It's Official: Pajama Game Will not Re-Open; Tour is Planned Instead.

[dirty rotten guy]

It's Official: Pajama Game Will not Re-Open; Tour is Planned Instead.#0

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:58pm

http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/8604

"The hallmark of aristocracy is responsibility. Oh brother, that got me, that did me in!"

Updated On: 7/10/06 at 03:58 PM

[best12bars]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#1

Posted: 7/10/06 at 4:01pm

Time to build a few new Broadway theatres, it seems.

If mega-musicals are going to "sit down" in the ones we have for 20 years, then we need more venues... NOW.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

---

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

[MissNY]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#2

Posted: 7/10/06 at 4:06pm

that's sad

[junglered]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#3

Posted: 7/10/06 at 4:10pm

This is probably a good decision. I loved TPG revival that featured Connick, O'Hara, and McKean. If Kathleen Marshall and company can find some strong leads to tour with this show, it will do well on the road.

[elphaba.scares.me]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#4

Posted: 7/10/06 at 5:09pm

No theatres?

Sounds more like "no star" to me.

And they're smart for making that decision...it's a lot of money to spend if you don't have a ticket seller like Connick or the Connick-O'Hara chemistry.

[COOOOLkid]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#5

Posted: 7/10/06 at 5:33pm

They REALLY need at least 2 or 3 new big theatre that can accommodate around 1500+ ppl...

"Hey, you! You're the worst thing to happen to musical theatre since Andrew Lloyd Webber!" -Family Guy

[RentBoy86]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#6

Posted: 7/10/06 at 5:35pm

Yeah, it was probably for the better. That's true, about the number of theaters. If most shows are going to take over a theater for 10+ years, it doesn't leave much room for everyone else. Now that the August Wilson and The Broadway theater are both going to be occupied for at least 3 years.

[Ourtime992]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#7

Posted: 7/10/06 at 5:38pm

I heard rumors months ago that the "plans" to re-open the show were largely about getting Tony votes anyway. I'm not the least bit surprised.

[jonartdesigns]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#8

Posted: 7/10/06 at 5:49pm

on the subject of needing new theaters, whatever happened to the rebuilding the on that urinetown was in (i think it was the henry miller could be totally wrong)?

"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel

[thespian geek]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#9

Posted: 7/10/06 at 5:52pm

I'm disappointed because I was hoping to get a chance to see Megan Lawrence as Gladys finally, but oh well. Things happen.

[gustof777]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#10

Posted: 7/10/06 at 5:53pm

yeah hopefully they will be able to bring back most of the cast for the tour but who knows? New theaters are ALWAYS a good thing :)

RIP Natasha Richardson. ~You were a light on this earth ~

[LuPonatic]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#11

Posted: 7/10/06 at 6:16pm

I have possibly a dumb question related to this. I was thinking about directing Pajama Game next summer at a community theatre will this ruin my chances of getting the rights.

[luvtheEmcee]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#12

Posted: 7/10/06 at 6:45pm

I'm just waiting for people to start whining that they were awarded the best revival Tony because people were so excited about it coming back, and that they must have lied just to get the Tony -- because, oh, look, they're touring instead.

A work of art is an invitation to love.

[courtnyj]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#13

Posted: 7/10/06 at 6:58pm

I'm glad I saw it when I did. Even though it meant staning in the cancellation line for four hours.

[Smaxie]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#14

Posted: 7/10/06 at 7:01pm

The new Henry Miller's Theatre opens in 2008. It will be a 900 seat playhouse. A new playhouse is always welcome, and I look forward to the reopened house, although the district really needs another musical theatre or two.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

[Rentaholic2]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#15

Posted: 7/10/06 at 7:13pm

it disturbs me that the largest Broadway theatre is smaller than any of the three theatres I normally attend (granted, they are in three different cities)

[courtnyj]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#16

Posted: 7/10/06 at 7:22pm

Broadway theatres shouldn't be giant 3,000 seaters. Most shows wouldn't be able to fill them 8 shows a week. Large theatres work well for limiited-runs and touring because it's easier to get people to fill the seats when the number of shows is limited. Besides, I like the smaller Broadway houses. More intimate and no opera glasses required! :)

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#17

Posted: 7/10/06 at 11:00pm

Wait, is that definite about the Henry Miller re- opening? And is it going to be a Broadway theater? I'm confused.

