No Roundabout Musical this Season?

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 11:25am

Is there any talk of a musical at Roundabout this year? Roundabout has nothing listed on their website for Studio 54 in the spring. 

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 11:35am

Children of a Lesser God (a commercial, non-Roundabout production) is renting out Studio 54 in the spring (ala Sweat and Act of God).

[JSquared2]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 11:52am

I have it on good authority that there's a new musical coming to Studio 54 next summer --- it's a rental situation. 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 12:27pm

I’ve heard from different people that they were desperately trying to get Kelli O’Hara to do Kiss Me, Kate, but she has an obligation to the Met Opera this season, so they’re holding off for potentially next year.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 12:43pm

>I have it on good authority that there's a new musical coming to Studio 54 next summer --- it's a rental situation.<

I expect that would be news to Children of a Lesser God, which is on sale through September 9.  

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 1:41pm

BroadwayConcierge said: "I’ve heard from different people that they were desperately trying to get Kelli O’Hara to do Kiss Me, Kate, but she has an obligation to the Met Opera this season, so they’re holding off for potentially next year."

She's also set to do The King & I in London next summer.

[johannabarker]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 2:33pm

There was a good thread discussing the situation at Roundabout, but of course the mods here are so trigger happy with the censorship gun.

[Just_John]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 3:09pm

Smaxie said: ">I have it on good authority that there's a new musical coming to Studio 54 next summer --- it's a rental situation.<

I expect that would be news to Children of a Lesser God, which is on sale through September 9."

I think it's pretty obvious that that's the show that's renting out Studio 54 next summer. 

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 3:37pm

I hate to spoil the fun, but Here Lies Love is not going into Studio 54 anymore.  Roundabout has botched the game in a huge way.  They need to fire their artistic staff and re-evaluate before they go under.   

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 3:45pm

What’s going on with Roundabout lately? The amount of rentals they are doing is strange to me. Are they that desperate for money? Have they not made a good chunk of change from Beautiful? 

Updated On: 10/23/17 at 03:45 PM

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 3:46pm

They're still trying to do theatre for old, white audiences and Rudin and LCT already have that niche covered.  They need to branch out and do some more contemporary revivals.  There's tons of stuff from the 80's, 90's, and even the 2000's that are due for a revival.  Instead they continue to do old, boring plays and every so often they do a classic musical.  They need to reevaluate their choices and pull themselves together because I don't think anyone wants to see them sink.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 3:51pm

They've backed themselves into a wall with their subscription model, which is unappealing to most younger theatregoers and so the company is at the mercy of an older, more conservative and dwindling subscriber base.

They got into the development of new work too late in the game, and can't match the output of other theatres there. Their straight play revivals are more DOA than not, with the odd exception.

Pretty much their big claim to fame now are musical revivals, because no other company really has that niche covered (LCT to some extent, but not with the frequency of Roundabout) and they're really the thing that has appeal to all audience groups.

Updated On: 10/23/17 at 03:51 PM

[JSquared2]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 4:37pm

Mildred Plotka said: "What’s going on with Roundabout lately? The amount of rentals they are doing is strange to me. Are they that desperate for money? Have they notmade a good chunk of change from Beautiful?"

 

Beautiful IS a rental!

 

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 4:57pm

I think Mildred Plotka is suggesting they should be making a lot of money renting out the theater to Beautiful. 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 5:01pm

KJisgroovy said: "I think Mildred Plotka is suggesting they should be making a lot of money renting out the theater to Beautiful."

But she's complaining about them doing so many rentals. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 5:05pm

I think they've just made some poor decisions lately. Like bringing back Cabaret. I feel like they could probably tour that show for awhile, but not on Broadway. And I'm surprised She Loves Me didn't make them any money. I think their shows just don't run long enough to warrant any kind of profit. I mean, Anything Goes was their last long running show, no?

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 6:20pm

GeorgeandDot said: "They're still trying to do theatre for old, white audiences and Rudin and LCT already have that niche covered. They need to branch out and do some more contemporary revivals. There's tons of stuff from the 80's, 90's, and even the 2000's that are due for a revival. Instead they continue to do old, boring plays and every so often they do a classic musical. They need to reevaluate their choices and pull themselves together because I don't think anyone wants to see them sink."

On the one hand, I agree with you in general. On the other hand, contemporary revivals are a risky business, too. The Color Purple revival was beautiful but I don't it recouped, right? We'll see how Once on This Island does but while Davenport is making me happy with his revivals, he's not appealing to a very wide audience. I do agree someone needs to be picking better plays. They're fine plays. But not the kind of plays that sell tickets or really have that much of interest to say. Either go commercial or take risks but I don't know why anyone would subscribe to see bland, middling plays.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 8:15pm

KJisgroovy said: "I think Mildred Plotka is suggesting they should be making a lot of money renting out the theater to Beautiful."

Isn't the Stephen Sondheim owned by Bank of America? Roundabout just operates it. 

[brettarnett]

Posted: 10/23/17 at 10:03pm

Slightly off topic but... does this mean that Here Lies Love's Bway future is dead for now?

[Marianne2]

Posted: 10/24/17 at 6:44pm

RippedMan said: "I think they've just made some poor decisions lately. Like bringing back Cabaret. I feel like they could probably tour that show for awhile, but not on Broadway. And I'm surprised She Loves Me didn't make them any money. I think their shows just don't run long enough to warrant any kind of profit. I mean, Anything Goes was their last long running show, no?"

I agree with most of this. I did enjoy seeing Cabaret.  But, when they get a hit, they may be able to extend a little sometimes. But, not always or for for very long. Like Noises Off last year. It was here for like 3 months and had to close for the next show.  That is 1 example of something that could have ran longer. Obviously their duds don't deserve to run longer.

Whoever mentioned the subscription service, I do think for the above factors it doesn't work well. 

 

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 10/24/17 at 6:45pm

brettarnett said: "Slightly off topic but...does this mean that Here Lies Love's Bway future is dead for now?"

I don't know.  Last I heard was that Roundabout dropped the ball for it to go into Studio 54.  

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 12/12/22 at 4:22pm

Roughly 5-6 years later and nothing has changed from Roundabout. It’s, arguably, has gotten worse. What would it take to rid of the executive staff and directors? Or, should Roundabout as an organization just collapse?

[Kad]

Posted: 12/12/22 at 5:40pm

It’s wild that Todd Haimes is still the artistic director there. He needs to retire, soon.

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 12/12/22 at 5:43pm

Maybe renting out to commercial producers is smart for now. Focus on Off Broadway and just collect some rent. 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/12/22 at 5:58pm

A friend of mine subscibes to The Roundabout and thinks it makes him theatrical royalty. After sitting through some really lackluster performances with him I told him not to invite me to join him at these shows. (I still have unpleasant memories of BERNHART/HAMLET.)