the shows that have played our way. The arts is a real problem here, but I’m conscious of constantly trying to subvert it: and prove that, no matter what, there is an exception to the rule: and there are people out there trying to give people REAL entertainment, stuff to be remembered like the greats, and certainly not the half-baked stuff that tends to be done these days (which is a really sad irony). We’re out there, we just need a chance. But that’s my 2 cents...

Updated On: 10/27/05 at 05:48 AM

[alterego]

Posted: 10/28/05 at 1:50am

There are some really good points made here by both rockferris and roscoe (though they are probably lost on the Broadwayworlders!). I particularly like the point about how producers got greedy and thought every show was a PHANTOM and how shows should look at a 12 - 16 week season, like the old days.

I read last week what with the disappointing showing of THE PRODUCERS and the recent GREASE that we won't now be seeing WICKED or HAIRSPRAY. Funny, considering the business that DIRTY DANCING and THE LION KING have been doing here.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 10/28/05 at 2:01am

alterego

I think we will see Hairspray since GFO/SEL are also part of the producing time for the New York production.( Even though Sel has stopped producing shows )

Last i had heard was Wicked was due end of next year, i hope it does still come down under..

The problem with "The Producers" was once again greed, the show run 9 months in Melbourne, 6 weeks in Brisvegas and has been playing in Sydney since May ( so thats a six month run ), but because the show has been running 3 (?) years in New York, they think they could do the same here, when you just knew that it did have that staying power..

Updated On: 10/28/05 at 02:01 AM

[Urban]

Posted: 10/28/05 at 3:01am

Double post, nothing to see here Updated On: 10/28/05 at 03:01 AM

[Urban]

Posted: 10/28/05 at 3:02am

Your project sounded like something I would've paid money to see [b]rockferris[/b] (then again I have been a fan of Meatloaf longer then I care to admit).

As much as I am loathed to admit it (I am a one-eye Labor supporter) I have to admit the Arts where better funded under Kennett then Bracks. We had BatB, Sunset and (at least the attempt) of J&H under Kennett and we had... Mamma Mia... under Bracks.

[lfae]

Posted: 10/28/05 at 4:03am

Last i had heard was Wicked was due end of next year, i hope it does still come down under..

No producer holds the rights to it at present, so there's only a miniscule chance of it getting here *that* fast.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 10/28/05 at 4:05am

URBAN:

I had this one remark that said “maybe your show isn’t going to happen because it’s… the next Carrie?” If truth be told, it could be expensive. I’m excessive by nature, and pay for most things myself, and in the end it’s what I have to do. If you’d like to know:

“It’s a story of growing up surrounded by a mythological setting… a kind of bizarre re-telling of My Fair Lady. Emily’s father flees the Burning Sticks into the Black Forest of Evil. Pursued by his daughter she winds up at the Castle of Don Claude (played by Nik Janev) who subjects her to a series of initiations on her path to adulthood. Rescued by her teenage lover, Miguel, they escape the Castle to the wrath of D.C. He pursues them through the wilderness and all hell breaks loose. Twenty-nine numbers (i.e. Run Down the Universe, A Night This Side of Dying) narrate a didactic pantomime that could well be… etc. etc. etc.”

It’s certainly different. And I think that it could be (very) successful. It just needs a chance. “We” need a chance. As much as I didn’t like Kennett, he brought in Sunset Boulevard, Beauty and the Beast, the list goes on… and ‘most’ of them were great. Now all we’ve had are stupid revues (Dusty Springfield, Buddy Holly, Ellie Greenwich) and one exception that was truly morbid… and now it’s on the way to being revived.

My ultimate goal is to break some barrier and show everyone else that we’re capable of great entertainment. My shows aim to be that.. but they’re also innovative. When Disney was working on Snow White, fantasy movies weren’t successful. When Snow White was released, they were “in”. And then along came… a little film by the name of The Wizard of Oz. Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote a musical that defied everything, that brought everything up to a newer convention: which was Oklahoma. Lerner and Loewe turned a show, that was un-singable, into a timeless success. All these factors… all the greats who had everyone against them. We have all these frightened producers: all these idiots who are not taking chances: when all these shows came about (in the first place) by people who took a chance on them. But there is a way around it.