And um... what about the Cort, Longacre, Belasco, Palace, Music Box, etc.? I don't think the decision truly had anything to do with theaters.

[title of show] on Broadway. it's time. believe.

[singtopher]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#18

Posted: 7/10/06 at 11:06pm

"I'm just waiting for people to start whining that they were awarded the best revival Tony because people were so excited about it coming back, and that they must have lied just to get the Tony -- because, oh, look, they're touring instead."

Don't most people complain that most of the Tony Voters are people who present national tours around the country and therefore tend to vote for things that are likely to tour and bring them money?

"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert

[wickedrentq]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#19

Posted: 7/10/06 at 11:08pm

Wait a minute; hasn't it seemed Broadway's problems lately have been getting a show to be able to sit down in the big theatres like the Palace and the Hilton? To say there's not a big enough theatre with the Palace available is ridiculous.

I think that's where the trend of musicals going to the more traditional plays' theatres has come from. Producers want the smaller theatres where costs are lower, and the theatres will feel more filled, rather than have loads of empty seats.

If anything, trends have indicated that Broadway needs some more smaller theatres; not bigger ones.

"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli

[ThankstoPhantom]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#20

Posted: 7/10/06 at 11:22pm

I think a couple of 1,100 seaters should be in order. Not too big, not too small.

How to properly use its/it's: Its is the possessive. It's is the contraction for it is...

[Smaxie]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#21

Posted: 7/11/06 at 4:11am

- Yes, it's definite about the Henry Miller's. Basically, a new auditorium will be built behind the existing facade, although a couple of elements of the original theatre will be incorporated in the design.

- It's quite possible that other factors (such as not being able to find a starry replacement for Harry Connick Jr.) were the culprit here, and not the lack of a theatre, although most producers would only choose the Belasco, Cort or Longacre if absolutely nothing else is available. All three of those theatres have second balconies, which are difficult to sell, and the Cort and Belasco are off the beaten path, making them even less popular.

- The Palace was rumored for Legally Blonde for weeks, and The Pirate Queen for the Hilton, after the limited run of the Grinch, so neither of those theatres were options for The Pajama Game.

- 1,100 seats is fine for a small musical, but a mid-sized or large musical needs 1,400-1,600 seats in order to run profitably. The largest theatres - the New Amsterdam, Hilton and Gershwin - are 1,800 seats, which is fine when a show is a smash, like The Lion King and Wicked, but in general practice, 1,800 seats seems too large for most shows to fill.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

Updated On: 7/11/06 at 04:11 AM

[RentBoy86]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#22

Posted: 7/11/06 at 4:22am

I'd say a couple more moderate sized houses are needed. Like the Imperial or Eugene O'Neil or Jacbos. Big enough for a musical, but small enough for a play. Where is the Henry Miller? Is it off the beaten path? Last time I was in New York I went on a "theater tour" by myself to see all the different theaters, I don't remember ever coming across it.

[Smaxie]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#23

Posted: 7/11/06 at 4:30am

Henry Miller's Theatre is on West 43rd Street, just east of Broadway. It spent most of the past 40 years as a porno house and disco, but did enjoy a brief return to legitimate use as the original home of the Cabaret revival, and Urinetown.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

Updated On: 7/11/06 at 04:30 AM

[RentBoy86]

re: It's official: Pajama Game will not re-open.#24

Posted: 7/11/06 at 4:32am

It's a beautiful theater. I'll have to look for it next time I'm there. I remember seeing a picture of the Urinetown marquee and I love what they did with it. They need to buy back the Times Square Theater Church or whatever it's called. How big is that space?