Jersey Boys to Close August 22nd

A week after celebrating its millionth customer, the Toronto production of Jersey Boys announced that it will be closing on Aug. 22 after a run of two years and 830 performances.

The Tony Award-winning story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons has been incredibly successful, with record-breaking companies around the world, and its solid run in Toronto is no exception.

It also now stands as the longest running show in the history of the Toronto Centre for the Arts.

The Toronto team of Des McAnuff and Sergio Trujillo were responsible for the show’s direction and choreography, respectively and McAnuff had always insisted “how proud I am to be associated with the production of this show in my hometown.”

The show has also been important to its Toronto cast members, most notably Jeff Madden, whose performance as Valli made him a star and earned him a Dora Award.

Producer Aubrey Dan said: "We owe a huge thanks to the City of Toronto. (It) embraced Jersey Boys from the start and it was thrilling to see audiences celebrate this incredible story and timeless music."
The Toronto Star: Jersey Boys to close Aug. 22

R.I.P Toronto Centre for the Arts and Dancap. Neither of you will ever have a show as successful again. Shame on you Dancap for giving up on it, or closing it so you can put another one of your stinkers in there instead. What has worked for you besides Jersey Boys? Right, nothing. So you kick out your crown jewel for what? Memphis? It'll close in 3 months under your watch. Are you telling me you can't sell the second biggest show on Broadway? A show that makes $1.6 million a week on the road?

And some observations:

Who announces that a show is closing on the eve of a long weekend? The whole point of announcing that a show is going to close is to sell out the remaining shows, otherwise you would just announce a 'final block' extension. Everyone in Canada will miss this story- they're with their families, they're at the cottage and they're at BBQs. It's just like doing a press release on a Friday. It's only done for stories you want to be ignored. So you can't even capitalize on the momentum from this announcement. Get some help Aubrey.

Well, at least Dancap now has a home for Next to Normal next year.

Toguy what's with the Dancap hate tonight?

Anyway, Dancap could have the Four Seasons Centre next summer, the Music Hall or the TCA. None of those venues are really appropriate for N2N. Apparently Dancap is also trying to get use of the Sony Centre (which is too big as well). Something like the Elgin (or maybe the Bluma?) would work.

Tag: it has become blatantly obvious this week that the Aubrey has no idea how to produce and he's just wasting everyone's time, including his own. The 1/2 price sale (which just makes the show look like a stinker) failed and there's a right way and a wrong way to close a long running show. You don't show up and surprise the cast with the announcement after everyone has been telling them it's fine. It's one thing to be involved in a series of second tier shows that don't sell well (including a regional production of Miss Saigon and a tour of South Pacific), but if you can't sell the second biggest show on Broadway? The show's capacity has been hovering around 55% for a long time. To suddenly close it because your ideas aren't working is just foolish.

And tourboi- there will be a Jersey Boys tour, but I doubt Dancap will have anything to do with it after their Toronto effort. And speaking of the right way to close a show- the proper way to close this show would have been at a set point in time, with a tour to follow.

Updated On: 8/20/10 at 02:40 AM

Bottom line: no plan. I can understand closing a show for a newer one- that's a plan, but there's nothing on the way. There was no exit plan and this is a knee-jerk reaction to a slow start to the summer and the fact that people are waiting until the last minute to buy tickets. I'm sure he put all his faith in the 1/2 price sale and when it tanked he bailed. A major part to any business plan is the exit strategy. The show was "going until the end of the year" just a couple of weeks ago. The cast had contracts until the end of the year. Someone on the other board mentioned that they were in final callbacks for replacements. As for the future of Dancap- there is one thing every business must do each day and that is sell something. Come the end of August- Dancap will have nothing to sell for the first time ever...

Updated On: 8/20/10 at 01:00 AM

Check your facts, TOGuy... SOUTH PACIFIC is EQUITY, not non eq.

A friend of mine works on the tour.

Not yelling. It's not uncommon to type titles in caps, and capping Equity was just to emphasize a point. No yelling.

Koombaya people, koomaya.

Dancap also going out on a whimper....

http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20100723.escenic_1650477/BNStory/Entertainment/

jerseyboystoronto.com/goodbye

$35 balcony tickets for the weekend...

Wed- Fri is pretty much sold out.

what's with the Dancap hate ?

Yes, I don't understand all the sniping either.

Dancap made J BOYS happen and got a very successful 2-year run out of it. (When was the last time Toronto had a big scale musical that lasted 2 years? Even SOUND IOF MUSIC only lasted 16 months.)

From the start people complained that that downtown audiences would'd go "all the way up there," and they have been. The show made the TCA viable again after 10 years of being mostly unused.

Now, Dancap has been limited by available product (some of you don't seem to get that not every show on tour in the USA has clearance to cross the boarder)and available space. GRINCH was scuttled because the Sony Centre was not going to be ready in time. Some of the shows were of lesser quality. (HAPPY DAYS?) Some got mixed reviews (TOXIC AVENGER) or worse. But others did well: DROWSY CHPERONE didn't exactly sell out but did generally good busienss. ANNE OF GREEN GABLES did quite well especially with all the extra matiness geared to schools.

The competition has forced Mirvish productions to get more agressive with their programming, after a few lacklustre seasons (though to be fair they too were again limited by available product.)

It is also very hard for any new theatre company to compete against established groups which already have huge bases of current and former subscribers: Mirvish, Canstage, Soulpepper, Tarragon. COC, NBOC.

The way the sniping goes you'd thing people here want Dancap to disappear and for no one else to even try.

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I also meant to add that wouldn't it really have made more sense to announce a season while something was still running? Catch that captive audience that bought into your shows once - either Jersey Boys or Saigon/South Pacific. I know, there are reasons for the delays... but it still seems like just one more example of the company dropping the ball when it comes to marketing.

There is no reason a tour can't cross the border. Upon signing onto a tour contract, most producers have a clause stating that the employee must have a valid passport in case the production is booked into a Canadian market. It can be a royal pain to get a show across the border, but it's not like some productions are unable. But a tour isn't going to go to a place without a booking from a presenter.

The reason those shows listed didn't play Toronto? Because Mirvish (at that time the only presenter in TO) didn't book them. Simple as that.