Close, Move or Stay

Thinking of two shows that this is definitely an option (Close, Move or Stay) see in the weekly grosses these two shows are struggling, despite great runs.

First one is Rock Of Ages, which has had a glorious run (bet no one on here, thought it would run this long, me included) which has taken a big drop in grosses earning so far this year $3.8m in the same time last year the show took, compared to $4.67m for the same weeks last year.

Rock of Ages could stay and hope a good summer brings a box office boost or move to a different theatre, however Rock plays the smallest theatre on Broadway, but I could see this having a decent after life off-Broadway, at somewhere like New World Stages?

Next up is another show that has done brilliantly but is starting to show signs of slumping, Jersey Boys has grossed $7.53m so far this year, in the same time last year the show had done $9.4m, Jersey Boys could stay put as it is probably just holding its head above water, or move to a smaller Broadway theatre, the only stumbling block is this show is playing in a pretty small theatre as it is and most theatres are perhaps a 100 seats smaller, where a move wouldn't be worth while, unless it went to somewhere like the Walter Kerr, John Golden, Lyceum or Helen Hayes which are all under a 1000 seats.

Or should both productions, say that New York has been a incredible good hunting ground for our show, but it's a good time to call it a day?

Mamma Mia should just close?

With ROCK OF AGES, they were actually originally slated to close back in January of 2011, until new producers came on and transferred the show to the Helen Hayes. Also, I believe, once ROA vacates the Helen Hayes, Second Stage Theatre will assume ownership of the theatre and it will either become a Broadway transfer house for 2ST or fall off the Broadway grid entirely.

JERSEY BOYS is likely holding out for the movie, and I have to say, the movie is what will make me decide as to whether or not I'll want to see the stage show. A move may also not be possible as it is in a Jujamcyn theatre, with no wiggle room unless it moves to a theatre owned by the Shuberts.

MAMMA MIA had its fun, but its clear the move has severely damaged an already-falling show.

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Quizking, RoA was never slated to close. That is actually wrong info. However, it is true that they transferred to stay alive longer than they felt it would at the Brooks… and at that time another group of producers came aboard.

As far as the Mamma Mia movie "severly damaging" the show, I don't know how you came up with that. The film grossed over 600 million world wide. It was a massive hit and I think you could make the argument for the exact opposite that the film actually revitalized the brand, keeping it in the public conciousness.

Let's also not forget the sometimes-silent option in these cases. None of these shows are going to disappear as soon as they close. On the contrary, they will go into licensing (unless for whatever reason, all the music in Mamma Mia! or Rock of Ages is difficult to license for regional and school productions).

A show like Mamma Mia still pulls tons of tourists, so it may make more staying open than closing. But Rock of Ages is certain to be a popular regional choice as soon as it closes, and may well turn a bigger profit in licensing than it will by staying open and eking out its weekly nut.

There would be an irony in RoA going to New World as thats were it started.

Also whoever said the Hayes would fall off the broadway grid once 2ST took it over, it wont the point of 2ST buying it was to have a house on Broadway, they want to be like Roundabout or MTC...

hahaha… I'm dumb and read too fast. Thank you Willep.

Say what you want about RoA, but I think any show that "stunt casts" Mark Zuckerberg's sister (who USED TO BE a partial owner of Facebook) to celebrate their 5th anniversary is having a hard time. Nothing against her, but I'd hardly call that stunt casting. Can you imagine the conversation?

Theatre Patron 1: "Oh wow! This flyer says Randi Zuckerberg is in the show for a week."
Theatre Patron 2: "Cool....who's that?"
Theatre Patron 1: "I guess she's the sister of Mark Zuckerberg...that guy who started Facebook."
Theatre Patron 2: "huh....hey look we can see Doogie Howser sing!"

Updated On: 3/19/14 at 05:20 PM

Yeah, it isn't stunt casting if you have to Google who it is...

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ROA has indeed turned a profit. I made it into the black finally last year, but still for a show that had a relativly small initial cost I think 7 million and taking 4 years to turn a profit is crazy. The show's producers will definitly make more money from regional productions than they are currently making at the Hayes since the royalties for the songs are crazy. The only reason Motown will make money is because all the royalty money is already going to Berry Gordy.

I hadn't realized that 2ST already holds the mortgage. If that's true, and the decision to evict ROCK comes from them as opposed to the old owners of the theatre, I wonder how the decision to evict would be affected by if 2ST is ready to program the Hayes yet or not.

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I don't want any cast crew to lose theirr job but if it was not for that would love to see all three close and something new take their place. Some shows may run forever (Wicked, Lion King, Phantom, Chicago) but I don't think the three you mentioned should be shows that continue to run like those mentioned above.

According to 2ST, ROA has an open ended lease and will stay there as long as they want.

Sticking purely to Mamma Mia! here, it's issue is not that it moved. In the long run, it will be that it has downsized. True, many audiences won't know the Broadway production downsized - it is now basically the second national tour set, but if younlook at the flag ship productions, itbis apparent that the producers are hacking the show down to bits in an effort to save money and profit as audiences get gradually smaller and don't push for more. The original West End production has ,oved theatres several times... The first move, they made the show BIGGER. The last move, they transformed into the bus-and-truck production currently touring the US and originally designed to tour smaller Australian markets and they now use it for numerous sit downs...