Little mermaid sells out for the rest of it's run — Page 2

Good for them.

I was in the city today and saw a group of 5 girls about 7 years old or so (along with 2 boys who didn't look nearly as thrilled) literally skipping down the street singing "Under the Sea" on the way to the show. Probably one of the sweetest things I have seen in a VERY VERY long time. Made me smile.

Yep.

Im almost positive

Drew, Norm, Chelsea, and Faith Ecsepcially will have no trouble finding work.

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I think that if the show wasn't so bad, the reviews wouldn't have been so bad and they "might've" kept it running longer.

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I think Disney chooses not to announce when it's shows recoup.

Well I'm not 100% sure but I keep trying to find an article about those shows recouping on google and I can't.

I was very disappointed in this show. The only thing I liked about the production was the score. I didn't like the plot changes, especially how they eliminated Vanessa from the show. Not to mention the mediocre sets and costumes (although I did like some of them). I loved the Disney movie, and it had a lot of potential to be amazing on Broadway. Too bad it didn't attract audiences as long as Beauty & the Beast. Glad to see the show is closing on a high note.

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Yes, when I saw Beauty & the Beast, I was awed by moments in the show and left smiling. I did not have the same reaction with the Little Mermaid. But I suppose younger girls will be more enthralled with the show.

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"But I don't understand why they are closing it if when are selling out and why they closed Beauty and the Beast to put it in?
Why does Disney always close the good shows? Aida, Beauty and the Beast? They seem to be doing fine."

First of all, Little Mermaid is only selling out now because it is closing. All the people who procrastinated on taking their kids to the show are now rushing to take them before it closes. Little Mermaid probably wasn't pulling in enough to pay its weekly nut and therefore losing money.

They closed Beauty and the Beast to make room for the Little Mermaid, or so I heard. I don't know the long version of the story, but that is what I read on here.

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"I was quite interested in the recoupment of this show so I kind of did some math on it. i figured the investment was around $25 million, with a running cost of $675,000/wk. Those may be a little high but it was a rough estimate. So after running for 92 weeks so far, with 2 more to go, it will fall JUST short of recoupment. If my figures are correct it will have needed about $64 million to recoup and by the end of its run, it will have made about $63 million. So if my investment and running cost figures are high, this show may have recouped and they plan to let us know later."

Nope. Lest we forget about Adrian Bailey's accident and subsequent medical bills, OSHA fines, and other expenses, this show actually could NOT recoup...it wasn't closing because they weren't making enough money...they were closing because they would never make enough to recoup. All of that gets added to the show's budget (i.e., weekly running costs) and was just too much for the show to absorb. Plus Disney had to pay high salaries to get people to be in the show. They had a very difficult time finding replacements.

"This isn't necessarily true. During the summer months all disney and family oriented shows usually do very well and even without the closing notice TLM would probably be doing very good business. The issue falls with the fall and winter months when business is very slow especially in this economy. Disney knowing this let the show run till the end of the summer racking in some last minute cash."

Yeah, I am aware of the natural rise in ticket sales in the summer followed by the drop in the fall. I was referring to the fact that it is actually selling out the rest of its run because it is closing. Without the closing, it still would be doing great, but I don't think it would have sold out the rest of its summer performances.

Compare the money it is making now ($1 million+) and the gross percent of potential against what it was making earlier this summer. Earlier this summer, it wasn't doing bad, but it wasn't selling out. You can see a spike in sales between June and August. Yes, the average ticket price is higher, but so is attendance.

And I don't know for a fact if it was making enough money to pay the weekly nut, but if it wasn't earlier this summer, then it probably wouldn't during the fall/winter months. Also, as Fosse76 brought up, it is highly unlikely they would recoup.

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Updated On: 8/21/09 at 02:04 PM

didn't they at one point plan on having the whole Vanessa story and having Ursula fly up like Elphaba did in Wicked? I wonder why they dropped them both. i understand why they might drop the Vanessa story, because it might be confusing on stage..... but it isn't that hard to fly up a character and have Ursula turn into a giant. Anyone know why they didn't do that?

Updated On: 8/22/09 at 02:37 AM