New Revival of Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly Is Canceled
Posted: 10/2/17 at 11:46am
Wow, this is so sad for everybody involved.
Posted: 10/2/17 at 12:20pm
WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK
Posted: 10/2/17 at 2:41pm
Wild. Obviously there was serious cash flow problems, but how could that not have been caught earlier?
I heard rumors last fall they were having trouble raising the funds and finding a theatre. I wonder if they pulled the trigger once they got a theatre, hoping the money would show up.
Posted: 10/2/17 at 5:53pm
Such sad news. Producer Joshua Goodman is a big fan of the show and produced the original cast reunion last year at Feinstein's 54 below. It was a terrific evening and nostalgic for many. I imagine his inexperience at producing a legitimate revival (his first time at the helm) was a big factor in this cancellation. His heart was surely in the right place, but raising money in the proper fashion wasn't.
Posted: 10/2/17 at 6:02pm
Oh, I'm really really sorry to learn this
i loved the original and had been looking forward to seeing this revival.
Posted: 10/2/17 at 6:16pm
I’m sure there are a lot of broken hearts off-Broadway today. Sending good wishes to everyone involved.
Posted: 10/2/17 at 7:46pm
This is sad. I do know that San Francisco is doing a revival as well. https://www.nctcsf.org/shows/201718Season/When-Pigs-Fly
Posted: 10/2/17 at 10:18pm
am i the only one who’s literally never heard of this show until today when this news was announced?
Posted: 10/2/17 at 11:40pm
Yes. I've seen tons of advertising, including TV commercials which is not frequently done for off-Broadway shows. They kept pushing this as a Bob Mackie-designed show. That was their main hook in most everything I read. Sure, that's a bonus reason to buy a ticket...but the primary reason? No.
This seems to be a case of being told from a large investor that they're committed, proceeding with that trust, and unable to scramble up the dough when they learned they lost'em. That's not an uncommon occurance; it's just too bad they didn't have the ability to fund it and has no other choice but to cancel altogether.
--Aristotle
Posted: 10/3/17 at 12:00am
Especially since the cast is currently in rehearsals. Sucks to block/learn/choreograph and entire thing and then learn no one will ever see it and you're out of a job.
Posted: 10/3/17 at 12:13am
CapnHook said: "They kept pushing this as a Bob Mackie-designed show. That was their main hook in most everything I read. Sure, that's a bonus reason to buy a ticket...but the primary reason? No."
Not really. It's a show about costumes. In a lot of ways, the costumes are the show. I don't disagree that they weren't necessarily successful at marketing the show but I it sounds like you don't know the show or its spirit.
Posted: 10/3/17 at 12:24am
Hook, you have the right idea. People by tickets to shows. Entertainers sell tickets. Entertainment sells tickets. Yes Mackie sells some number of tickets but not many and not nearly enough. This is a classic tale: someone loves a show too much to produce it. So they license a theatre in which no competent producer can make money, because they convince themselves they can sell out. They can't, they don't and then this happens. (I don't think this was a case of a withdrawn investor but of an advance they never dreamed could be so low. And there are reports from people who looked into buying tickets that there had been very few sales.)
It's a familiar pattern and again it happened to a show that deserved a lot better.
