A Strange Loop Mini-Tour

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 12:09pm

https://www.playbill.com/job/a-strange-loop-stage-manager-submissions-deadline-11-20-23/9f6d9e8f-94c9-455b-960e-25a36a2de703

According to this casting notice it looks like A Strange Loop will have a mini tour in SF and Los Angeles. I'm hoping the Goodman in Chicago can scoop it up for a few weeks too.

[spicemonkey]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 12:19pm

A bit surprised that they did not add Seattle or Boston :/

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 12:25pm

It won the Tony for Best Musical. It should go to conservative states and cities, same as other shows. I don't care about loss of revenue or whatever... there are people in these places who need to see this show. Vulnerable ticket buyers who will feel less alone, ignorant morons who might learn a thing or two. We should not repress ourselves. Isn't that what the spirit of the show is all about?

[OhHiii]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 12:27pm

Jay Lerner-Z said: "It won the Tony for Best Musical. It should go to conservative states and cities, same as other shows. I don't care about loss of revenue or whatever... there are people in these places who need to see this show. Vulnerable ticket buyers who will feel less alone, ignorant morons who might learn a thing or two. We should not repress ourselves. Isn't that what the spirit of the show is all about?"

Unless you personally are writing the check for the expenses to cover the losses to do this, then I'm not sure anyone should be coming to you for touring business advice.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 12:30pm

I wasn't offering business advice. I was offering soul advice.

Don't invest in a show if you don't believe in its message, producers.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 12:31pm

Sucks that it's only playing two cities. Should really hit up Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta and DC, too.

[JasonC3]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 12:55pm

I suppose interest in DC could go either way given the earlier iteration of the show that already had a healthy 2021 run at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 1:06pm

Jay Lerner-Z said: "I wasn't offering business advice. I was offering soul advice.

Don't invest in a show if you don't believe in its message, producers."

 

You don't understand how any of this works, do you?

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 1:07pm

Jay Lerner-Z said: "I wasn't offering business advice. I was offering soul advice.

Don't invest in a show if you don't believe in its message, producers."

Broadway is not a non-profit charitable organization. It's a business. The entire point of investing in a show is to make money from it. Yes it's great to believe in its message, but you also have to use common business sense. This show couldn't run a year in one of the most liberal cities on the planet--how is it going to last a year on tour in small conservative areas?

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 1:12pm

Of course I understand how it works.

How it works is the problem, and why a national theatre is needed. One that tours.

Capitalism SUCKS.

[seaweedjstubbs]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 1:14pm

Jay Lerner-Z said: "It won the Tony for Best Musical. It should go to conservative states and cities, same as other shows. I don't care about loss of revenue or whatever... there are people in these places who need to see this show. Vulnerable ticket buyers who will feel less alone, ignorant morons who might learn a thing or two. We should not repress ourselves. Isn't that what the spirit of the show is all about?"

After the terrible audience response to the OKLAHOMA revival tour, I doubt many touring houses were rushing to bring A STRANGE LOOP to their city. I’m sure the producers would bring the show to as many cities as it could - the show has a small set and a small cast and would more than likely make money from the season subscription sales alone. But those touring houses have to be interested in presenting the show to their audiences. Remember, theatre subscriptions are down nationwide. Anytime a show comes to town that people don’t like, that’s more subscriptions lost. Broadway tour presenters are not going to risk losing more subscribers for the sake of art, unfortunately.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 1:16pm

It's a little bit of a misleading headline –– these are two regional productions on the West Coast in fairly close calendar proximity to each other, replicating the Broadway production and probably sharing resources (cast, rehearsal expenses, etc).

INDECENT did a similar thing recently: CTG and the Huntington licensed the set and staging from the Bway production (and some of the New York cast too). The NY producers collect licensing fees and assemble the rental package, but aside from that there's no cost burden on them. I think CONSTITUTION was kind of a hybrid model.

It's a good model if it allows audiences around the country see a production that might not otherwise be appropriate to tour.

Updated On: 11/6/23 at 01:16 PM

[barcelona20]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 1:23pm

spicemonkey said: "A bit surprised that they did not add Seattle or Boston :/"

It's playing in Boston next spring already, just a completely separate production.

