August Wilson Marquee

I was wondering if anyone had pictures of the August Wilson marquee (when it was the Virginia, actually) during any of the following shows:

Little Shop of Horrors (2003)
The Crucible (2002)
City of Angels (1989)
Carrie (1988
Annie (1981) [though this might be considered the ANTA theatre, which was its name before Virginia.]

*The better the resolution, the easier it will be to frame, which is what I want to do. But post 'em if you got 'em.

Updated On: 5/11/13 at 08:48 AM

Speaking if ANNIE at ANTA, does anyone know why it moved across the street there for only a month before transferring again to a 3rd theater?

Updated On: 5/11/13 at 09:28 AM

There's actually a video on youtube:

http://youtu.be/9fNhgl9hTmY

Its backstage at Carrie, and they show a super fuzzy black and white image of the marquee. Its crappy, but cool to kinda see it.

Wow, why was it bumped? Poor ticket sales? Why not through something smaller like Merrily into the O'neil anyway?

Annie went below its stop clause which is not the same thing as poor ticket sales. Almost every theatre lease has a stop clause where if the weekly gross dips below a contractual figure for a given number of consecutive weeks, the theatre can book another show.

On paper Merrily looked like a bigger money-maker than Annie, and bear in mind that pre-Wicked, the Gershwin was a tough theatre to book. It was hardly ever anyone's first choice. Also the Alvin and the Gershwin are both Nederlander houses and the Nederlanders were major backers of Annie.

Merrily was not a small production in the original, and it gave Broadway audiences one of the few genuinely totally UGLY sets in history. Annie was a smaller show than the original Merrily.

I knew the sound man who did this 4 theatre trek. He said Annie looked fine in the ANTA and cramped in the O'Neill. He felt that it looked best in the Gershwin where it had room to spread out.

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Speaking if ANNIE at ANTA, does anyone know why it moved across the street there for only a month before transferring again to a 3rd theater?

Oh yes...I was covering the Broadway scene that season. The fall of 1981 was one of the last (so far) great Broadway log jams with so many new productions lining up waiting for theatres and so many long running hits (CHORUS LINE, GREASE, 42ND STREET, EVITA) still playing to packed houses.

ANNIE had been playing at the Alvin (now Neil Simon) since opening there in April 1977. In its 5th year the show was no longer selling out though still playing to excellent houses (thanks to "twofers" and other discounting.) Hal Prince wanted the Alvin so the COMPANY team (Prince, Sondheim and Furth) could open MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG there on November 1, 1981. The Nederlanders looked at Annie's dipping grosses and decided to move the show rather than close it. There were not many options but the ANTA was available at least temporarily. (A new musical called OH BROTHER - based on THE COMEDY OF ERRORS was booked to open there November 10, 1981. An interim booking for ANNIE was found at the Eugene O'Neil, but once again that theatre was booked with a revival of LITTLE ME set to open January 21, 1982.

In a Sunday New York Times ad, Annie was shown writing to Santa asking for the Uris Theatre (now Gershwin) for her new home. The letter was stamped Wish Granted and as of December 10, 1981 ANNIE moved to the Uris and stayed there until the run ended in January 1983.

But what a trail of death and destruction the orphan left behind:

At the Alvin, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG did 52 previews, opened to one favorable notice (from Clive Barnes, of all people!) and closed after 16 performances. The Nederlanders quickly booked the Alvin for a new musical THE LITTLE PRINCE AND THE AVIATOR (with a young Anthony Rapp in the cast) which folded in previews, never holding an official opening night. Next came the revival of LITTLE JOHNNY JONES starring Donny Osmond which opened and closed in one night in March 1982. (I was in town that weekend but didn't see the show... I was at another show that night. . I got back to my hotel and saw some of the most savage reviews I have ever seen. The next day the sales clerk at Triton gallery told us the producers had announced an immediate closing.) In May 1982 DO BLACK PATENT LEATHER SHOES REALLY REFLECT UP? opened..for just 5 performances followed in July by SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS which also ran just 5 performances. A return engagement of YOUR ARMS TOO SHORT TO BOX WITH GOD came in for 69 perfs and then the theatre finally scored a hit with Neil Simon's BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS opening in March 1983. On the 1983 Tony Awards broadcast the theatre was officially renamed The Neil Simon.

Over at the Anta Playhouse OH BROTHER flopped closing after 3 performances.

The revival of LITTLE ME at the Eugene O'Neil lasted just one month and flopped.

So why didn't ANNIE go directly to the Uris? (I knew you were going to ask.) The Uris had been booked with a big revival of MY FAIR LADY starring Rex Harrison (When he was feeling up to it..he was out sick the night I saw the show.) When that production failed to attract sufficient crowds a closing notice went up and ANNIE moved in.

At the time Variety noted all the theatre moves and posted a warning to theatre owners..don't evict a hit show, not even for what looks like a sure bet.

And MERRILY did seem like a sure bet with Prince and Sondheim coming off of SWEENEY TODD. Even the New York Times did a feature story on the show's first date of rehearsal. A full page ad brought in an avalanche of ticket requests and the first few weeks of previews quickly sold out.

I caught the show in preview on Saturday October 24 - which was supposed to be a week before the scheduled opening. But a story in the paper that morning stated the show had delayed its opening to November 8 (and later delayed it again to November16), had fired its leading male performer and that choreographer Ron Field had left the show citing "artist differences." (Which reminded me of a lyric in CHICAGO!)

The performance I attended was fascinating: A youthful cast full of energy (though not a lot of acting skill) was trying so hard to put the show over and after the intermission they were rewarded with people walking out in huge groups all over the theatre.

It taught me a lesson about seeing shows in preview.

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Yes, I wondered that as well at the time but the move was done before Christmas ads over the holiday period they sold a lot of those extra seats. The interior of the Gershwin was re-modeled around the time of the CANDIDE and 1776 revivals but the seating has remained about the same.

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Updated On: 5/17/13 at 03:36 AM