Dispelling some CHITTY rumors......

[thedeepend]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 3:58pm

OK, I'm going to say it one more time, then I have to go sit and calm down... THE CAR WAS DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY WITH THE INTENT TO TOUR. PERIOD. END OF STORY.

I would also like to dispell more CHITTY "bad" rumors...the billboard in Times Sq. came down 'cause the 1 year contract was up (Oct '04 to 05); the dance auditions were cancelled because Jillian's flights got totally messed up due to bad weather in NY (remember like 14 inches of rain in the City and nothing was coming or going that easily or on time; like 10 hour delays?) Her schedule is impossible and they are rebooking soon with her; and there is no tour booked as of yet. If you can prove that it is, then do it. But you can't, because it isn't booked with any touring company at this point.

The show is no larger to tour than Phantom. It will begin touring the UK in December with no problems, so why would there be problems here? Could it play in a tiny venue. No, of course not. But it won't. Some set modifications may be required, but it can tour.

The show has broken even or made money week in and week out except in September when it had a tough month (but certainly not unexpected)...the percentages look bad because the house proved to be too large...if it was in a 1,400 seat theatre, it would be selling out 5 out of 8 shows a week; no question. The house was a miscalculation here, but for two years it was the toughest ticket in London at the Palladium (an even larger venue than the Hilton Theater)...

The numbers are better now than last month and there is still cash on hand to weather the storm. Yes, it can't be in the red and go on forever, but don't count CHITTY out quite yet; there's still some gas in the tank!

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 4:05pm

very eloquent DEEPEND!

Thanks for the well stated vote of confidence

Updated On: 10/20/05 at 04:05 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 4:07pm

This is good news.

Though I don't know that there is absolutely validity in saying that it was popular in a bigger house in London, so therefore it should be able to hang on here -- issues of British humor versus American humor, etc, etc, but it's all in the technicalities and speculation, at this point.

Anyway, good to hear -- things pouring in still continue to conflict, but at least this bit has a positive spin.

[ElphieDefiesGravity]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 4:22pm

Yay!

[thedeepend]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 4:32pm

The "show" admits the miscalculation and reliance on what it did in London as something to rely on in NYC, it clearly wasn't the way to lok at things...Brithish humor? That's not it! CHITTY is an icon in the UK. I bet if they could show the movie again in the tri-state area, that would be the best two hour ad ever!! I hate to sound cranky, but I'm unclear of your point, Emcee. You gotta believe!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 4:41pm

Wait, what? I'm saying that part of the problem could be that British humor doesn't fly as well in the States, with American audiences. That's what I meant when I said that I'm not sure it's okay to say "well, it did well in the Palladium in London -- which is bigger than the Hilton -- so it should be fine here." The accuracy in that measure seems a bit fuzzy.

I'm also getting kind of frustrated with the way things about this show come down to a sense of "I'm right, you're wrong -- that's not it!" belligerence, when *most* of what we have to work with is sketchy piecemeal information and speculation. We've all heard different things from different places -- there's not definitive right or wrong in a situation like this.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 4:43pm

I think it just comes down to the fact that Chitty has no real appeal to the average adult. Plust the British humor, and the fact that it took so long to come across the pond after the hype.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 4:47pm

wait, so they're not going ahead with the new BANG NOW ad campaign?

[thedeepend]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 4:54pm

Where'd you hear that one? Wasn't that someone just suggesting they should "copy" what RENT is doing with RENT NOW? Here we go again!

[thedeepend]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 5:00pm

...and Emcee, I told you I didn't want to sound cranky, but why does all the negative stuff play as fact, and the truth is dismissed? I guess the "if it bleeds, it leads" attitude is what people are most interested in, not the happy stuff. Look, I have direct access to the balance sheet and the "big guns" with the show...you just gotta believe, you just gotta!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 5:04pm

That's exactly the *opposite* of what I'm saying. This isn't a case of dismissing the truth because I'm stuck in pessimism, or something. I'm saying that so much conflicting material is put out there as "fact." What I've heard as "fact" (from sources of plenty good reliability) is different from what you've heard as "fact," and then it all basically gets put out there as take-with-grain-of-salt speculation -- neither can rightfully be taken as "more truthful" than the other, or one ignored in favor of another. Right now, it's probably a little bit of both, as the decision quite clearly hasn't been made on whether or not the plug's going to be pulled so soon. There isn't a definitive right and wrong.

I'd like to believe it. Maybe in part, I do. Or, maybe I'm being practical and don't want to have another broken heart. Sometimes the fluffy bunnies are hard to find real, aren't they?