The people who are trying just need a little guidance...

Updated On: 10/28/05 at 04:05 AM

[Urban]

Posted: 10/28/05 at 7:18am

LOL. Check my avatar for shows I like dude!

Heck you'd sold me on that one paragraph discribtion alone! It sounds like something I'd love to see.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 10/28/05 at 7:32am

Stick around. It may just happen

Updated On: 10/28/05 at 07:32 AM

[Urban]

Posted: 10/28/05 at 9:59am

Yay!

[alterego]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 7:33pm

Two problems with The Producers here in Australia, the first being that due to a fierce bidding war for the rights between SEL/GFO and Jacobsens (guess who got the last laugh there!) means that SEL/GFO paid well above the usual price, and I don't believe Australians embrace showbusiness stories the same way Americans do, so I think it was a hard sell. I understand that bookings were originally slow and it wasn't until Mel Brooks turned up just prior to the Melbourne opening that they took off.

[Fan2]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 7:51pm

From the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald dated Oct. 31:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/10/30/1130607148149.html#

Producers puzzled as final curtain falls on musical

By Bryce Hallett
October 31, 2005

The curtain came down yesterday on Mel Brooks's sparkling musical The Producers, the scene of teary farewells and, for the real life producers, uncertainty.

Though the musical has been lavished with praise and awards, it has barely run for six months at the Lyric Theatre, Star City.

Starring Reg Livermore, Tom Burlinson, Bert Newton, Tony Sheldon and Chloe Dallimore, the show has made a modest profit but only because it ran for eight months in Melbourne last year.

It's a far cry from Disney's family extravaganza, The Lion King, which packed out the Capitol Theatre for almost two years and is playing to full houses in Melbourne.

Remarkably, the big hit in Sydney is Menopause the Musical at the Star City Showroom. It has taken $2 million at the box office to date.

Elsewhere, the commercial theatre sector is in the doldrums. The pool of music theatre producers has shrunk and few, if any, are willing to gamble on untried product. That The Producers did not yield a bigger return after all the hard work recently led to the entrepreneur James Erskine deciding to concentrate on activities beyond musicals. The veteran producer John Frost remains committed.

Frost is puzzled as to why The Producers did not become a bigger hit in Sydney. "We did everything in our power to make the show a success," he said.

The Producers offered great parts for Livermore and Newton. It also made a star of Dallimore.

For Newton, the show's closing comes six weeks before his TV morning show on Ten, Good Morning Australia, ends production after 14 years.

The only splashy Broadway show slated for production in Australia in the next couple of years is Wicked. A new jukebox musical, Dusty, starring Tamsin Carroll as Dusty Springfield, opens at the Lyric Theatre in March. The only near-guaranteed hit next year is the Arena production of The Boy From Oz, starring Hugh Jackman.

[alterego]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 8:17pm

Thanks for that Fan2!i had heard that was to be (another!) tour of Phantom of the Opera. Ugh.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 8:35pm

Yep "Phantom" is coming back..

But re, the "Producers" closing the answer to most of the problems with live theatre are in that story.:

"The show has made a modest profit but only because it ran for eight months in Melbourne last year."

By the time the producers had closed in Melbourne, it was in profit, so the Brisvegas and Sydney runs was money in the bank, so a country of 22 million people, for that show that it was, that was a great run and should have toured other cities..

"It's a far cry from Disney's family extravaganza, The Lion King, which packed out the Capitol Theatre for almost two years and is playing to full houses in Melbourne."

"The Loin King" was always going to be a event musical, same as "Phantom/Les Mis and Cats".

To think every show that is produced should do the same business is fool hardy.

