HONEYMOON IN VEGAS struggling on Broadway- Page 26

[Auggie27]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 10:31am

At the Y Saturday, I noticed "Vegas" ads now appear regularly on Fox News, one of the four big screens on the cardio/training floor. Fascinating. Or not.

[newintown]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:03am

I agree that the hypothesized strategy is foolish (unless it somehow, freakishly, pays off).

[HogansHero]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:12am

@pinto--here are some definitions of silly:
1. Saying you know something that is "unknowable."
2. Saying you have the "pulse" when you haven't even seen the shows in question.
3. Post hoc corroboration, regardless.

That's not an exhaustive list, but it'll give you a start in your education.

@newintown--bearing in mind just how freakish that would be. It is also possible that a revival of Glory Days will take Broadway by storm and beat out the revivals of Carrie and Moose Murders that are playing down the street from it. Updated On: 3/9/15 at 11:12 AM

[Traci]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:28am

@ljay889, I got Left Orchestra row Q seat 27; which was all the way on the end.

"Mezz was more than half empty on Saturday night, when I checked on Ticketmaster hours before the show."

Sadly this doesn't surprise me at all.

Updated On: 3/9/15 at 11:28 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:28am

"Lol okay we'll see who's silly in a month and a half and see who REALLY has their finger on the pulse of broadway"

Since you don't live in New York, aren't working in the industry, and are a college freshman, it's not you. Just by default.

[MOUSTACHA]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 12:20pm

Disclaimer: I haven't seen the show

Honeymoon will probably get nominated for something (if the review had any truth in it), but I suspect the 15+ shows opening in the next six weeks will swallow up any air in the room in terms of marketing. Likely Honeymoon will not have the means to keep itself above the noise.

If they make it to nominations, they'll do something similar to 'Bridges of Madison County'. Give it a week or two, watch the advance, and likely close.

What they are doing is risky, but not unprecedented. Gentleman's guide laid low throughout the season last year (albeit in a smaller theatre), picked up the Tony and gained traction. If the producers believe in their product that much and it's worth it for them to make the gamble, then who can fault them for that? (Besides their investors)

EDIT: Grammatical/Spelling Corrections



Updated On: 3/9/15 at 12:20 PM

[brucebossa]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 12:25pm

GENTLEMEN'S GUIDE received a LOT of nominations - I don't think HONEYMOON will receive anywhere near that number.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 12:35pm

Gentleman's Guide was making more money at this time last year than Honeymoon is now, and it's a much smaller cast, theater, and orchestra. They also did reasonably well over the holidays in 2013 and probably weren't hemorrhaging money in the same way that Honeymoon has to be.

They also opened in a much weaker/less buzzy season and gradually picked up steam with word of mouth and with the Tony nominations. Honeymoon has been performing for 4 months with no change in grosses even over the lucrative holiday weeks in December.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 12:44pm

what distinguishes Gents Guide from Honeymoon is the degree of the losses. GG had a weak box office early on (mid 4s through the winter, after a christmas week of over 800k and and a december in the 5s) but nothing like Honeymoon, which (in a bigger theatre and a bigger budget) is doing mid 3s this winter (under 300k last week!) and a remarkably inert xmas week of of less than half what GG did (also, at a lower price point). At this point, conservatively, Honeymoon has lost close to $5mil over and above its capitalization. That means, in effect, it is now just about a $20 million show. If it is not in fantasyland, it is at least in major miracle territory.

[ggersten]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 1:38pm

13: 22 previews - 105 performances
Bridges: 37 previews - 100 performances
Parade: 35 previews - 85 performances
Urban Cowboy: 26 previews - 60 performances

Congrats to Honeymoon on having its 61st performance on March 8 (I believe), moving past Cowboy on the JRB list of shows.

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 3:32pm

Wrong wrong wrong all of you are wrongggg

[ggersten]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 4:09pm

Um, Phil - you mean Honeymoon didn't have its 61st performance?

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 4:17pm

To what degree are we wrong? Honeymoon in Vegas made the least amount of money of any show on Broadway last week. That is a fact.

[ethan231h]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 4:18pm

Phillypinto, did you finally see the show? I think we would all like to know what you thought, oh and what did you think of the book, oh and was the theatre close to or full?

[philly03]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 4:28pm

Instead of wasting all this money on Broadway they should try to scoop up empty touring slots with this money and pay for a Tony Awards slot to help promote it. "Direct from Broadway" and since they have so much faith in Tony Danza have him do the role in a few of the larger markets (DC, LA, Chicago) if not the whole thing.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 4:51pm

Philly03--I think you misapprehend the situation. The only "they" involved in Tony Danza and his people; everyone else washed their hands of this ages ago. So unless Danza wants to go on tour (and I doubt he does), that's not gonna happen. Whatever faith the producers had in Danza before the show came in, they have long since processed reality and would never bet on him on the road, even if he did. Sadly, I think what this is about is that he knows this is the end of the road, and he is willing to spend huge amounts of money paving a few extra miles.

[philly03]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 5:01pm

Oh trust me I agree HogansHero. This entire thing is a vanity project... But if the show runs a certain amount of performances the producers then get certain rights/incentives for future productions (usually around 100 total perfs) to actually attempt to make some money.

[brucebossa]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 5:05pm

So is it Danza himself spending like $250K or more a week to keep this open? Or blind friends of his loaning the production money? Obviously the "reserve fund" was swallowed up in the first month or two. I guess those never-ending TAXI residuals come in handy.

[philly03]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 5:13pm

Danza is worth millions, but I would assume even he has the end. I don't think he's the only one supplying, but he's definitely supplying a huge chunk of it (under the production company name Metro Card).

[HogansHero]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 5:27pm

the largest investor in the production was the rich Rich family (of coffee creamer fame). I understand they are not still on this ride, and that all of the priority loans have been from or through Danza or his long time manager..

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 6:57pm

Tony Danza is doing s "Playing Favorites" hour on the Sirius Radio Sinatra channel. You are supposed to play at least half Sinatra and the other half can be anything you choose. (This may be a rerun.)

Tony is playing every song in "Honeymoon."

If they stick it out long enough, this may become a cult show. See the show that would not fold no matter how much money it burned through and how sparse the audience.

[brdway411]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 7:21pm

Saw the show, not the movie. Went because it was on TDF. It was fun, but much like Catch Me If You Can, it's cute, but not great. I started to get bored. Surprised this is not catching on with the tourists. But what do I know, I loved Bridges, and Big Fish.

[philly03]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:02pm

"this may become a cult show"

Yeah, but unlike other "cult shows" this show has no audience. Something like the original Jekyll & Hyde ran because fans came back & back - I haven't heard this about Honeymoon. In fact, judging by attendance, I'm not sure what number of people on this board have seen it.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:05pm

They'll always have Phillypinto!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:05pm

They'll always have Phillypinto!