OH MY GOD! I HAD NO IDEA!

[Born To Reign]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 10:23am

HOW COME NO ONE KNEW ABOUT THIS ALREADY?!?!?!
NO WAY!

[Dirty_Rotten_Guy]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 10:24am

haha, well at least we now have an official article :)

wait, why am i smiley-facing? this sucks

[FosterChild]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 10:27am

Which should once and for all, show some of you how little Tony wins actually mean in the scheme of things!

[...5678]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 10:33am

WOW...I am so surprised...

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 10:34am

This is horrible. What a great, great, show. I just hope I'll get to see it on tour.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 10:37am

sad !

I will miss GG

J*

[LuPonatic]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 10:46am

Well, it won a couple Tonys, I have two cast recordings, there is a tour planned, so I'm fine with the closing. I don't go to New York too often. I wonder what will open in that theatre next. "A Catered Affair" is pretty much a given, right? too bad the theatre will be dark most of the season if "A Catered Affair" doesn't open until Spring. Any limited engagement possibilities?

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 10:47am

FOLLIES!

...

Well, someone had to say it.

[Steve2]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 10:47am

Yes, quite a shock to me too. I thought that it would surely last through the summer.

[mattonstage]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 10:57am

I'm starting to think most new shows should come in as a limited run. Just post a closing date right away, then if ticket demand is so great, extend. If not, there's no embarasment of announcing a closing. And, of course, everything should just cost less. LOL, like that will happen.

[ElFantasma14]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 11:02am

That's really a good idea. Then the demand would increase and they'd either extend or close "as scheduled". Well, I feel glad that it had at least 300 performances. I might be going to Gypsy this July, and if I do, I am so seeing Grey Gardens.

[Wicked63]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 11:02am

its hardly a flop why close so fast

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 11:41am

"its hardly a flop why close so fast"

Look at the grosses for this show:

https://www.broadwayworld.com/grossesshow.cfm?show=GREY%20GARDENS

I don't know how much it costs this show to run each week, but they haven't even grossed $500,000 this year (except for the first week listed, and I am not sure about before 2007), even with the small boost after the Tony Awards. Yes, the show has been doing SLIGHTLY better in terms of capacity the past few weeks, but that's about it. Grosses aren't necessarily improving...and this is while we're in the middle of the summer, the most popular time for tourists to come see shows. Imagine the grosses after the season ends if this is how it is performing now - it's better off it close now in the middle of the summer rather than wait till fall/winter. Perhaps a combination of the spike in Broadway ticket sales over the summer and the show's closing notice will prompt tourists to see this show, and Grey Gardens can pull in a few extra bucks.

Has it recouped it's investment yet? I haven't heard anything. The closing would make the show a financial flop, so I wouldn't refer to it as "hardly a flop."

Updated On: 7/2/07 at 11:41 AM

[Born To Reign]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 11:52am

It was a critical success but that's about it. And as we all know, good reviews don't pay the bills! It's a business!

[artscallion]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 12:02pm

I agree with Wicked. Grey Gardens is hardly a flop. People misuse the term. Meriam Webster defines "flop" as "to fail completely."
One element of shortfall does not make a flop. Lestat was a flop. Pirate Queen was a flop. Carrie was a flop. You might even say Lovemusic was a flop. I think it's just bizzare to suggest that Grey Gardens, which has been running for years with extraordinary acclaim even approaches the idea of "flop"

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 12:06pm

But in the theatre world, a flop means that a show did not make it's money back by closing. If Grey Gardens does not make back it's money by July 29, it is a flop.

[jv92]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 12:09pm

I'm going to try to get tickets for the last show. I'm assuming it will sell out quickly.

[StageFan2]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 12:22pm

Damn!

[artscallion]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 12:25pm

"But in the theatre world, a flop means that a show did not make it's money back by closing."

I've been working in the theatre world for 20 years and I disagree with that. Some people have come to define it as that over the years. But traditionally it means more than that.

Here's what Ken Mandelbaum says:

I believe "flop" is a broad term that can be defined in a number of ways. For the purposes of my book Not Since Carrie: 40 Years of Broadway Musical Flops, I defined a flop as a musical that ran under 250 performances and did not return its investment. (A show like The Roar of the Greasepaint---The Smell of the Crowd managed, thanks to a pre-Broadway tour, to make back its investment in under 250 performances.)

I did not define "flop" as a show that failed to return its investment, because there would have been far too many titles to include. Indeed, celebrated shows like Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods failed to return their investment in their initial Broadway runs.

However, some sources, like Variety, tend to define "flop" just that way: as a show that failed to return its investment. And yes, by that standard, many distinguished shows were flops. I choose to draw a line between financial flops and artistic flops. Many shows that failed to return their investment were strong shows."

We don't even know yet if Grey Gardens has made back its investment. And it will have run over 300 performance, not including off-BWay, by the time it closes.

In any case, by any definition, even yours, I don't think we can call it a flop yet.

[Born To Reign]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 12:33pm

I agree, artscallion, there's more that goes into it. A show like Grey Gardens has had years of life, much acclaim, a plan for London and tours, and probably a good regional life. I just thought it was odd that Wicked was so surprised. Even die-hard fans of the show could see the writing on the wall.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 12:39pm

"Flop" is a term invented first by the Hollywood trade magazines (Variety, Hollywood Reporter, etc.) whenever they were discussing box office returns and profits.

It has nothing to do with artistic quality. THAT's the misuse of the word.

The "failure" is a financial one... only.

[Julian2]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 1:03pm

Ha, I posted a comment on that article saying "I am SO suprised" and it get deleted.

[WickedOne2]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 1:07pm

Damn. I was planning on seeing it in August.

[jv92]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 1:09pm

Do you think they'll sell out really quickly the 29th? I'm planning on buying tonight. Will they got that quickly?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 1:12pm

I honestly believe that they will not sell out any performance of this show for the rest of the run, even the final performance. Tourists have never flocked to this show, and New Yorkers have seen it already.