Guys and Dolls + Hair

[karenL2]

Posted: 10/18/08 at 9:39pm

Is it true that Guys and Dolls will go into the Simon and Hair to the Nederlander?

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 10/18/08 at 9:54pm

No,considering Guys and Dolls announced a week ago they are going into the Nederlander

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/18/08 at 9:55pm

The rumors are the other way around. Guys and Dolls will take the Nederlander and The Neil Simon will remove "spray" from the marquee.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 10/18/08 at 10:25pm

Do you think Hair would be better at the Nederlander and Guys & Dolls at the Neil Simon?

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 10/18/08 at 10:30pm

Yeah, I think both shows would be better off

[winston89]

Posted: 10/18/08 at 10:33pm

millie_dillmount, I agree with you and think that The Nederlander would be a better home for Hair while Guys and Dolls would be a better fit at the Neil Simon. The Nederlander is a very small theatre and Guys and dolls is a big size show. But, keep in mind that when Guys and Dolls announced a revival it said that it was going into a Nederlander Theatre. At that time the only Nederlander theatre it could take was The Nederlander because Hairspray hadn't announced that it was going to close yet.

If Hair did play the Nederlander it would be like what happened with The Shaftsbury in London. Hair and Rent both played the same theatre there.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/18/08 at 10:35pm

I believe HAIR is affiliated with the Shuberts, no?
Updated On: 10/18/08 at 10:35 PM

[karenL2]

Posted: 10/18/08 at 10:54pm

Yankeefan007: You better tell the producers of Hair that, she was looking at the Simon a few weeks ago.

[Mealz1042]

Posted: 10/19/08 at 1:25pm

i really think the nederlander would suit HAIR quite well. The whole feel of that place. Also Rent could not have happened if it wasnt for Hair, so i think it would be very fitting for it to play there.

[Trekkie2]

Posted: 10/19/08 at 1:35pm

Yes, it would work better for both shows if it were the other way around. But Broadway is a business.

[sally1112]

Posted: 10/19/08 at 1:37pm

would it not make good business sense to put the shows where they work best?

[Smaxie]

Posted: 10/19/08 at 2:39pm

The Nederlander may have a certain image because of Rent, but that theatre was fully able to house large musicals in its past - productions like Purlie, Family Affair, Call Me Mister, Billy, Here's Where I Belong, etc. Pre-Rent, it was worn down, but had a certain casual elegance, which I'm sure will be restored. Guys & Dolls - a show that creates a fantasy version of Times Square - may feel absolutely right in a theatre right in the midst of Times Square.

A show like Guys & Dolls traditionally uses a lot of backdrops and wagons, which will be possible at the Nederlander. It's not a show that requires hydraulics or huge scenic effects, though I can't say what director Des McAnuff may have in store (and no matter what you may have thought of Dracula, McAnuff achiveved a lot of scenic effects in the Belasco, an even smaller theatre, though the Belasco happens to have a huge trap room).

I've also mentioned this fact before: the Nederlander has 1,200 seats. That's the same amount of seats that the Martin Beck/Al Hirschfeld Theatre had when Guys & Dolls played there, though an additional 200 seats were later added with a mezzanine extension in the mid '90s in anticipation of Whistle Down the Wind(!)

I'm thrilled that Rent got the Nederlander through the '90s and in effect, saved the house from demolition or conversion to another use. Pre-Rent, the Nederlander was a producer's absolutely last choice house. You only took that theatre when you had no other options. Now, I'm also thrilled that the Nederlander Organization is giving it a major restoration, and that it is being used not for hard-luck projects, but for a major, mainstream revival like Guys & Dolls.

Leave Guys & Dolls exactly where it is, thank you.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 10/19/08 at 2:49pm

The only thing I worry about is the RENTheads who are going to be VANDALIZING that theatre.