"Frost is puzzled as to why The Producers did not become a bigger hit in Sydney. "We did everything in our power to make the show a success," he said. "

If the show turns a profit, then i would class that as a success.

[alterego]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 9:00pm

I'd agree with that, but obviously the profit wasn't as much as they anticipated. I hear that at present the DUSTY advance isn't quite what had been hoped for either.Not all shows can sustain filing a 2000 seat theatre 8 times a week.Once again greed comes to mind.

We need a permanent Australian thread here!

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 9:22pm

I don't know why I wasn't born when Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart were. Why did I have to be born in a time when theatre is harder to produce than climbing the himalayas?

Although, there was an article in Time (in the 40s) that said the church was concealing a time machine in the Vatican (somewhere). I should go in, find it, go back to the 40s, and be a huge competitor to Rodgers and Hammerstein

Anyone want to produce my musical? Go for it.

LOL

[alterego]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 9:55pm

I'd be happy to go back to the early 1960's when there was always musicals playing at Her Majesty's and the Princess theatres, a commercial play at the Comedy Theatre and variety at the Tivoli Theatre!

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 10:18pm

You only need to go back to the 80's and early 90's..

Are you lonesome tonite
Guys and Dolls
Nine
Lend Me a Tenor
Torch Song Trilogy
La Cage
Big River
Cats
Ain't Misbehaven
Sweenty Todd
Sweet Charity
Smokey Joes Cafe
Secret Garden
Chess
Evita'
There Playing our Song
Assassins
Aspect of Love
My Fair Lady

and way many more that i have missed, but there was times when those 3 theatres where full, rememeber leaving Her Maj, then seeing a evening show at the Comedy..

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 10:59pm

Chess, now there's an interesting production! Maria was in that also (and they had the new song The Soviet Machine or something?)

Anyone who wants an Australian thread just add their name in a post (with their responses or whatever) and I'll edit this post to make a good list (and someone or myself can send it off to the mods)

1. rockfenris2005
2. rosscoe(au)
3. Urban
4. lfae
5. jollipops
6. stage_door76

Updated On: 11/2/05 at 10:59 PM

[alterego]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 12:09am

Chess, now that was a shocker! I saw the first Australian production in Sydney then a few years later the Melbourne (via NZ) production. God it was awful. Some shows deserve to fail, and that was one of them.

roscoe add Little Shop of Horrors, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Jerry's Girls to that list too.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 3:55am

You know what Alter i loved that production of "Chess" that played at the Theatre Royal in Sydney, it was what it was a fun night in theatre, unlike that awful nz production ( that came with the shopping trolley ballet !!! )

Rock, the added song was "Someone else's story".

Jerry Girls was a hoot and Alter did you ever see "Jon English's Rasputin" opened in Sydney and closed maybe 8 weeks later, that was a great show as well from memory ( well that was along time ago 87/88 maybe )

Rock: Add me to that list..

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 4:29am

Shopping trolley ballet? You're kidding right? :O

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 5:54am

Rock: I kid you not, there was a scene in there where the ensemble danced with shopping trolleys, set to a song about Merchandisers.

What the NZ production did was pull apart the entire show and then add songs that they hoped where showstoppers in every 10 minutes, so the story no longer flowed, people where singing about lost loves, then in the next scene taking about a plot that happened in Act 2, while still in Act 1...

I know it was video taped, so some where in this big wide world, there's a copy of this crap.!

Only good thing about the show: Barbra Dickson ( I know him so well )

[Urban]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 8:28am

Fenris, add me to any list that is made, you don't even need to ask.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 2:19pm

If I'm in the country, will go and see Hugh in Brisbane, just because it's the closest I'll get to seeing the real thing.

The state of the Australian Musical is horrible. I was horrified after seeing the concert version of Eureka, which was a poor attempt at ripping off Les Mis. I did send some criticisms back to the authors, via a friend high in the Australian Performing Arts world, but I couldn't imagine them ever fixing it.

I'm heartened to see a whole bunch of other Australians posting though!!!