A show closing on opening night...

Search: "Glory Days" for the most recent example.

Um. No.

It's because of the insurance... even though it's never really that much.

just go read the GLORY DAYS threads for a more detailed explanation.

I can't wait to hear the Sage of Broadway explain that "Insurance" remark. DO you think he misunerstood or was taken out of context?

Shows close on (or shortly after) opening night for one reason: Money. A show might be doing poorly in previews and just getting by until opening night hoping the reviews are good and ticket sales take off (It seems like Spring Awakening might have been in that category). But if the reviews are bad, there isn't a flood of ticket sales and the show folds.

Sometimes even when the reviews are good, people just don't want to see it and the show ends up closing sooner rather than later.

WOSQ, no show goes into rehearsal undercapticalized in the way you used the phrase.

Perhaps someone on the producing end can shed more light, but if a show is doing an out-of-town tryout at a for-profit theater, 100% of the capitalization has to be in place for that run. If the show's out-of-town is at a not-for-profit, the show still has to be fully capitalized by the first NY preview.

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Ok...I searched for GD.
Some possible bad moves for this show: Going 90 minutes without an intermission...a good part of the audience might not be able to cope with that, to start with (even if it is just to have a bathroom break!). Shifting the show into two parts, will give the audience a breather where they will have time to think about what they are seeing, and return with a better disposition for the end.
Also, having the show debut in April...perhaps I am way off, but I never thought that time of year was a good time to open any show in Broadway, unless it was spectacular, and had great publicity. It is just after Easter, kids are getting ready for finals, people are not travelling yet, preaparing for summer vacation...

Still, my question has not been answeared. Why go to the end of rehearsals, etc, when you know you cannot open at the end...? Seems like a waste of time AND money they don't have.

It wasn't the rehearsals, love.

They did weeks of previews, where they made virtually no money. When they opened to awful reviews, it was silly to keep beating the already dead horse. You're making it sound like they just gave the one performance.

It didn't have to do with April or 90 minutes. It was just not a show for Broadway, even if they thought it could work.

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millie...then again, many do have a problem. from what I hear, Xanady is a very "engaging" show, and fun, so the audiences will react more positively to being seated for 90 straight minutes.

Maybe blaxx has a point about it not being right for Broadway, but I still think if it was so successful outside of Bway, something just did not click, and I still believe the April thing, etc...influenced a lot.

Gee, blaxx, I guess I'm, a poor researcher. I really just looked at the first couple of headlines that came up, but did not see that they had actually opened. I was under the wrong impression that the show went from rehearsals to the pit...(not the Orchestra one).

Merrick closed Ttiffanys in previews because he knew it could not be salvaged .

The same reasoning was behind closing One Night Stand in previews .

Some shows in the 60's folded after 1 night as they had no $$ in reserve to weather bad reviews . Some examples are Billy, Here's Where I Belong & Gantry

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Updated On: 6/25/08 at 09:49 PM