BAT OUT OF HELL Will Play 8 Weeks At NY City Center In 2019 — Page 3

(My reboot of Tanz, incidentally, would have pushed the musical arrangements in a more rock direction and solved the problems with tone. We had Steinman's permission, but it's been stonewalled ever since.)

Meanwhile, BroadwayWorld has updated their story with commentary from the show:

"A spokesperson for the production said, 'The show is being postponed and everyone involved is working on rescheduling.'"

Yeah? Ask the cast of A Night with Janis Joplin about that...

While I have no illusions about the general nature of this show, I was nonetheless hoping for either a tour stop near me (none had been announced so far) or a NY trip to catch it at City Center. I'm gutted.

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "Catsbroadwayfan said: "I feel bad for the cast members, one of them gave up King kong for this."

Eh, I kinda think he dodged one bullet to get hit by another one, but at least a Broadway salary would have helped him a little more than what's going on now."

And although I doubt it’s meeting its weekly nut, I think King Kong will run for awhile, probably at least through the summer or longer, depending on future box office receipts.

Was this not selling well? The buzz on this and on social media (from what I've seen) was live and very active. I doubt the tour will happen, but hope the best for all involved.

Catsbroadwayfan said: "I feel bad for the cast members, one of them gave up King kong for this."

Why give up a standing Broadway show for a tour?!

Scarlet Leigh said: "It SUCKS that they did this to the tour company, it really does, and to do so so close to the launch makes me think they have something else in mind for this. Do you think that maybe, just MAYBE they are trying to sell this to someone for a full Broadway run? Use the City Center run to pull in the interest as well as get some more investors tobite and then take what is already constructed for the tour and move it into a Broadway house?"

Thats a good point, but given the track record of Cohl, I doubt it

This had all the makings of an unsuccessful venture... I'm more shocked at the response on here than anything else.

Kad said: "This had all the makings of an unsuccessful venture... I'm more shocked at the response on here than anything else."

^this

& could someone please explain to me the logic of criticizing a producer for cancelling a tour (with the attendant loss of work for everyone) in the same breath in which said producer is vilified for having the audacity to commence the tour (with the attendant weeks of gainful employment for everyone) in the first place.

Also,

the tour shot itself in the foot when it promoted itself as Jim Steinman's Bat Out Of Hell and not Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell.

No one in American knows or care who Jim Steinman is. A lot of America's know/care who Meatloaf is. The album is not a popular Steinman album in America, it's a popular Meatloaf album.

The entire thing shot itself in the foot.

And I get that the tour wasn't selling.

But...how many other producers are a three hit record of casting a show, rehearsing a show, (in some cases.. performing the show,) and canceling the show at the last possible second?

Maybe the tour sold next to no tickets.

But how does Cohl keep getting into the same situations and then deploying the same tricks?

He holds some fault if not the lion's share.

I feel terrible for the cast/crew who now are out of work/PAYCHECKS.

Cohl doesn't have to worry about how his bills will be paid for the next year because he's a very wealthy man.... the cast/crew does.

So... on that alone, can we PLEASE stop allowing Michael Cohl to produce shows?

I also think he needs to be on Equity's Do Not Work list.

I don't like Ken Davenport. But Ken Davenport seems like Hal Prince next to Michael Cohl. Davenport seems to make boneheaded decisions, Cohl seems to make pinopinpointed cruel decisions. And a LOT of actors/designers/directors would agree with me, I think.

Updated On: 11/2/18 at 03:46 PM