American Idiot to close April 24th — Page 2

If they have more weeks like last week, they probably won't recoup.

BJA might bring them close, but three Million Dollar weeks with BJA at the end of the run, won't matter if the weeks between now and his return remain dismal.

My first thought was also that maybe "Scottsboro" has found its theater. Come on, Weisslers, jump on it!

Because they know it's an important show and would like to give more people a chance to see it. By opening as a limited engagement, they could probably draw in a lot of the theatergoing crowd that didn't get to see it last time (or those, like me, who are dying to see it again). They would also be hoping to get in more of the Tony voters to give it a better shot at Tony awards. I know it's unlikely, but the optimist in me is really hoping for some good "Scottsboro" news.

Saw the show tonight. I was surprised that 3 leads were out, but Chase Peacock was impressive in the role. Didn't Justin Guarini just start his run in the show?

Re recoupment, it's possible the poster read in the NYTimes and elsewhere that "A spokeswoman for “American Idiot” said the producers were not sure if the show would ultimately recoup its investment on Broadway before closing."

Maybe "Other Desert Cities" could have booked it in time.

They should bump up Chase.

Expect to see the new Harry Connick show (On a Clear Day) booked for the St. James in the fall. Same director and producer and creative team as Idiot and Spring Awakening.

I don't know this case, but in general, no theater owner would evict a show if they didn't have another show waiting in the wings. A paying tenant (even one that isn't making as profit) is better than no tenant.

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It's not naive, it's a fact of the business. Even when a show is making less than its weekly nut, it IS still paying the bills. The reason a show closes is because the producers decide that they will not rebound soon enough and they do not want to completely spend the cushion they built up when they were doing well.

You said that it's similar to not paying your mortgage. Try this:

You take a temporary, three-month position that paid what you used to make in a year. Because you know it's only a three-month job, you save the extra money. When the three months is over, you are still able to regularly pay your mortgage because you have those savings.

THAT is the case we're dealing with. The difference is that most shows don't know how long they're going to last, so the producers always save the extra during good weeks just in case. Trust me, a show that is struggling at the box office is still paying all the bills. If it wasn't, it would have closed already.

If you rented a room in your house, and your tenant had lost his job or gotten a cut in pay but was still regularly paying his rent on time, why would you kick him out if no one else wanted to rent the room?

Of course it's cheaper to have a dark theater because you don't have to pay the employees, but when a show is in there, you are MAKING money. Who would rather get nothing when they could get something?

You say I'm naive. But I am telling you, it IS a fact of the business that theater owners very rarely evict a show without another show lined up.

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It's no industry secret that before BJA came in the show had a number of losing weeks as far as meeting its nut.

The St. James is HUGE. They would never WANT to bring Scottsboro Boys there. I am all for bringing it back. I wish I had seen it, but bring it to a smaller theatre with less then 1,000 seats.

I do wish they could have close a week or two earlier, just in time to let another show come into the St. James before the TONY cut-off.

You say I'm naive. But I am telling you, it IS a fact of the business that theater owners very rarely evict a show without another show lined up.

Where is this "fact" coming from? I can think of many cases where prime theatres sat vacant for months after long running shows were forced to close after falling blow the agreed-upon stop clause figure.

Examples: The 1996 revival of FORUM closed Jan 4, 1998 and the St. James theatre sat unused until HIGH SOCIETY came along in April. (There was a 2 week booking for Patti La Belle - Jan 13 to 25) More recently at the same theatre THE PRODUCERS ended its long and profitable run April 22, 2007 and the house did not have another booking until November when THE GRINCH came in. Should these shows have extended their runs possibly losing money for their producers/investors just to keep a theatre open? Using your twisted logic they should have but that would NOT be a good business decision.

Check the theatre histories: Frequently over the years shows have been "evicted" even when there was no other show booked for the space.

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