Is Tootsie Closing Next?- Page 2

[The Other One]

Posted: 7/19/19 at 7:54am

I don't think the controversy has anything to do with the grosses. I just don't think people are particularly interested. No one really asked for a musical version of this movie."

I think you hit the nail on the head with this.  It's similar to whether or not a movie should be remade.  If it's good enough to like but somehow flawed, it is worthy of a remake.  If it's outstanding to begin with, it probably shouldn't be remade.  Or musicalized, whatever the case may be.

Most of the people I know who have seen the show have liked it, with reservations.  Nearly everyone I know who's seen the movie loves it, without reservations, to this day.

[brian1973]

Posted: 7/19/19 at 9:12am

The score is awful and it’s the ugliest looking show on Broadway. I saw it a few weeks ago on a Saturday night and it was empty. It will be lucky to last into the fall.

[BroadwayBen]

Posted: 7/19/19 at 2:53pm

I saw the show, and I think the grosses are dropping because it falls into that  "Wedding Singer" "Natasha Pierre" category of Good but not Great.   You don't race from the show and feel like you need to tell friends they must see it.  You "sort of enjoyed it" as Mr. Sondheim wrote, and in today's hyper Broadway climate, that's harder and harder to sell.   I think now Moulin Rouge is going to grab a lot of attention for awhile which will make it even harder to be the big new show.   Surely Hadestown will have that for a time because of The Tony, but who knows how long that can last these days.  People are still clamoring for Hamilton as the "hot" new show. 

[LuPita2]

Posted: 7/19/19 at 3:10pm

I saw it a few weeks ago on a Saturday night and it was empty.

Untrue. 

[Huss417]

Posted: 7/19/19 at 4:01pm

LuPita2 said: "I saw it a few weeks ago on a Saturday night and it was empty.

Untrue."

Take a look on Ticketmaster for this Saturday night. It would be easier to count the sold seats. Not a good sign if this is the weekend business.

 

[LuPita2]

Posted: 7/19/19 at 4:07pm

I don't need to take a look at anything. Three of my friends attended a Saturday night performance a few weeks ago as well, and it was not empty. I guess people don't understand what an empty theater means.  Most seats were sold and everyone had a great time. 

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 7/19/19 at 4:09pm

LuPita2 said: "I saw it a few weeks ago on a Saturday night and it was empty.

Untrue."

Were you there? If it was the Saturday night of 4th of July weekend, I don't doubt the theatre looked especially undersold. "Empty" is subjective, but I got the point.

[Huss417]

Posted: 7/19/19 at 4:16pm

LuPita2 said: "I don't need to take a look at anything. Three of my friends attended a Saturday night performance a few weeks ago as well, and it was not empty. I guess people don't understand what an empty theater means. Most seats were sold and everyone had a great time."

A few weeks ago was quite different then it seems to be now. And no problem with you not taking a look just wanted to point it out. 

 

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 7/19/19 at 4:17pm

LuPita2 said: "Most seats were sold and everyone had a great time."

"Everyone had a great time?" How could you possibly know that? 

[LuPita2]

Posted: 7/19/19 at 4:18pm

Yeah, super empty.....



 

[LuPita2]

Posted: 7/19/19 at 4:19pm

"Everyone had a great time?" How could you possibly know that?"

Hm, how would I know that my friends had a great time? Communication? 

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 7/19/19 at 4:33pm

LuPita2 said: ""Everyone had a great time?" How could you possibly know that?"

Hm, how would I know that my friends had a great time? Communication?"

I guess I was just confused by your oddly constructed sentence. To me it read, "Most seats were sold and everyone (in those seats) had a great time." Otherwise, I'm not sure what the number of seats sold has to do with how your friends enjoyed themselves. I can't be the only one who thought that's what you meant.

Updated On: 7/19/19 at 04:33 PM

[BroadwayMan5]

Posted: 7/20/19 at 2:02am

I was at Tootsie tonight and the orchestra was full, maybe just a small handful of empty seats at most. I did not see the mezz.

 

i enjoyed the show (the book more than the score as everyone says) and the crowd seemed to be having a great time. Santino was awesome.

[LuPita2]

Posted: 7/20/19 at 4:38am

There are tons of photos all over social media of the theater and it's always filled for the most part. It seems to be the general consensus that it's a good show, but this thread is full of negative people making up stories (the theater was empty) simply because they did not like it and wanted a dramatic thread title. Sad.  

Updated On: 7/20/19 at 04:38 AM

[David10086]

Posted: 7/20/19 at 8:07am

I was in NYC two weeks ago, as well for a Sunday - Tuesday short visit. Saw 'Waitress' on Sunday afternoon, and was looking for something on Monday night. The choices were CHICAGO (have seen it twice - no desire to  see it again), PHANTOM (have seen it four times on B'way) and TOOTSIE.  My theater friends encouraged me to see PHANTOM over TOOTSIE . I respect their opinions, as they're all involved with musical theater for the past 30 years and so I went with PHANTOM (now for the fifth time) and enjoyed it as much as I did the first time.  The theater was packed on the Monday after July 4.

As for TOOTSIE, their general critique of the show was: 'Cute show' but nothing memorable. Not too humorous, and the songs were 'meh'. Each of them have worked with Santino in the past, and thinks he did a great job with what was given to him, but that was the problem - he should have been given something better to work with. Much better. 

