Damn Yankees

Most shows do awful business between January 1 and March 1 -- there are few tourists and locals are afraid to buy tickets in advance for fear of snow and inclement weather. Even hit shows have been known to struggle then and shows that have been doing poorly often throw in the towel altogether. That's why many shows close at the beginning of January rather than risk losing a LOT of money during those next couple of months.

Damn Yankees decided it made more sense to just shut down (thus sparing them 8 losing weeks of paying salaries and rents) and re-open when the tourists started coming back.

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In the days before air conditioning, didn't some shows go on a summer hiatus?

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Bump.

Anybody know?

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In the really old days, Broadway shut down for the summer. I remember reading Harpo Marx's autobiography and he said that every summer he was off to the French Riviera while his shows were on hiatus. Performances resumed in the fall.

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Fascinating. You don't hear people talk about that too much. At least I don't.

Now I can see why it was such a rare occurrence for shows to run more than one "season" (fall to spring) back in the '20s and '30s... even '40s. I think certainly after "Oklahoma!" and "Life With Father" opened they had to figure out a way to keep on going during the hot summer months.

On the other hand, as much as I love "blockbusters," I kinda wish they'd clear out more often and make room for the "new." I heard Tommy Tune talking about that on TV not long ago. He said something like, "My God, I haven't been in the Winter Garden in 18 years!" (since he first saw Cats there, and it "set up house" for almost two decades) Things weren't like that "back in the day."

Maybe we should get rid of the air conditioning in all the theatres today... close all the shows... have most of them clear out... and start fresh every fall!

Okay, maybe not.

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So when Yankess went on Hiatus for those couple months were the actors still obliguated to stay with the production when it opened back up? How could they hold people to contracts when they aren't even paying salaries during those months. If I were an actor in a show on Hiatus, that would kind of piss me off if they just closed, so they didn't have to pay me for 3 months.

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I have always heard that the company was on (unpaid) hiatus for five or six weeks. Accrued vacation and sick pay was paid out and new contracts were signed as if it was a completely different production. Rehearsals to put Jerry Lewis in (which involved several changes to the show) began in February, with previews starting a couple weeks later. The official "re-opening" came a few weeks after previews started.
I think there were a few other cast replacements at that time as well.