Missing The Woman in White... — Page 3

by the way does anyone know where i can get some costumes similar to The Woman in White style? My friend is doing All for Laura for a revue type show/talent show and I was wondering if I could find something like what they wear.

Marketing Shmarketing...nothing could have saved WIW. WIW simply wasn't a GREAT show. The subject matter was fairly dark, although with some comic relief, it didn't have mass appeal, and it wasn't being talked about among theatre-goers in general. To make matters worse, most of the publicity centered on the illnesses plaguing the cast. I'm not saying that any one of these elements necessarily kill a show. THE PRODUCERS made it even though Nathan Lane was out A LOT in the beginning of the run. SWEENEY is dark, but it is pure genius, so it works. BTW, SWEENEY was considered shocking and appalling by many when it first came out, and it ran only a little over a year. You get the point.

As far as marketing goes, WIW at least had the ALW name behind it...which methinks is quickly losing it's credibility AND marketability. Maybe Sir Andrew is so full of hubris that he thinks anything with his name doesn't need PR...who knows? Used to be that the ALW name carried some clout and the seats would be filled based on that. Not so anymore...not at $110 a pop. CATS was crap and look how long that lasted. Regardless...WIW had problems, which I won't rehash here. Add the medical complications and the show was pretty much doomed from the beginning.

DROWSY was pretty much an unknown entity without creative name recognition...good marketing was a necessity. Even though the show is an ensemble piece...Sutton Foster's name is being used much more than the others...I would guess for obvious reasons. Get them in and let word of mouth take care of the rest. In addition to the general ad campaign, I know several people who aren't on any subscription lists, yet still received flyers in the mail.

Additionally, the reaction to the DROWSY run in LA, by both the public and the press, was mostly favorable, as is the buzz in NY...and this after only one dress, and two previews. The reaction to WIW was mixed, at best. If the buzz for WIW had been half as positive as the buzz for DROWSY, then maybe the run would have lasted a bit longer, although I doubt it. Word of mouth is a powerful thing...and I fully believe that word of mouth will make DROWSY the sleeper hit of the season.

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I just think it is bizarre that "Cats" lasted for so long while some of the more memorable shows (such as WIW) seemed as though the came and went in seconds. It's ridiculous.

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I think most people thought the Rat was oen of the finer points of the show.

Last i heard, the tour was still happening...My hope is that they do it with a more traditional staging and set. I think the projections turned more people off than brought them in. And I think it might work better with a more traditional staging, anyway.

That said...I loved WiW, and miss it terribly, and sit in hope that Ms. Friedman, and Lloyd Webber both at least get noms.

i would totally go to see the show even without the projections, but probably i will miss them a lil bit.

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that's so weird...i wish i had seen this show more than just twice...ugh.

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>>Was anyone else there during Christmas week when Maria had to stop the show because someone in the mezzanine passed out and they had to call the medics. Apparently it all ended well.

No, but that reminds me of an incident I heard about. Apparently a group of elderly folks got together to see PHANTOM. One of the women I guess had so much downward momentum when she was going down the stairs to get to her seat in the balcony area that she kept going and flipped right over the railing. There was a safety net that caught her, but she broke her arm. I am not sure if the show was stopped, or delayed. Good thing that net was there. Would've been a pretty nasty accident otherwise.

Seems to me the use of projected sets was just a money saving scheme. Although I don't believe that actual sets or marketing could have saved this show...the word "cheap" does come to mind. One can only wonder what might have been...

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I agree with Jim. The score of this show deserves more. Much more. I can actually visualize this being done in concert. Like Sunset Boulevard or others that have been successfully arranged to that format. I don't feel there was anything "cheap" about this show at all. The costuming, set, lighting, and everything else was topnotch. I also feel, that it had the best group of voices performing on Broadway.

I like this poster...I wonder if this would have drawn more people in

yeah