[greygarden]

Posted: 7/20/19 at 11:15am

Saw this the last week in June. Fairly well attended but it was a big disappointment. Expected much more from it. The score was too much like The Full Monty and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. In a way it was unnecessary. Turning it into a musical added nothing. Changing the setting from a daytime Tv soap to a Broadway musical created a basic flaw in the plot. In the film Dorothy becomes popular with the TV audience because the show is live and she goes off script. In the musical no audience has yet seen her and all the changes she initiates are purely with the show's creative staff who would not react in the way they do. This really affects the plot. It was OK but nothing special. For it to have have any chance of running it should be building its audience not losing it.

[RWPrincess]

Posted: 7/20/19 at 2:02pm

I’ve seen the show twice and would not hesitate to see it a 3rd time. Both times I’ve gone the Orchestra has been full and the crowd seemed fully engaged. Is it perfect? No. But I found it to be very enjoyable and a fun escape for a couple hours. So I hope it sticks around for a while.

[taylortrensch]

Posted: 7/20/19 at 2:13pm

i'd like to see this show on my august trip before it makes its way to the chopping block. for those who have seen it - what's a better option for me to get tickets ? should i rush or enter the lottery? or both? 

[SpookyFish13]

Posted: 7/20/19 at 3:44pm

taylortrensch said: "i'd like to see this show on my august trip before it makes its way to the chopping block. for those who have seen it - what's a better option for me to get tickets ? should i rush or enter the lottery? or both?"

I’ve read on here that the Tootsie lottery is almost imposible not to win. Often shows that are under-selling will just give all lottery entries tickets. I’ve also heard for this show you’re safe to walk up to the box office 2-3 hours before curtain and ask for a rush ticket. No need to queue early or anything. Good luck!

[MollyJeanneMusic]

Posted: 7/20/19 at 6:17pm

If any of you like the TV show The Good Place, I must admit, from what I’ve heard, this show sounds like the perfect show for The Medium Place.  Good writer but weak score, funny book that is rather subjective, won Tonys by “default” against shows that could’ve won in other seasons, promoting feminism but running into other controversies, boring technical design but you get Hans from Frozen as the lead and Bellatrix from AVPM in the ensemble, selling decently well but not great.  It’s perfectly mediocre.

[jpbran]

Posted: 7/20/19 at 6:25pm

Take a look on Ticketmaster for this Saturday night. It would be easier to count the sold seats. Not a good sign if this is the weekend business.

Looking now, a couple of hours before showtime, the orchestra looks about 95% sold. Maybe 2/3 sold in the mezzanine. Maybe they unloaded a bunch at TKTS today? 

[MVintheheartland]

Posted: 7/22/19 at 3:54pm

I saw it in Chicago, maybe there were changes for New York, but I just couldn't get into it. It was built up as "the funniest show in a long time", but I just felt lukewarm about it, maybe the whole subject matter just bothered me. 

[BritCrit]

Posted: 7/22/19 at 4:07pm

MollyJeanneMusic said: "If any of you like the TV show The Good Place, I must admit, from what I’ve heard, this show sounds like the perfect show for The Medium Place. Good writer but weak score, funny book that is rather subjective, won Tonys by “default” against shows that could’ve won in other seasons, promoting feminism but runninginto other controversies, boring technical design but you get Hans from Frozen as the lead and Bellatrix from AVPM in the ensemble, selling decently well but not great. It’s perfectly mediocre."

When you bring up Fontana’s primary claim to infamy in a comment which begins my mentioning a TV show headed by Princess Anna herself (i.e Kristen Bell) you give fans a lot of strange ideas...

BTW - Broadway League revealed this week’s grosses, and they’re not great news for Tootsie. Attendance and earnings are slightly up, but the grosses are still only 55% of potential, leaving the show in the same bracket as the numerous musicals which have announced closing dates...

[jkstheatrescene]

Posted: 7/22/19 at 4:36pm

Last week (ending 7/21/19), Tootsie played to 75% capacity. The Marquis has 1602 seats. That translates to an average of 400.5 seats PER performance empty. Chances are pretty good that most of those seats are early in the week performances, which means a Saturday - matinee or evening - could be even sold out, and not look empty. But that also means that half or more of the seats might be empty on a Tuesday night.

So it is possible to see Tootsie and accurately describe the theater as feeling "empty." Just as true, if you saw the show at a weekend performance, you can accurately describe the theater as "packed." It can be both, really.

But the fact remains that 3,204 seats went unsold last week, which equals 2 whole performances worth of seats were not taken.  If the show can survive on basically giving 2 shows a week for free, more power to them.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 7/22/19 at 4:41pm

BritCrit said: "
BTW - Broadway League revealed this week’s grosses, and they’re not great news for Tootsie. Attendance and earnings are slightly up, but the grosses are still only 55% of potential, leaving the show in the same bracket as the numerous musicals which have announced closing dates..."

 

The show grossed almost a million this week. That is not the same bracket as the closing shows, most of which were in the $400,000-$700,000 range. The percentage doesn't matter except as an indication of demand. 55% for Tootsie (which is in a large theatre) is a lot better than 53% for Be More Chill at the Lyceum, because there is literally more money being made at Tootsie.