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 1:36pm

These two stops were planned even before it closed on Broadway.

[Kad]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 1:39pm

Jay Lerner-Z said: "It won the Tony for Best Musical. It should go to conservative states and cities, same as other shows. I don't care about loss of revenue or whatever... there are people in these places who need to see this show. Vulnerable ticket buyers who will feel less alone, ignorant morons who might learn a thing or two. We should not repress ourselves. Isn't that what the spirit of the show is all about?"

There are hundreds of theater companies in this country doing this sort of work, ones that have deep connections to their communities. Theater in this country does not begin and end with Broadway productions.

Updated On: 11/6/23 at 01:39 PM

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 2:55pm

I'm fully aware of that. Which is why I gently admonished movie stars who seem to only focus on Broadway to fulfill their stage needs, over on the Chris Evans thread a while back. Broadway has significant power, the Tonys broadcast coast to coast. That's just how it is. There are people who have streamed the cast recording of this show, watched the Tony performance, and would LOVE to see it in person... but never will.

Updated On: 11/6/23 at 02:55 PM

[OhHiii]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 3:06pm

Can someone DM the instructions on how to mute posts from certain users because....

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 3:12pm

I can help.

Click on "ACCOUNT", then "SETTINGS", then "Ignore Message Board Users".

Glad to be of assistance, but of course you probably already knew this.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 3:15pm

For selfish reasons I do wish it would come to Chicago. I'm surprised for a Best New Musical winner it kind of just came and went. I get that it's a tough subject matter, but you'd think the producers would have known this and planned a tour around like Seattle, SF, LA, Chicago, Atlanta, etc. But maybe it was just all deemed too risky. 

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 3:22pm

Yeah... deemed too risky.

Kad said "there are hundreds of theater companies in this country doing this sort of work", which is true of course...

But for me, part of the pleasure of this show was not seeing queer content pushed to the fringes. I'd like to see it on the main stage, unafraid and proud. Not intimidated by the ignorant masses. Not in the shadows, but upfront.

Is that so bad?

[Kad]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 3:40pm

Jay Lerner-Z said: "Yeah... deemed too risky.

Kad said "there are hundreds of theater companies in this country doing this sort of work", which is true of course...

But for me, part of the pleasure of this show was not seeing queer content pushed to the fringes. I'd like to see it on the main stage, unafraid and proud. Not intimidated by the ignorant masses. Not in the shadows, but upfront.

Is that so bad?"

That’s fine and laudable, but all you seem to do is stamp your foot and say “I want it!” regardless of what the many, many barriers preventing it. 

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 3:54pm

That's all this board allows me to do. I see it as raising awareness, highlighting the need for a national stage. A stage where profit and subscribers are not a consideration. It is frustrating, so to me stamping my feet is a way to release that.

Admittedly, it would help if I were more likeable/articulate, but I do what I can.

[JasonC3]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 4:24pm

When "stamping one's feet" (either literally or metaphorically) is very unlikely to change anything externally, one might simply do it in internally in the privacy of one's own mental and/or physical spaces where one can repeatedly say "I am so right and righteous" as many times as one wants at whatever volume one's neighbors will allow.

Unlike with T-Mobile and our phones, in terms of other people's attention, we don't really get unlimited airtime in meetings, in text chains, or on message boards.  Making fewer public-facing comments that will change nothing might allow for or even engender more welcome support when contributing ones that have more potential to lead to the desired impact. 

But hey, people make their own choices.

 

Updated On: 11/6/23 at 04:24 PM

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 4:55pm

It might also help me if people, instead of just telling me I am wrong and to shut up, could tell me WHY I am wrong. Perhaps then I would not feel the need to shout into the wind. I still have no idea what part of what I said you disagree with, Jason.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 5:04pm

Jay Lerner-Z said: "It might also help me if people, instead of just telling me I am wrong and to shut up, could tell me WHY I am wrong. Perhaps then I would not feel the need to shout into the wind. I still have no idea what part of what I said you disagree with, Jason."

 

Everyone did that.