Phantom Closing? — Page 14

So since the announcement of its closing, POTO has pretty much been sold out/selling out and above the break-even point. Any rumblings of extending the closing date?

hearthemsing22 said: "chernjam said: "So since the announcement of its closing, POTO has pretty much been sold out/selling out and above the break-even point. Any rumblings of extending the closing date?"

I think there are many people who believe it will extend now, but who knows?"

I wouldn't be surprised if that's why that last block hasn't gone on sale.

He spoke about it on The Today Show last week, and has also shared on his socials the same video from the offical POTO socials that people are talking about at the top of the page.

I'm sure they hope to extend and then announce they aren't closing.

Yeah I can't see them rescinding the closing bc the whole point is to null and void the original royalty contracts with Prince/Bjornson/Lynne. ALW scheduling Bad Cinderella for the same weekend as the closing is a good indicator that they are sticking with Feb. 18. Additionally, a good chunk of the remaining tickets are 300$ or more so it would be pretty bad to have all these people spend more than triple what they normally would to see this show specifically because it's closing just to tell them that it's not.

I think that Cam Mack and ALW (and Seth) have something cooked up to bring the cheapo production in. The closing weekend of Phantom will get huge press coverage and ALW will need that to plug Bad Cinderella---and then imagine if they added to all that an announcement that CM and ALW heroically found a way to still keep Phantom in NY after all. The Majestic will get a renovation will reopen in fall 2023 with a fresh modern

Watch how skillfully Seth and CM introduce the cheapened production while simultaneously saying that it's the original production but also saying that the original needed improvement lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCMcZ92cZqU

For those of you follow these things more closely than I do, is it unusual that they haven’t yet released the ticket block through February? In early September I was able to book tickets for Funny Girl for a date in late March of next year and for a June 2023 performance of Sweeney.

chernjam said: "Piparoo said: "For those of you follow these things more closely than I do, is it unusual that they haven’t yet released the ticket block through February? In early September I was able to book tickets for Funny Girl for a date in late March of next year and for a June 2023 performance of Sweeney."



This is what's fueling our speculation that they're going to extend and move the closing to maybe later in the Spring. Most shows when they announce they're closing see a small spike in sales. But with POTO your talking a beloved production that has broken all Broadway records. It's not shocking that even with a tough economy that people are running to go see it before it closes. If they're continuing to do good business and the advance is growing, it seems likely they'll move the closing. Last thing they want is to sell those tickets and decide to extend. You'll have people lose their minds for sure

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Thanks for the extremely helpful perspective. What would you guess is the latest the production would wait to announce an extension or release the final block?

I heard from people involved with the show that an extension "due to demand" in planned and will happen. I also heard that the redesigned tour is what is planned for Broadway, not the edited original as in London.

If the Laurence Connor production is indeed the end goal then I would expect to not see it for a few years so that he can make sure there are no questions in regards to eligibility for Tony Awards as a revival.

Also, it would blow his whole "the current production is too expensive" excuse out of the water. From what I heard from IATSE locals across the country was that the "new" tour was only a couple trucks smaller than the original, the crew calls for show run were virtually identical in terms of numbers, and a number of road houses had to do some renovations to reinforce their stage decks to support that revolving "drum" unit (which was reportedly close to 10 tons in weight), and a number of places also had to add support structures out front for that new chandelier (which did look impressive in photos, but was much more disappointing in how stationary it actually was with just the vertical movement). I would imagine most of the Broadway houses would need similar structural renovations to support that physical production as well.

bwayphreak234 said: "The Laurence Connor production has one of the ugliest set designs I have ever seen in my life. There is absolutely nothing visually appealing about it - it's clunky, confining, dank, and dreary. Even "Masquerade", which was set in a hall of smoggy mirrors, looked terrible."

I hated it, with the awful staging of "Masquerade" second only to the boat ride as the worst idea in the production. Because the audience actually sees the Phantom and Christine board the boat, it is completely obvious that the entire ride comprises approximately 10 feet of travel before they disembark. It's ridiculous and sad.

bwayphreak234 said: "The Laurence Connor production has one of the ugliest set designs I have ever seen in my life. There is absolutely nothing visually appealing about it - it's clunky, confining, dank, and dreary. Even "Masquerade", which was set in a hall of smoggy mirrors, looked terrible."

For me it was a case where it was so close to being an interesting design, but because it was all crammed into this relatively small space on tour it just felt so cramped and confined, and not in a way that would heighten the drama. Like if it was in a space where that huge drum unit was only taking up 1/4 of the stage as opposed to what appeared to be 1/2 of the stage (as I remember from seeing it in Nashville four years ago) that would have made a world of difference.

Like, I actually really liked the effect of the first part of the descent with those stairs that slid out from the wall, which was then destroyed by seeing them get into the boat and travel 10 feet (as Lot666 pointed out), and then having only half the stage for the lair because that massive rotating set had nowhere to go.

Well they've been sold out and grosses have been increasing every week since the announcement, so I'd imagine they're going to wait at least until after Christmas to make any announcement. Drive up demand, sell tickets in advance to make sure they've built up enough sales to make it through winter doldrums, then in January "due to unprecedented demand...." announce a new closing date

If they decide to extend, where does that leave any current cast members who may have auditioned and been cast in new roles in other shows because they were told they'd be out of work in February?