INTO THE WOODS Previews- Page 11

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 5:44am

bwayphreak234 said: "I think it's worth noting that the current long-running Broadway revival of CHICAGO also started at Encores! and was in the same boat as INTO THE WOODS is now when it made its transfer..."

Now this has me fantasizing about all the exciting actors that might be interested in stepping in for a short stint to keep it going (like what Cheyenne Jackson is doing). 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 8:02am

FANtomFollies said: "Now this has me fantasizing about all the exciting actors that might be interested in stepping in for a short stint to keep it going (like what Cheyenne Jackson is doing)."

THIS!

No doubt some performers who would not be attracted to (or available for) a long run might salivate at the chance to appear for a couple of months in a rapturously received revival. And so many juicy roles to cast!

 

[binau]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 8:07am

Does anyone have a sense of whether enough people would be buying tickets right now if Sara B wasn't in the show? I'm a little skeptical that it could have a long run without her, but I hope I'm wrong. Maybe they can bring NPH back if the show extends without her?

Updated On: 7/14/22 at 08:07 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 8:23am

The show is very well known all over the country due to school and amateur productions, and the movie helped that even more, but I do think Sara is a major part of the draw for ticket buyers. 

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 8:52am

I just looked and I notice that the "Buy Tickets" button for Piano Lesson has disappeared from Playbill.com, but their website still takes you to Seat Geek. And the Seat Geek page for Into the Woods, which used to only load calendars through August, now loads calendars for several months, although there are no performances listed for sale past August 21st. Not saying I know anything just reporting something I observed. Part of me will be bummed if this gets extended as I specifically bought tix for the closing performance, but most of me is excited at the thought of this running and maybe getting to see it more than once.

[Georgeanddot2]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 8:55am

I think the opportunities to stunt and star cast this show are pretty endless too.  There are a lot of really beloved characters in this show that a lot of actors would jump at the chance to play.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 9:30am

Sara needs to be in it if it extends. But an extension could just be through the fall — not an open ended run. And remember how hard it is to replace stars in critically-adored musicals; we just dealt with this with the Bobbie and Joanne replacements that never happened.

Chris Paterson needs to get his head out of his ass. 

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 9:30am

Extension and cast recording. Extension and cast recording. Extension and cast recording.

(I have no inside knowledge on this. I just want to Secret it into existence.)

[ACL2006]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 9:36am

Heard it's definitely extend. Not sure for how long.

[Georgeanddot2]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 9:38am

Anyone know what the deal was with Company? I heard they were talking to some big names and then the show was suddenly closing.  Anyone know what happened?

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:02am

Georgeanddot2 said: "Anyone know what the deal was with Company? I heard they were talking to some big names and then the show was suddenly closing. Anyone know what happened?"

You're dealing with tight schedules. With Joanne, it's following a Tony-winning performance (and one of Broadway's greatest stars) that nobody wants to be compared to; with Bobbie, the entire show falls on your shoulders and Katrina didn't necessarily make it look easy. From the producers' standpoint, if they couldn't get someone SIGNIFICANTLY bigger than Patti then there's no use in extending since interest in the property was already drying up.

Many star-driven shows in the modern era have tried to replace their stars after they leave, and many just fell flat. It can be better to just cut your losses. Remember Nick Jonas in How to Succeed? There were attempts to recast Chenoweth & Hayes in Promises/Promises. Evita wanted to bring in Antonio Banderas to replace Ricky Martin. Bernadette Peters was far from the first choice to replace Bette in Dolly, and it proved equally impossible to replace her after that. I don't know that Lea Michele is going to help FG much in the long run, but time will tell.

Another thing we have to remember is that everyone and their brother has been offered INTO THE WOODS between the Public, the film, the Hollywood Bowl, and various other productions. Recasting this specific production pretty much means finding actors bigger than the existing names –– and as Sara B keeps saying, it is lightning in a bottle.

Updated On: 7/14/22 at 11:02 AM

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:02am

Georgeanddot2 said: "Anyone know what the deal was with Company? I heard they were talking to some big names and then the show was suddenly closing. Anyone know what happened?"

They couldn’t secure any of said big names, so they would either need to continue to see grosses drop until they could secure a name or they could close up shop and enjoy another month with nearly sold out shows. The advance probably wasn’t looking good enough to hold out hope that maybe an A-lister would bite.

