Imperial Theater New Tenant?

Does anyone know the next tenant at IMPERIAL THEATER ?
after HIGH FIDELITY...

Coram Boy is indeed the rumor, for spring 2007. The theater will probably lie dormant until then.

Billy Elliot comes in in fall 2008, so there will probably another limited run prior to that.

go on theatre.com

I imagine a few limited engagement shows would go in there, since Billy Elliot has it starting mid 2008.

Coram Boy sounds like a stretch for one of the street's great musical theatre houses.

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Updated On: 12/20/06 at 06:51 PM

For a play, though, Coram Boy is massive, and needs a big house. And the Imperial did house Chapter Two and the Liv Ullmann Anna Christie in my lifetime, so a play in the Imperial is not unheard of.

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But no large musical that would normally want to take the Imperial is going to take the house, knowing that they would also have to incur the expense of moving in fall of 2008, when the house is booked for Billy Elliot.

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>I've seen shows moved if a hit manages to slip in during the down time.<

Not so much in the last 15 years, though. Only deep-pocketed Disney (with Beauty and Lion King) and the relatively cheap to move Chicago have been able to afford it. A new musical big enough to want the Imperial really won't want to incur the expense of having to move after a year of business. And with the way long-running shows lock up the musical houses for decades these days, who says that you will necessarily have a open theater to move to? One always used to be able to count that in a pinch, the Minskoff would always be empty, but that won't be true again for years to come with Lion King in there...

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But twelve plus months with no guaranteed income is a huge gamble for a show that may open and, due to its natural regional Britishness, only last a few months on Broadway. I am amazed that the Imperial, of all theatres (and perhaps the Majestic) could ever be held that long for any show.

I guess the economics of Broadway have really changed....

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