Jersey Boys Toronto will close Aug. 22 — Page 2

Downstairs. There's a trap that opens up behind the sofa-like thing and he goes down there with her. That's how it is in Vegas, too (I can't remember how it was in Melbourne). I think it's funnier when he swoons down the staircase, though, instead of just proudly popping out of the floor. :)

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TOguy, how do you know he has nothing to sell? Have you seen firsthand his calender for the coming year? How do you know he's not booked things for next season (since he does have a deal to program at the Four Seasons in the summers ahead)?

Yes you will, if you go to New York.

Ok, first of all, I do believe Tag was being sarcastic, and you're being serious. There is a difference between a producer and investor. Dancap is an investor in Memphis (with producing credit) and has nothing to do with the day to day operations of the show- including selling tickets.

Second- this is theatre. Things are planned out a year in advance. Look at Mirvish's last two announcements- Billy Elliot and Lion King- both announced A YEAR IN ADVANCE. You don't plop things down with 3 months notice. Theatres rely heavily on group sales and they need at least 6 months advance notice to sell a show.

So it stands. There is nothing for Dancap to sell.

And there is nobody to plan marketing strategies or build campaigns.

Updated On: 8/20/10 at 03:54 PM

Dancap has "Next To Normal" coming to Toronto, and he has money in "The Addams Family", which will being touring in the near future, so he isn't quite dead yet.

I, for one, am happy that Aubrey Dan is putting his best foot forward and trying to bring something more to Toronto. Having a Mirvish monopoly of the major downtown theatres is growing tiresome.

I wonder what Aubrey's next move will be.

Tourboi- a commercial producer eh? every producer gives advice. I guess I don't have to tell you that few lead producers or general managers listen to them, but they have to seem interested, since the money came from them. Experienced marketing and GM companies handle these aspects. Bottom line remains- dancaptickets.com will have nothing on it.

fashionguru_23- An official Next to Normal announcement has never been made. Aubrey also has money in Wicked, which of course Mirvish is bringing back in the fall- so that really doesn't mean anything. He also has money in In The Heights, but that's been all around Toronto (Buffalo, Cleveland last year, Rochester and Detroit next year) and no where near Dancap. He also had money in The Wedding Singer- but that tour never came to Toronto.

And what's with all the Memphis talk? Because it won a Tony and Aubrey has money in it? In the Heights won the same amount of Tonys, has been on the road for nearly a year, dates booked well into April and no Dancap- so why would Memphis be any different? Because he has an empty theatre now? The Elgin is empty most of the year- and he certainly can't fill more than 1,400 seats and the stage is... adequate. So then why no In The Heights? I heard the same talk last year at this time for In The Heights- but nothing has materialized and I don't see any reason why that would change for Memphis. But back to the topic- if these shows were coming, the proper way to deal with Jersey Boys is to announce the shows in advance and announce Jersey Boys' closing in advance. Or, in other words, have a plan.

And everyone saying they expect that he has something up his sleeve- look at the history. There is three years of Dancap to look at now. This was also stated many times last year and the year before. Look at the thread on the Toronto board called "Dancap" from 2008. TAG wrote that he expects something 'exciting and unexpected' from Aubrey after announcing a dud of a season. Yet nothing came. FRONTROWCENTRE said "Aubrey in his "predictably unpredictable" way said that there would be more news in a few weeks. " But nothing came.

And every year, Aubrey has announced something (or not) and cancelled it. Legally Blonde, 101 Dalmations, Dancin'. All booked or almost announced by Dancap only to have them fall through. Everyone had high hopes for replacements, but those replacements never came.


As for Jersey Boys- it should be transfered to the Panasonic, where it would have 2 or 3 more good profitable years in it.

On the other hand, I'd even wager that he could get another year out of Jersey Boys if took a month off (or 6) and moved it to the Elgin. He could probably get another 6 months out of it if he stopped discounting it, ran 5 or 6 shows a week and kept it at the Toronto Centre.

Updated On: 8/20/10 at 11:38 PM

I don't want to stomp on what seems like a lovely closing message from you on the topic tourboi, but... my point was sales really weren't dropping off, they were just the same (around 55%) for probably almost 6 months now. Of course slightly busier on the weekend, so to throw out the show was just the wrong way to wind down a great run- and agreed, congrats...

As for 5 or 6 shows a week- yes, you are paying the same rate for unions (I'm sure there would be no concession) and you are not making any more money- but you have full houses for those 5 or 6 shows, which works with the crowd theory and serves to build momentum. Same reason Mirvish closes balconies near the end of the run. Reduce the capacity, make it look like it's doing well... Some royalties are also effected by the weekly capacity of the show, so by reducing capacity, you may also reduce royalty payments. But it's much better for your 8,000 patrons to show up to 5 sold out shows than 8 1/2 full shows...

Then in that case, I'd simply close a section of seating, rather than reduce performances. Same effect.

And sales have remained steady, but perhaps the ADVANCE looked rather tepid compared to what it has been, that's what I'm saying. I could be wrong, but I'd suspect that's why its closing. Maybe the outlook beyond the summer and into the fall months is far below what the advance had been for months prior.

They could close the upper balcony, and few people below would be able to tell it was under sold.

Closing the balcony wouldn't matter much if the advance is really low from the fall onward, though. I'm pretty convinced that's the culprit here.

You just may be very right. I was told that there are shows in August that still haven't sold a ticket!

It's a shocker he could let it get to that point.