NEWSIES to close Aug. 24- Page 3

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 8:46pm

My money (hope) is on the Nederlanders offering the theatre to one of the many productions wanting to come in this season. With such a packed crop wanting to/rumored to come in, I wouldn't think the Nederlander would need to wait for one of the developing Disney shows. It isn't owned by Disney, after all. My hope is that Dames at Sea or Allegiance will come in.

And congratulations to Newsies on a wonderful run! It will do wonderfully on the road and in regional/amateur productions.

[ILuv2shop531]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 9:34pm

If this was a Disney owned theater I was going to say that Disney was planning to put up a production of "Belle's Enchanted Christmas" this holiday season, but that obviously isn't true. But, wouldn't that be amazing?

[phantomcrazy14]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 11:12pm

Did the Titanic revival ever announce a theatre? Or did I miss that in the initial announcement


Updated On: 6/22/14 at 11:12 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 11:13pm

I think Newsies did astonishingly well for being one of their B-tier shows, designed to premiere with a splash and then go into licensing forever. Stuff like "Newsies" and "Starcatcher" can be successful even with short runs, since they are intended to build word of moutn and not be serious successors to "Lion King" or "Beauty and the Beast."

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 11:35pm

I would imagine with the overall lack of available theaters for the Fall, plus it's declining grosses just like Newsies, that Once will also announce a closing date shortly. Maybe for Aug. 31??

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 12:28am

"Did the Titanic revival ever announce a theatre? Or did I miss that in the initial announcement "

Not sure it did, but you did see that it is no longer coming?!

[TheatreKid3]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 1:15am

My two cents:

The word of mouth I've been hearing is that the plan is for THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME to indeed end up in the Nederlander eventually (that's if they stick with the intimate concept and it proves to be successful). However, I'm still skeptical as to how this time-table will work out for them given the current circumstances.

First regarding NEWSIES, I think the closure has more to do with the national tour at the moment than HUNCHBACK, though I would say the two are somewhat related. NEWSIES is still making a nice profit just about every week, therefore the Nederlanders can't evict them so this had to come from Disney. My guess is that they have noticed the show was more than likely going to lose most of its steam within the next year (and replace it with Hunchback), especially with a tour on the road (as bringing fans to NY was a HUGE part of its market), and have decided to save money and use the Broadway set as opposed to building an entirely new one and scrapping the Bway one in a year. Selling the Broadway production to out of town tourists will no doubt become more difficult when it is competing with a National Tour.

Think about it: the Bway production closes August 24th and the Tour begins tech in Schenectady in early September. That is the perfect timetable to ship that set out. I'd be willing to say a majority of the cast may even go with it. It would explain why there is still no announcement regarding tour casting.

Regarding the timetable for HUNCHBACK, the plan was La Jolla in Fall 2014 and Paper Mill in Spring 2015. They may be planning to either forgo the Paper Mill engagement and go straight to Broadway from La Jolla if possible instead of trying out the same show with the same cast and design twice in the span of 6 months, or (depending on the Tony Eligibility date) they could open on the very last day of the season. While neither of those options seem particularly viable or practical, the last thing I could think of is that the Nederlander might undergo some much needed refurbishment that could take up to 6 or so months and that would make it more likely to still be open for a late summer/early fall 2015 HUNCHBACK opening.

Sorry guys, I've just been thinking a lot trying to justify why this show is actually closing so suddenly. It seems to have taken most everyone by surprise, cast included.





Updated On: 6/23/14 at 01:15 AM

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 1:27am

It makes perfect sense that Disney would want to only have one exclusive operating production. And plus the set was built to tour. I wonder how many cast members will end up going on the road or joining other tours?

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 1:31am

There seems to be no precedent that I'm aware of that a standing Broadway show that never dipped under $500,000/week would close to not compete with a tour. By that logic, why do we still have Mamma Mia, Rock of Ages, Wicked, Chicago, Pippin, etc., etc., etc., if people just can see that show closer to home?

[loliveve]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 3:52pm

It is so very odd to see a closing notice the same week the show filled 99.2% of its seats!

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 3:54pm

So this week Newsies ran at 75% of potential gross. 800k. Higher than Pippin, Motown, phantom, and 15 other shows. It just seems odd to close so suddenly...what am I missing?

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 3:57pm

You think a two-month closing announcement is sudden? Would you have preferred a three or four month notice?

[Phillytheatreguy10]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 4:18pm

How long does Disney typically play this game with the tickets for closing? Still having no luck with discount code or regular priced through website. I'm trying to do it as a gift for someone.

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 4:22pm

The odds are against them reappearing for the final performance with a discount code. Beyond that, they probably took it off sale to ensure all of the cast/crew/creatives have enough of a chance to get tickets for family and friends before opening the rest up to the public.

Most shows don't take the whole theater offline in my experience, not sure if that is normal for Disney or somesuch. Perhaps they had to take it offline until they could remove the discount codes.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 5:16pm

Congrats to the NEWSIES company on a wonderful run. Safe journey.

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 5:28pm

I didn't mean sudden like closing tomorrow. Let's go with unexpected given the data I provided about how many shows are doing well below what they are doing in gross percent.

No need to get snarky

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 5:36pm

"No need to get snarky"

You've been on here a year and still get surprised by snark?!

[mjohnson2]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 5:38pm

I'm fairly convinced that they are not closing for financial reasons and that Disney usually (if they can) chooses to close a show when they want it to close, not because of financial reasons. (See also: Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins.)

[hanabana]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 6:29pm

I also thought this closing notice was shocking! I thought it would run for at least another year or two. I know people have been saying this show lost its energy, but I am seriously considering seeing it again. I love this show both times I saw it (saw it a month before Jeremy Jordan left, and then right after Corey Cott started)! I remember thinking that I could see this show many times and not get tired of it. I would love to see it again. Maybe I will try to catch it sometime in August.

[Pammylicious]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 7:23pm

A friend who is on some Disney team just told me that Nederlanders has been wanting the show out of the theater for at least a year, they want to do a fully refurbishment and Disney kept on extending. I guess the timing was good now because of the tour.

[bdn223]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 8:27pm

Aka Newsies was evicted so that Disney can have it back for Hunchback since they don't want the Palace and the Neaderlanders won't then them a theater otherwise .

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 8:42pm

They want to do another refurbishment? After the massive redo post-RENT? Well I guess it's probably time to replace the seats with even smaller ones.

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 8:45pm

Haterobics-

Nah. Never surprised. Just amazed at how empty some peoples lives are!

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 8:47pm

It does seem odd that the theater would want to kick out a tenant to start a refurbishment followed by no rent for an unknown period of time. Although, with the amount of shows circling for an opening, probably not very long.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 9:11pm

What could need to possibly be done to it? It's a gorgeous theater. It'd be a good fit for Forum.