Its Official, Second Stage has closed on the Helen Hayes

Deal closed yesterday, welcome to Broadway 2ST

helen-hayes-theatre-sold-for-25-million-fourth-nonprofit-on-broadway

I agree.

^

In what way is this bad news???

Devonian-I did not mention the successful or semi-successful shows. My point was that a majority of the shows booked into the Hayes would provide a damn good answer to the question "Name six shows that didn't belong in a Broadway theatre." I expect that 2ST will have its successes and its failures in the venue, just as they have in the current venues. But I don't think they are going to curate a series of variety acts there.

I agree RippedMan! The Helen Hayes was perfect for small musicals like Xanadu and Rock of Ages. It Shoulda Been You would have done well in this theatre too. The Honeymooners would do well in there also

Whomever wrote the BWW article for this just skimmed the Deadline article, and not very well. They said Next to Normal was at the Helen Hayes, when it was at The Booth. The Deadline article clearly states that Rock of Ages, Xanadu, and Torch Song Trilogy were at the Helen Hayes, and that Next to Normal got its start at 2nd Stage.

Deadline: Although its size makes it a challenge to produce profitably, the Helen Hayes has shown with such long-running engagements as Rock of Ages, Xanadu and Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy that with careful management, money can be made. More important for Second Stage, it will provide the company, where such shows as the prize-winning musical Next To Normal got their start, with one of the 40 theaters eligible for Tony Awards.

BWW: The smallest Broadway theatre, the Helen Hayes seats 579 theoretically may struggle with profitability due to its size, though it has housed Broadway engagements of successful shows such as XANADU, Harvey Fierstein's TORCH SONG TRILOGY, and Pulitzer Prize-winner NEXT TO NORMAL.

Now that's just lazy plagiarism.

Updated On: 4/18/15 at 01:06 PM

What I'm more curious about actually is what 2ST plans on doing during what appears to be a year and a half long and $30 million plus renovation of the theater. Based on the start times of the renovation (2016) and the onset of programming (17-18 Season), I'm assuming that they haven't yet raised the lion's share of the money necessary for the renovation. If it took them this long to cobble together the funds for the purchase, I'm imagining the rest of calendar 2015 is going to be another massive fundraising crunch for them.

I actually don't disagree with that concept. If the theater is going to remain dark and large scale renovation work isn't starting until next year. Once 2ST officially takes possession of the theater, they should look to renting the theater for a limited engagement as an ancillary source of funds. I'd imagine THE HONEYMOONERS would not be a good fit for this timing wise as that production would want to be able to have a much longer run.

Small musicals have a venue in NWS

The Honeymooners is looking for Broadway & Not Off.

"Devonian-I did not mention the successful or semi-successful shows."

There was no more successful show in that theater than Rock Of Ages. You may not enjoy the show but it crushed it at that theater and made a lot of people really happy... including the theater owners.

Hack, that's true and I didn't answer the question correctly. My original list was of shows I don't think belong on Broadway, and then I somehow pivoted to the success question.

The Helen Hayes really is in desperate need of a renovation. I saw Rock of Ages in December, and it looked pretty broken down and old to me lol.

I hope they keep the name Helen Hayes, but on the Patty and Emily podcast, they said that they would name it after a company or something like that, like the Papa Johns Theatre or the Dunkin Donuts Theatre. Gosh i hope they won't call it that!!