Breaking News: Toronto's HAIRSPRAY set to shutter November 28 -- Page 2

[Anastasia_Beaverhausen]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 3:28pm

I just want a can of Hairspray!! :)

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 4:38pm

Wow... Cats seems to have taken their full share of bitter pills. Sad, really.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 4:41pm

Well like I commented elsewere, the show has had multiple promotions w discounted tkts & dinner & hotel tie ins.Tho there were improvements in the tourist trade the cool weather apparently did keep some numbers away. But I really wonder if it wasn't the $$ w the discounts perhaps its just that there is a lot of cometion from alt theatre & Stratford & Shaw. Certainly Stratford 7 Shaw weren't discounting!

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 4:48pm

I still want a Amber finale wig and Darren! LOL.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 5:18pm

Chirstmas is in about 80 days.....and on my list is a wig from hairspray!!! *hint hint*
I've also been a good lil boy ALL year

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 5:48pm

One light-brite wall, please.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 5:54pm

Now how in the world are you going to work that into the drama you are working on right now?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 5:58pm

son, he can put that wall in your bedroom. LOL. A great thing to wake up to in the mornings!

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 6:01pm

You do not think it would go with "Three Days of Rain" very well???

I would put it in my room...God only knows how...

[ckeaton]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 6:41pm

I enjoyed this company during previews, and I hope to catch them one last time before they leave the POW. A wonderful cast of a wonderful show.

[mallardo]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 7:23pm

Toronto is NOT the theatre town it was a few years ago because the American tourists just haven't been coming and they're a big part of the audience up there. The SARS epidemic was a crusher - business is not yet back - but also there's fact that we now live in a Security State and crossing the Canadian border by car has become an agonizing experience. People just don't want to go through the endless lines and delays and nasty Customs Officers on both sides. It's a new world.

[krisjoseph]

Posted: 10/7/04 at 3:16pm

I've been stewing on this topic since yesterday and I finally put my finger on an original thought: if Toronto theatre producers want to establish Toronto as a place to go to see theatre, why don't the foster the creation of more original musical theatre, like the regionals do in the USA?

I have to limit the scope of my rant to the larger-scale productions, since there is a good deal of activity on the smaller end of the spectrum ("Off-Broadway"-scale musicals)

Call this an open letter to the Mirvishes, but if the producers are expecting tourist dollars to flow as a result of producing big shows in town, why not stop bringing in rehashes of shows that already have more successful counterparts on Broadway? Why wait until two years after The Producers first opens, when all the sheen and buzz has slid off it, and THEN open it in Toronto? Why continue to build Mirvish subscription seasons based on last season's Broadway shows? As a theatre fan, I can get to downtown Toronto by car in 5 hours, and to Times Square in 8 -- for an extra investment of time, I'd rather see something original.

Large-scale Toronto theatre is dying because the spirit of it is dead. Let them put a NEW musical into the Pantages theatre, instead of a two-year-old Broadway rehash. Let them fight for pre-Broadway tryouts of new properties. Maybe THEN people will think harder about where to spend their vacation time and precious ticket money.

Hmph.

Marc Shaiman, if you're reading -- why not pitch the Mirvishes on letting Toronto host the pre-Broadway run of Catch Me If You Can, hmm?

Updated On: 10/7/04 at 03:16 PM

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 10/18/04 at 5:14pm

Sorry to bump an old thread up, but I totally agree with KrisJoseph. Toronto is just becoming a wannabe New York. There MUST be new talent and shows to find in this country, without JUST bringing in exports. In fact Mirvish's best show of last season was the Canadian "Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God". Brilliantly staged and powerful. There is lots of good theatre that just needs a little more marketing money or better tech budget. Anyways...that's my little rant.

Akiva

[Donna D'Luscia]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 1:44pm

Oh my god!! is this Dottie, my long lost sister!? It's Donna!! Where are you? Are you as obsessed with Hairspray as I am? We should get reunited!!! Donna