Brooklyn Beats the Press

[AlmostThere]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 8:39pm

I read an article in Variety saying that Brooklyn has beaten the odds. Is this true? I saw the show and LOVED it!

Jim Greule

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 8:44pm

Not sure what is meant by "beating the odds." It's open, but doing pretty mediocre business, barely breaking even week-to-week. It's surviving, that's all. It's not a success financially, but if the fact that it hasn't closed yet means it's beating the odds then so be it.

[AlmostThere]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 8:46pm

All of the critics killed Brooklyn and they are going to stretch it to the Tony awards and a Regis slot and the rest will be history. It really is a very good show. It just needs national exposure and it will take off. Has this been the case in other shows?

[Matt_G]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 8:58pm

I...I....I...JUST HAVE TO POST!!!

WELCOME BACK,

ALMOSTTHERE/BIGRIVERFAN/MATT_G/MATT__G/MATT___G/MATT-G/ZEBRA/MOONDROPS/DALESTAR!

Is it true that BKLYN beat the odds?!?!? WOW. Can you post a link to that Variety article??????

[TGIF]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 9:00pm

MATT!!!!!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 9:04pm

Well, it's not going to get to perform on the Tonys if it doesn't get a Best Musical nod -- which at this point is a real looooong shot (there are only four slots and Spamalot, DRS, Piazza, Spelling Bee -- which is probably moving to Broadway by the Tony deadline -- Chitty, and even Little Women all look to have a FAR better chance at being nominated than Brooklyn).

I've never heard of a show this critically reviled with such abysmal box office numbers suddenly becoming a hit six months or a year later. It just doesn't work that way. Some shows take a while to find their audience, but if Brooklyn hasn't been able to do so after this many months, it probably never will.

Nearly every long-running Broadway hit found their audience and started doing near sell-out business within a couple of months of opening (sometimes right after a slate of good reviews; sometimes not until after a good showing at the Tonys, i.e. winning Best Musical and a bunch of other awards and having a well-received performance on the show). The only exception I can think of was Camelot, which got so-so reviews when it opened and was struggling at the box office for a time. When they were on the verge of closing, the cast got booked to perform on Ed Sullivan -- then the #1 show on television -- and after Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet did about three numbers on that show, there was a line around the corner at the box office the next morning and the show became a huge hit.

Unfortunately, there is no Ed Sullivan anymore or any show with that equivalent power (Regis, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Letterman, Leno and Conan combined don't have even half the viewership of Sullivan). Brooklyn will stay open as long as it's breaking even, but it's highly unlikely that it'll ever become "hit" at this point and likely will have lost most of its initial investment (it's paid back almost nothing so far) whenever it does close.

PS -- Welcome back, Matt.

Updated On: 2/4/05 at 09:04 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 9:06pm

*hugs Matt*

[Brandon]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 9:28pm

It worse than rent if thats possible

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 9:31pm

Holy cow, it's Matt!!

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 9:50pm

I'm so happy Matts back! Hope he'll stay!! :)

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 9:51pm

Welcome back, Matt.

I think Brooklyn is doing just fine, reviews be damned.

[Mobstar]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 10:07pm

Maybe your right, possibly, this could be the exception to the rule and to broadway history.
Brooklyn has it's problems, but I just think it's different enough and has heart, that I hope it lasts.
Time will tell.
Later.
M

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 10:09pm

Yes! They've beaten the odds! Because we all know that a long run means artistic success.

Just look at Oh, Calucutta!

Oh sorry..that was before 1989 so you don't know what that is.

[Mobstar]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 10:09pm

Just went to Variety. Can't find it. Where is it in Variety or can you link it. Thanks

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 10:21pm

"Oh, Calcutta" did pop into my head as I was posting before, but I decided not to mention it since its success was solely due to a gimmick -- full-fledged, well-lit, nudity had never happened before on Broadway (the famous Hair nude scene was very brief and hard to see because of the lighting and it was behind a scrim).

Also, though Calcutta didn't receive any rave reviews, it was a VERY hot ticket for several years (solely BECAUSE of the nudity), something Brooklyn, to date, has yet to become.

Calcutta also sustained itself for its long run through foreign tourists who packed the show because live, onstage, full frontal nudity was forbidden in their native countries (in an acknowledgement of who their core audience was, Oh Calcutta took to offering infrared headsets with translations in over a dozen languages).

Brooklyn has no nudity (perhaps it should add some for box office purposes) and little apparent appeal with foreign tourists..... or anyone else for that matter.

[emo_geek]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 11:06pm

Bklyn was amazing-I sat down in that theatre knowing what everyone said, believing it would be true. I walked out speachless and changed for ever.

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 11:16pm

I'm back from my 10th time seeing the show! :)
Look for a Special BKLYN article on the NYT soon..

[alterego]

Posted: 2/4/05 at 11:27pm

Beaten the odds? Given the figures it's doing I'd say that is debatable.I'd say staying in there a more apt description. Updated On: 2/5/05 at 11:27 PM

[Testing1232]

Posted: 2/5/05 at 12:06am

Tiny,

I am trying to equate that with something, and the only thing that I can come up with is having 10 wisdom teeth, and getting them all pulled.

[Jwei123]

Posted: 2/5/05 at 12:15am

OMG matt. I miss you!

[Derek]

Posted: 2/5/05 at 1:29am

I loved the show. The direction is amazing. I think if it isnt nominated for best musical, Romona Keller will def. be nominated for Best Featured Actress...she was awesome. I also think the costumes and direction will also be nominated.

[Corine2]

Posted: 2/5/05 at 1:39am

Ramona deserves a nomination for her incredible performance in BKLYN but i sure hope Bklyn is not nominated for the best musical category.
If it is, then theater as we know it is dead and buried.
Ramona is a godess, with a voice of an angel.
But the show is another story.
It is upsetting but this new season of terrible productions is making Bklyn look less of a train wreck.
AND IT WAS A TRAIN WRECK.
Updated On: 2/5/05 at 01:39 AM

[Derek]

Posted: 2/5/05 at 1:45am

I didnt think so, i saw it and loved it :)!

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 2/5/05 at 1:47am

I saw this for the first time the other day, and I still don't know what to post about it.

[DreamFlyer22]

Posted: 2/5/05 at 1:51am

Saying 'beats' makes it sound like the match is over and Brooklyn has somehow come out on top. Honestly... there's still plenty of the winter 'lean season' left to go and with Spamalot and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels flooding the boards this month, I think Brooklyn is going to wind up lost in the shuffle. I'm not judging content either way here- I haven't seen it to say- I'm just making an observation based on facts. Nice to hear it's been breaking even, but I fear that won't be the case for too much longer...

Updated On: 2/5/05 at 01:51 AM