Most Unexpected Closing Announcement- Page 2

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 2:13pm

My Top 5 (in no particular order):
- The Wedding Singer
- Beauty and the Beast
- Hairspray
- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
- XANADU

[Marianne2]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 2:17pm

I will also agree with Xanadu. Well, it was sad to hear it closing on the 12th, but what happened after that announcement was very odd and more upsetting and shocking over the original announcement. I guess Hairspray is up there too.

[sparkleplenty]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 3:53pm

Absolutely agree about Ragtime. That Ragtime is long gone and the same season's Lion King is still selling out is sad (not that i didn't enjoy Lion King, but Ragtime was, i think, the real king of that season, in spite of the Tony award given to LK)

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 4:13pm

For me, it would have to be Caroline or Change. It was the year I decided I needed to get to NYC once or twice a year and it was the 1st Broadway show I had seen since 1991. After seeing it, and how good it was, I was planning to see it when I returned in the fall. I couldn't believe it closed that fast.

[REVA107]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 4:15pm

I agree with "The Wedding Singer"- it took me a long time to finally give in and go see it and wound up LOVING it, just to see it close shortly after. They always manage to close the really fun shows! "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" closed because of the cast change- the numbers literally came grinding to a halt after Norbert left. I can't remember the two leads that came in, but they were horribly miscasted and brought the show to a quick close.

I know I'm going to get attacked for this, but I was shocked that "High Fidelity" closed as quickly as it did. It wasn't a "perfect" musical, but it did what a musical was supposed to do. I'll never forget the closing night performance (I had to get tickets in Rear Mezz because my tickets for a week later in the first row were no longer for a show date,) I never heard an audience laugh so hard during one point in the show. I was amazed that they only had seven days to "find their audience" and then got criticized for it. Good or bad, it wasn't given a fair shot. Knowing it was closing, I went in expecting a terrible show, and was so sad when I came to love it. I would've recommended it to a bunch of people and had no chance to do so. So strange how theatre works sometimes. . .

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 4:57pm

URINETOWN definitely comes to mind.

And I guess BEAUTY AND THE BEAST...although it had to close eventually, it was weird to hear a date announced.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 5:10pm

I thought the deal was that the cast had to know 2 weeks in advance, so when something closes like on Opening Night or with the "Normal Heart" and it closes just as the announcement goes up, are the producers violating an agreement? Can the cast sue or do they get compensated?

[fnyboi88]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 5:12pm

Beauty and the Beast for me. I never had seen it, then when it was announced I decided to go to NYC again just to see it. I saw 4 other shows to. But the main reason was to see BATB.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 6:14pm

I knew it would close one day but when they announced RENT I thought I was gonna die. Then i saw the closing show on screen and it was very theraputic. Having done the show also helped.

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 6:55pm

Hairspray. I thought that show was going to run for years and years.

[feline0favenueQ]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 7:09pm

I so agree about RENT, the grosses weren't any worse then they were other winters, why was that one any different? Well on Jan 15, the closing notice went up, and I cried so hard, It was extremely difficult for me....the 9 months between the closing and the announcement.....

[elphabelle07]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 7:46pm

Beauty and the Beast, Hairspray, and Title of Show. I didn't know how well (or not well) Title of Show was doing money wise, but I was surprised (and saddened) by the it's announcement.

[winston89]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 8:31pm

Title Of Show was doing VERY bad in the box office since it opened.

I still can't believe that Rent closed. I do agree that that winter it wasn't doing any worse then it was in years past. But, I do think that it was that it had been the same year after year and the box office couldn't take it much longer. I remember walking out of the 41st street subway exit and feeling like I had to prep myself. When I saw the theatre I was in a state of shock.

I am still convinced that if Little Mermaid wasn't coming to Broadway and if it didn't need a theatre that Beauty would still be playing today. It closed to make room for Little Mermaid and not because of the fact that it was doing bad at the box office.

[philly03]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 8:44pm

Beauty and the Beast...also Jekyll & HYDE had one of those things. In fact, J&H probably would have recouped if the producers hadn't been so worried about selling out. If you recall, the producers wanted Donny Osmond to play Jekyll/Hyde, but he wasn't available until March or April of 2001, and of course it closed with the conclusion of the Hoff's contract, something I feel like Spamalot might do. Sure it wasn't selling out, but getting by and finally getting some money back to it's investors.

And also The Scarlet Pimpernel: SP2. Sure it had been expected that it would close probably that summer, but they had announced a month prior that Sills contract would be up and that a new Pimpernel would be doing the show from May on...yet somehow undetected or whatever, Sills stayed somehow before the public announcement of the show's closing? Then of course, the whole completely unexpected "It will re-open in September as a 'New Show'" through most people through a loop probabyl too.

[James885]

Posted: 10/15/08 at 8:49pm

Hairspray - big shock
Glory Days - I knew it wouldn't last long, but never thought it would close opening night.
Beauty and The Beast

[ToplessCocoWantsFame]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 1:04am

Why has no one said Grey Gardens?????

That's the FIRST show that came to mind when I read the title of this thread.

Probably b/c most of you BWWers wear red shoes on a Thursday.

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 2:28am

The Blonde in the Thunderbird.

[once a month]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 10:59am

Bobbi Boland, lol

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 11:37am

The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All

A Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass

[Nicole3293]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 9:35pm

RENT

[SingingCats]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 10:12pm

I agree with Hairspray. Last time I saw it, it was a little tired - but its one that just seemed like it would always be around.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 10:18pm

"I think the WAY that Xanadu ended up closing was extremely shocking. The October 12th closing date was surprising enough, but then when they released on the Tuesday the 23rd that it would be closing September 28th, I couldn't believe it."

I agree...the closing itself wasn't unexpected, just how it did was.

"Urinetown basically closed because their theatre was being torn down.

Really should have moved, however."

Um, do you know how much that can cost? It was probably better for it to close.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 10:30pm

I'm going to add The 39 Steps to this, just because a new show was announced for its theater before they even posted a closing notice. Um, what?

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 10:36pm

Grey Gardens, was it doing bad? I don't think so. It came as a complete shock to me.

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 10/17/08 at 12:26pm

Last week it was Hairspray on Broadway,
today and for the rest of the month probably the closing of Avenue Q in London!