A Tale Of Two Cities Theatre Problem

[esparza 333]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 6:57pm

People have been rumoring the Marquis Theatre (which will destroy Drowsy) but based on the shows enormous multi million dollar production what other theatres are possibillities.

Updated On: 7/24/07 at 06:57 PM

[WellIfYouInsist]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 6:58pm

Can someone post the link to the sets


Cause they were so pretty, I wanna see them again.

[esparza 333]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 7:04pm

[esparza 333]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 7:06pm

[esparza 333]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 7:06pm

Which availible thatre can hold these big sets

Updated On: 7/24/07 at 07:06 PM

[WellIfYouInsist]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 7:16pm

They're not that big they only look like maybe 200 pixels wide at the least.

[esparza 333]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 7:20pm

They're not that big they only look like maybe 200 pixels wide at the least


I agree but Tony Walton is expecting to have these sets fly in and come through trap door and travel on moving stage platforms. Plus There are much bigger sets in the show.

Updated On: 7/24/07 at 07:20 PM

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 7:26pm

They are also looking into the St. James, for after when Grinch closes obviously.

Also, Drowsy's SALES are destroying it, not the prospects of another tenant in the Marquis.

[speedjeans]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 7:32pm

I think the problems run considerably deeper than set design.
I've got REALLY bad feelings about this show.

I haven't seen it but I've heard most of the clips and I cannot imagine critics doing anything but skewering the show given the unavoidable suggestions its yet another attempt to put old wine
(Les Miserables) in a new bottle.

Hell, Schoenberg and Boubil have been trying to recapture their "Les Mis" lighning in a bottle and have gone bellyup twice with "Martin Guerre" and "The Pirate Queen".

An act one anthemic finale titled "Until Tomorrow"? These folks have put a bullseye on their back.

Yikes.

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 7:37pm

The show undoubtedly has some hurdles to jump, but it hasn't even started REHEARSALS yet, and already you are critiquing it? Let alone from a concept album that's 5 years old?

[esparza 333]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 7:52pm

I agree thesbisjean. I have a feeling they might hit the Marquisthough . Sorrry Drowsy but now that Foster and Martin have left Drowsy the show is going to meet its end. The other thing was that in London as soon Bob Martin left the show the show announced a closing date. The reason it is closing in London is because there are not any acclaimed performances in that production. The only really acclaimed performance left in the broadway Drowsy is Beth whose contract expires in two months. She says she wil leave the show then. After that happens bye bye Drowsy hello Two Cities

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 8:14pm

Personally, I don't think Rent's long for the cause. How big is the Nederlander?

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 8:32pm

The Imperial???

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 8:36pm

Okay, well, let's rule out the absolutely impossibles. They are most definitely not getting:

the Gershwin
the Eugene O'Neill
the Hilton
the Neil Simon
the August Wilson
the Ambassador
the Majestic

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 8:40pm

Not getting the Kerr, either. A Catered Affair has the Kerr.

[esparza 333]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 9:26pm

the Nederlander is big but not big enough to hold such a mega musical. Plus In The Heights is looking at the nederlander. I agree with BrianIdol on the Imperial but A Tale Of Two Cities has it's heart on the Marquis. Unless Drowsy's sales pick up tremendously during the fall and winter A Tale of two Cities is almost set for the Marquis.

[speedjeans]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:40pm

So, your of the opinion then, that someone who might have had bad vibes about "Lestat", "Carrie", or "Lolita" for example, long they opened, was jumping the gun when they suggested "I don't like what I've heard or seen so far."?

I remember hearing the "concept album" for "Les Miserables" many years before it hit the West End and thinking "These guys are on to something."

I also remember getting an early sounding on the RSC's "Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby" a looooong time before it opened and having the sense it would be a landmark theatrical event.

I think this show is really up against it because of it's INITIAL heavy borrowing from Les Mis. Maybe somebody can give an update on the show and I'll revise my opinion but I don't give it points because it might at land at the Marquis and until I hear "Until Tomorrow" was scrapped as the Act I finale I'm going to cast a jaundiced eye on this show.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 10:43pm

They could take the Circle in the Square, maybe. Spelling Bee can't last much longer.

Updated On: 7/24/07 at 10:43 PM

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 11:14pm

And those sets would fit in the Circle in the Square?

I thought GUYS AND DOLLS had the St. James?

[sydney23]

Posted: 7/24/07 at 11:36pm

Speedjeans - i'm wondering what you mean by "heavy borrowing" from "Les miz" especially in regard to the song "until tomorrow". Do you mean to suggest they shouldn't tell a story that has the real French revolution as its backdrop (unlike Les miz' student uprising that most people mistake for the french revolution?) should they rewrite the story (and history) so it doesn't resemble Les miz? surely if you're that savvy to have recognized the greatness of Les miz and Nicholas Nickleby way back when - then you're savvy enough to know that on Les miz, Nunn and Caird were borrowing heavily from their earlier success with Nickleby - by Dickens! On a theatrical level, Les Miz the musical owes far more more to Dickens than to Hugo. From what I've seen, Tale is pretty faithful to its literary source(which pre-dated Les Miz by a year - interestingly enough.) if you don't like the show or the music - that's fine. But don't say they shouldn't have a first act finale anthem about the start of the french revolution and the storming of the bastille - when that's the bloody story! Yikes!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 7/25/07 at 12:03am

How 'bout the LUNT after MERMAID tanks?

[zooxanthellae]

Posted: 7/25/07 at 12:08am

^ I seriously doubt Mermaid will go anywhere within the year... Tarzan lasted longer than a year, and I'm sure Disney would actually have to try to make anything worse than that!
I think it'll probably take the Marquis, unfortunately it doesn't seem like Drowsy has much life left in it...
I just hope we don't have another "Pirate Queen" on our hands here... although I'm really hoping for it to be successful!
Updated On: 7/25/07 at 12:08 AM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/25/07 at 1:57am

Zoo - that was obvious sarcasm.

This might be the dumbest thread I've ever read. Would you really suggest that Tale of Two Cities should bump RENT out or take the Circle in the Square theater? Or the those "enormous" sets are going to fit into the Walter Kerr?

Also, if you didn't know, sets are built to the scale of the theater they're suppose to fit. They don't just start building the sets and hope they'll fit.

[Tkt2Ride]

Posted: 7/25/07 at 3:41am

Yes, built to fit does seem rather obvious. Though the Drowsy people say it will at least run through the Fall, probably the Winter. After that, I suspect it will leave. Whose to say?

They are making money and it is a big Theater to fill? They have plans to bring in some new talent. Beth is great, it will depend on how much attention Mara brings in but I don't want to count her as nothing until she takes the stage.

Tale, sounds, well interesting. Nice sets. Yet the music is really the key. I don't think the Marquis is going to push out Drowsy while it is still making money for something that may be iffy? If they want the Marquis, it won't be until probably after Christmas. I can be wrong but from the article I read, it seems the Marquis is still happy to have them there and making money.

[bwaygal1]

Posted: 7/25/07 at 11:30am

I heard that Beth Leavel just signed another contract for a year in May.
That was from someone working at the show. (later confirmed by her.)