MIRVISH ANNOUNCES BIG SEASON

So TO Sum It up

1: Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
2: Spamalot
3: Ledgends!
4: Pippin
5: Orpheus Decending
Wicked
6: The Phantom Of The Opera
7: E-Dentitiy

From: http://www.mirvish.com/Subscriptions/2007Upcoming/

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I still have to look twice whenever I see Legends is coming to Broadway. It baffles me.

Ugh, the only thing I'm remotely excited for is Orpheus.

Hah I'm excited just because Martin Short, Spamalot and Phantom are all playing the Canon, which is beside my school. There will inevitabley be many sightings of the stars of these shows (as was the case with Wicked when it played there...I used to bump into cast members on the street all the time).

But yeah...overall not so impressed with their lineup. Hopefully LOTR prices will go down so I can just see that next year, again.

Akiva

I was thinking that too. I would of never expected Pippin, where did it come from, or where is it for that matter.

Any more info on the press conference? Who was there? Any presentations? etc...

Agreed. Most of the line-up is very disappointing for a city of Toronto's size, and love of theatre. The Mirvishes could have done much better.

anf, agreed that there are many things that the general public doesn't know, or understand but I wouldn't consider everyone here on a level with the general public. Maybe all of those factors you listed DID enter into the equation when this list of shows was finalized but the question has to be, why is it that so many other cities are able to get such a good selection of shows and Toronto isn't? It can't all be blamed on the producers or tour operators. I know for a fact that that isn't the case in more than one show which people have indicated they'd love to have seen and yet the Mirvishes have made little to no effort to secure. In a city the size of Toronto, with the huge number of theatres available, and a public hungry for ways to spend their entertainment dollars, David Mirvish has dropped the ball. He should take a cue from Marty Bragg, who continues to do an excellent job at providing the Toronto public with quality theatre (and at less expensive prices!).

I definitely did not see Pippin coming. I will be there.

I have a question, could Piazza still play one of the theatres even though it isn't in the season a la Cats last year, or was Cats a part of the season?

anf, agreed that there are many things that the general public doesn't know, or understand but I wouldn't consider everyone here on a level with the general public. Maybe all of those factors you listed DID enter into the equation when this list of shows was finalized but the question has to be, why is it that so many other cities are able to get such a good selection of shows and Toronto isn't? It can't all be blamed on the producers or tour operators. I know for a fact that that isn't the case in more than one show which people have indicated they'd love to have seen and yet the Mirvishes have made little to no effort to secure. In a city the size of Toronto, with the huge number of theatres available, and a public hungry for ways to spend their entertainment dollars, David Mirvish has dropped the ball. He should take a cue from Marty Bragg, who continues to do an excellent job at providing the Toronto public with quality theatre (and at less expensive prices!).

A great deal of it has to do with the fact that a lot of theatres in other cities are owned by Clear Channel, so they all go through that circuit... and Toronto is not as big as a city like Chicago. We do eventually get a lot of the first rate tours... just not all in one season.

Booking too many shows also may be overkill. There's only so much that one market can take, and if you follow the grosses, you'd notice that a lot of tours that go into cities that have a huge season tend to lose money. For example, San Francisco... when the HAIRSPRAY tour played there the first time, it actually lost money. There was just too much competition.

Expecting them to book every single tour that goes out on the road would be overkill unless they are sure it's not gonna lose them a lot of money.

It's not a matter of booking it just because it's a good show, but there's also supply and demand.

You also have to look at what theatres are available. A show like SPAMALOT is playing 9 weeks at the Canon. Before that is a 5-week run of Martin Short. So from May 27 to September you have that one huge theatre booked up.

Booking musicals into the Royal Alexandra Theatre isn't feasible nowadays unless your running costs are lower than the average big musical. For example, LES MIZ would never make back any money at that theatre today. In 1992 it would have, but if you would have booked it into the Royal Alex in 2006 it would run at a loss. Also the demand is much much larger for that show, so why would you stick it into a smaller theatre?

So you essentially only have the Canon Theatre available for those big shows, now that the LORD OF THE RINGS is tied up at the very least through September at the Princess of Wales. The Elgin has sporadic bookings so it may be difficult to secure longer runs at that theatre.

But also... how do you know they had not made an effort to get those shows that you're referring to? What shows are you referring to, btw?

And I dunno about CanStage. Their seasons have been very lacklustre, especially in terms of artistic/creative success, and you have to remember that CanStage is also not-for-profit and their seasons are not as commercially appealing to the general public. They can actually give discounts to people under 30 or other groups since they're not filling the seats to capacity anyway, meanwhile the Mirvish shows are usually selling out. Understandably their shows appeal to the avid theatregoers who will see almost anything, but I can probably get by without seeing another production of LETTERS FROM LEHRER or A NUMBER or CROWNS.