My question about BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS...any insights?

[FrontRow]

Posted: 11/2/09 at 12:38pm

I'm not here to rehash possible reasons for the show's failure, and I too thought it was an admirable production. What really puzzles me about the closing is: There have been a number of plays in recent years that never really found an audience and sold most of their seats at discounts -- Reasons to Be Pretty, Irena's Vow, Gem of the Ocean, Frozen are some that come to mind -- but they still managed to run a couple of months. How came this one couldn't even hold out that long? Were their houses actually that much emptier, or papered, than those shows? I didn't notice an extreme amount of empty seats on the (week)night I saw BB Memoirs.

Has there ever been another generally well-reviewed show that closed so quickly. All the quickie closings I remember were completely panned by critics.

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/2/09 at 12:47pm

I'm not sure about the other two, but I don't think either Irena's Vow or reasons to be pretty were papered as extensively or consistently as BBM was.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/2/09 at 1:11pm

Irena's Vow was very frequently papered. Reasons was not.

Reasons should never have been on Broadway, and the marketing team had no idea how to market it.

BBM's closing was the matter of the producers cutting their losses as early as possible to return as much to their investors as possible. It was not selling well and there was no advance.

[Contributor]

Posted: 11/3/09 at 12:29pm

So is the story here the economy -- rather than reality TV, star power or any of the other entertainment trends name-checked in that uninsightful Times article?

During the recession, the investors (or producer, on behalf of the investors) are being extra cautious about how much money they're spending/losing.

Hmm, maybe everyone -- professional and amateur commentator alike -- has missed that. Sure, there was apparently little or no interest in the show and for whatever reason they couldn't generate buzz from the good reviews. Still, as mentioned above, other nonmusicals (some reviewed less favorably) have faced similar situations and still lasted more than a week. I think there's an economic issue here that's not your usual let's close to cut losses but specifically let's cut losses because of the economy. Interesting, because it's been hard to find other major effects of the recession on Broadway. More shows are opening this fall than usual!

[gustof777]

Posted: 11/3/09 at 11:02pm

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120065995

I'm very impressed with how composed and classy he handles talking about what must be one of the most amazing and disappointing experiences.