COMPANY (Not Just One Singular Sensation) — Page 2

Fair? No. But the show is not making a ton of money. The producers are probably finding ways to save some money while letting their star vehicle shine. Just look at the grosses each week.

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I read the grosses weekly and, yes, they aren't making a profit but if profit is all they care about why don't they just do a "Coram Boy" and close before the TONYS. This way when Raul sings on the TONYS along with Jonathan Tunick's orchestrations the producers won't be misrepresenting the production.

Updated On: 5/18/07 at 06:03 PM

wow. what are the producers thinking?

they need to ADVERTISE the show consistently- the ads portray an ensemble piece, not a one-man show. i think raul is brilliant and deserves the tony, but the show would gain SO MUCH MORE if they presented themselves as the little show that could at the telecast- by performing a number that makes sense (being alive doesnt make sense out of context) and leaves people humming a tune and thinking "i should see that!"

being alive is not that song. this is shameless raul promotion on their part and is just silly. they should do a medley and have them playing their instruments up there to sell the show.

Orchestrations aside, from a marketing perspective, Being Alive is actually a really smart choice. All of the other shows will most likely be doing up-tempo songs and/or medleys. By doing something different, Company is more likely to stand out and leave a lasting impression on the audience. It's basic psychology -- people will take notice of something that doesn't blend in with everything else.

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tomemiller-
If they close before the Tonys they can't perform.

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"that's disgusting. I wonder if he will have a piano at least. No? But seriously. that sucks."

someone told me he WILL have the piano. "Just him and his piano" to quote the assistant director last week

but things may have changed since then, and maybe there indeed will be no piano.

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SWEENEY TODD did a lot better than COMPANY though. There's no comparison.
Someone at ATC said that this is just another vicious Riedel rumor and that this is just not true...then again, that may be a rumor in itself.
I certainly hope the company gets to make an appearance, I wonder what are Esparza's thoughts on all this.

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Millie, I see your point, but the money thing doesn't really make sense as reasoning behind using the original orchestrations over Mary-Mitchell's. If someone has an answer for what one would have to do with the other, I'd welcome an explanation. I'm genuinely confused and curious. It's just a shame because people aren't going to see a good representation of the show on TV. They're going to see a guy singing a song. Raul's performance of Being Alive is explosive and the song is very powerful, but these performances are about representing the shows, and a concert-like, out-of-context performance is not that. If it were, you'd probably have leads singing famous songs and nothing else on the telecast all the time.

Sweeney did much better than Company is doing. It rarely fell below fifty percent, if I remember correctly. Yeah, Company needs more advertisting, but it's your basic catch-22. If the show is doing poorly, it's not making money. If it's not making money, there's no money to put into the advertising. Then there's no advertising to get people to come, and it just keeps not making money. It's breaking my heart; I love this revival, and it deserved so much better. I'm so sorry to see it ending up like this.

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Updated On: 5/18/07 at 08:01 PM

The marketing for Company has been poor from the start. For instance, I registered on their web site to be notified when tickets went on sale and received a mailing three weeks after they did. I was furious over this. I went to the box office and complained to the salesperson who said that they had no control over the marketing of the show. The marketing people already had a built-in audience with the Sweeney crowd. All they had to do was to tap into it.

Updated On: 5/18/07 at 08:23 PM

Well, they don't.

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It's clearly a financial decision.

Let's face it: even if it takes best actor and revival, neither of which are in-the-bag wins yet, the box office isn't likely to take any major jumps.

Yes, and the producers are pretty much admitting that with this gesture. It comes off like they know they're screwed, because it not a sure shot for best revival, and even if it did win, that might not help, so they aren't even going to try anymore. It's a sad admission of defeat, and I can't help but assume this is going to look bad and hurt the show's chance at best revival.

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Updated On: 5/18/07 at 08:35 PM

Wait...

The producers of each show have to pay their actors to appear on the Tonys?? Shouldn't that be the responsibility of the telecast producers to foot the bill?

I'm pretty sure other televised awards shows don't work that way. (The record companies don't pay their artists to appear on the Grammys right?)

Do the Tony winners have to buy their own trophies, if they win?

What a cheap outfit.

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I admit that I was definitely pretty miffed about this this morning, but I think that it's being blown a little out of proportion. The only thing that REALLY makes this the story that it is is that they're asking to use Tunick's orchestrations. If they had had Raul do Being Alive solo with Mary-Mitchell Campbell's orchestrations played by the orchestra, while I'm sure a few people would've been upset for the rest of the cast, it wouldn't exactly be gossip column-quality material. It would just be... a pragmatic (if fairly disappointing) decision

However, I'd like to think (and perhaps I'm just naive and optimistic) that most voters aren't going to let something like this bias them. The production is clearly struggling, and it's obviously bad that this draws even more attention to that fact, but they may still decide that it's award-worthy.