Updated On: 10/20/05 at 05:04 PM

[thedeepend]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 5:13pm

Well said. But here's a suggestion. Go back and look at grosses for each week and compare against a weekly operating budget of just under $600K per week. If you do the math, the show has made money. Now, if negative numbers continue, then we've got a problem. But, why say so now? Over 11,000 seats were sold "Columbus Day" week. More than a lot of other B-Way musicals... simply more butts in the seats! This is a FACT. The numbers are fack, not rumor.

There are only 4 spots where the "large" billboard was...only 4 musical were advertised there. So the Chitty comes down after a year because someone reserved the space ahead of them and that means the show is closing?

And I suppose Mark taking time off was because he knew it would close (even thought that time was already booked off for him in his original agreement with the show)...tough love, baby, no bunnies.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 5:15pm

Whatever is true in London isn't necessarily true here in New York. CCBB has a small audience (though I prefer it to any of the Disney shows) and just doesn't appeal to anyone here. I liked it, I don't know why, but I did (didn't care for the movie). But just because it is capable of attracting an audience in London doesn't mean it can attract people in the U.S. case in point: RENT failed oversees, but is a huge success here. Some shows just don't travel well. Personally, I don't understand why CCBB is having a rough time attracting an audience. It's put together rather well, and has great talent in the cast.

[zepka102]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 5:23pm

i loved chitty when i saw it!


but question... i didn't know the billboard was going down. is there a new one up? what show rented out the space? i'm not in nyc, so i didn't know it came down!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 5:24pm

Right, but what I keep coming back to is that the numbers are only so useful, in practicality. Yes, they're putting more butts in seats than other shows, but their theatre is also larger -- it's the percentage of capacity that truly matters, more than does the *number* of seats sold. You can have a show like Chitty selling x amount of seats and having that be half of its house, while another show could be selling the same x amount of seats and that would be a sold out house. But even that isn't entirely tell-tale, because of the show's huge running costs, which you can only compare to the Disney shows -- and those are shows that could run forever on Disney funding, and because they've been doing quite reasonably well for so, so long. You also have to factor in the idea of advanced sales, etc -- because though I don't know the exact workings of the calculations, etc, much of these sorts of determinations ride on how much they're selling advanced. It's naive to think that one factor being able to be said in utter truth makes for the situation to be more simplistically interpreted.

Marc's agreement also included the fact that when he did return, time would be added on. So, say the other leads were to leave when their contracts end in March -- he'd be on for three months extra (or whatever it ends up being that he's gone). That doesn't entirely point to anticipation of closure.

[WriteInNYC]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 7:11pm

Your post is very informative, thank you. I wish the show a long and prosperous life. I have several friends connected to the show and I want their jobs to continue indefinitely. It always puzzles me when people take rumors or half truths or incomplete information and post it with such authority as if it were the gospel. It's good that you set the record straight and I hope it will put an end to the ongoing speculations.

[billyrubin]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:00pm

Thank you thedeepend! You've brought about some sanity to the Chitty posts.

My first memory of Chitty (the movie) was as a child at the drive-in, with my family packed in my grandparents station wagon. Now I have children of my own, they have seen the movie, and growing up had played "Jeremy & Jemima" many a day in the backyard.

We went to NYC in April specifically to see Chitty on Broadway & had the greatest time! Yeah, it's sugar, but it sure is sweet!

I hope more families get to enjoy this wonderful show!

[Steve2]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:09pm

Thanks for the insight. I was looking at the grosses the other day and didn't think Chitty was doing too poorly. When I looked at the percentages of seats, well that's another story.

[Chitty Flies]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 10:30pm

Deepend, thanks for the informative post.

Chitty Flies

[theatrespaz]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 11:09pm

I thought I'd add to this post since I work for a theatre company that brings in touring shows. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is touring, I believe starting the 07-08 season, with possible big cities in 06-07. AWA Touring Services is representing the show. Most Broadway tours, it has to be really really bad and last less than a month for it not to tour. All Shook Up is still listed as touring per The Booking Group.

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 10/21/05 at 3:00am

sorry if this is a threadjack, but does anyone know when Marc is supposed to return to the show?

Thanks!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/21/05 at 9:43am

It was supposed to be 11/28, but See What I Wanna See extended to 12/4. So, sometime shortly after that.

[angelic1]

Posted: 10/21/05 at 9:58am

It says on his website:

"It is scheduled to run from October 11 through December 4 as part of The Public Theater's 50th Anniversary Season, with an official opening on October 30. However, Marc will only appear in the show through November 27, after which he will return to the role of the Baron Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

Does that help?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/21/05 at 10:00am

Sh*t, now I have to see it before then!

So he WILL be back on the 28th.

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 10/21/05 at 12:41pm

emcee and angelic,

Thanks so much for the info! I really appreciate your help.