Hoping they’re able to attract some other top-notch casting for Into the Woods though. It would be such a joy to see this have a healthy, extended life with some other great actors. Jake Gyllenhaal as the Baker would just send me into musical theatre Heaven.

[BJR]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:19am

I think with D'arcy James replacing NPH, who replaced Borle, and now Cheyenne stepping in for Gavin, you can see there's a hunger for many to get to do this show. Oh, and as someone else mentioned earlier, LaChanze saying she'd like to do the witch.

An open ended run that deliberately put stars in for shorts run a la Chicago could definitely have a healthy run, given how great these starting numbers are.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:34am

Sondheim shows also just have a limited audience. Putting Beyonce into the show as Bobby is not going to suddenly make the material more appealing to a broader audience.  I think this revival played to a mostly New York audience. Those interested have largely seen the production, and frankly word of mouth was mixed. The show's run feels appropriate considering all this.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:56am

BJR said: "I think with D'arcy James replacing NPH, who replaced Borle, and now Cheyenne stepping in for Gavin, you can see there's a hunger for many to get to do this show. Oh, and as someone else mentioned earlier, LaChanze saying she'd like to do the witch."

These are not names who mean ANYTHING to the general ticketbuying public, beyond the theatre fans who already saw it at Encores and probably again with the Bway cast. We're talking about people who need to be able to convince vast numbers of people to see the show at an average price of $100+ per week, and are willing to step into an already-running show whose original cast was beloved by critics.

As QueenAlice says, Sondheim shows have a limited audience –– even this show, which is arguably the most vast Sondheim audience. Remember all the 2011 talk about FOLLIES extending or moving theatres or trying to get Evita to move? And then sales softened and by the time the run ended, it hadn't recouped and there would have been no sensible reason to extend.

Who was the first "stunt-cast" in CHICAGO? IIRC, after the OBC left, they were replacing them with just good theatre actors for a while and then more than a year into the run attempted the whole B-C-list celeb thing.

[binau]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 12:14pm

Well the Follies 2011 revival DID extend by 3 weeks (lol) but I know you are referring to the aspiration that was going on to try and get it into a longer-term run, which as you said ended up being a little overly ambitious as the sales dropped off. It seems like the healthy box office shelf life for these kind of prestigious New York audience shows [MY FAV] is often about 6 months max (e.g. Follies 2011, Company 2021, War Paint 2017, Bernadette in Dolly, Night Music etc.). 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 12:24pm

As has been noted though, Into the Woods isn't really like any other Sondheim show as it is performed around the country regularly at all levels of theater and got some exposure from the movie, regardless of how well it was received critically.

It is a known entity that seems likely to attract theatergoers who wouldn't come and see yet another production of Company or Sweeney, especially if there is a major familiar face or two in the cast.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 12:25pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Sara needs to be in it if it extends. But an extension could just be through the fall — not an open ended run. And remember how hard it is to replace stars in critically-adored musicals; we just dealt with this with the Bobbie and Joanne replacements that never happened.

Chris Paterson needs to get his head out of his ass."

 

Ha!  That would require an ARMY of surgeons -- that's how far up they'd need to go in order to extract!  This kid is by far the most insufferable of the theatre bloggers -- and that's saying something!!

[Georgeanddot2]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 12:29pm

Yeah Into the Woods doesn't really compare to Follies or Company.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 12:33pm

binau said: "It seems like the healthy box office shelf life for these kind of prestigious New York audience shows [MY FAV] is often about 6 months max (e.g. Follies 2011, Company 2021, War Paint 2017, Bernadette in Dolly, Night Music etc.)."

Yes, this is why it seems like the happy medium for this WOODS would be to extend through Jan 1 and maybe quit while they're ahead after that point.

I think some people are also overestimating interest in WOODS –– yes it is produced around the country and is somewhat more accessible, but musical revivals still have finite interest. And in the past decade we've had the Park production, the feature film, and Roundabout/Fiasco (which also toured). It would be premature to assume this could have any life beyond 6 months and beyond Bareilles' contract.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 12:44pm

In total agreement that this has a finite level of interest if all they’re banking on is a sellout hit. This doesn’t have the legs of Chicago, for example, because Chicago is an easier show to mount in many ways: smaller orchestra, smaller set, fewer props, and a lower level of difficulty for incoming replacements. This is no Pam Anderson/Wendy Williams vehicle, let’s just say that.

If they extend, it’ll likely be with most of this cast intact and only for a few months. But a gal can dream.