Postponed Indefinitely: ROOM On Broadway - News & Discussion Thread — Page 5

What an awful situation. A reminder of the perils of the theatre industry, and the trickiness of putting trust in producer/investors who are new to the industry.

I do wonder if this announcement is partially a cry for help, and that it could lead to another investor coming in and perhaps some internet rallying. Obviously Hunter Arnold is very well-connected in the industry so he would have exhausted the "usual suspects," but I'm thinking of someone from Hollywood or another business sector. A Byron Allen or Oprah type or another billionaire who can afford to lose a few mil.

Seems like a "Nerds" sort of situation

Wow, how unfortunate for all involved. 

BorisTomashevsky said: "Wasn’t Hunter Arnold recently being investigated by the SEC? I just searched online and there’s only one search result about that, and it’s behind a paywall. Makes me wonder if someone had it scrubbed."

His partners were, he was not, and he said today in the NYT that the investigation has been dropped. He's a co-producer or co-lead producer on a staggering 15 Broadway shows in the 2022-23 season, so raising money is seemingly not his issue.

His two producing partners are Canadian and British theatre guys with no Broadway experience; that's most likely the cause of the problems if one of them was to raise 1/3 of the $7 mil capitalization and couldn't.

I will say, this reflects VERY badly on Adrienne Warren's name value as a recent Tony winner and budding "star." She was being promoted heavily, and no doubt had her pick of the litter for projects that could mark her return to Broadway. The shutdown is not specifically her fault, of course, but it's another signifier that being a Tony winner and prodigious talent means nothing in the eyes of the Gods of ticketbuying and investing.

Call_me_jorge said: "How ****ty for everyone involved. That producer is scum. Curious if this has anything to do with the recent banking crisis. Did he or his investors have any money in SVB or signature bank?"

Why is the producer scum.  An investor pulled out.  

My heart goes out to the company, especially those making Broadway debuts. To think you're about to achieve that milestone and have it pulled out from underneath you can be devastating. Tough business. 

The problem is not Adrienne Warren. It's the subject matter. 

I think interest is low because 1. The movie was fairly recent 2. Because it was fairly recent, people know how depressing much of this story is. Even if the stage play lightened things up a bit  or had different storytelling elements, people already have a preconceived notion of what Room is. I would guess that many said "No thanks, too dark for me" or "No thanks, I've already experienced that story. Don't need to sit through a depressing tale again"

As mentioned above, this was also the issue with Ohio State Murders. It wasn't Audra McDonald. The thing has "murders" in the title. If you have $100 or so to spend on a Broadway ticket, will you go for something fun or something about murders? Non-Musical plays are always a harder sell on Bway, especially dramas. Leopoldstadt was able to be the rare exception to the norm this season thanks to a wave of glowing reviews and a great bit of marketing. The Piano Lesson was also able to capitalize on its stars and the name recognition of its author. But those are exceptions, not the rule. Room was always going to need Leopoldstadt-type reviews to be a financial success. Maybe it would have gotten them, who knows. But obviously this one producer was skeptical of its financial prospects. I feel awful for the cast and creatives though. To get this close to the run, being in rehearsals up until yesterday with no indication that this was happening, only for it all to fall apart? Just cruel.

Updated On: 3/16/23 at 12:47 PM

The Distinctive Baritone said: "I agree that not letting it even open is cruel. And surely the producers knew going into this that they would never make a dime, that this was a “prestige” art house kind of thing. So to pull the plug when ticket sales are low (I’m assuming that’s what happened)? Lame."

 

Art house cannot exist on Broadway.

They build in excess “G&A” and reserves.  

I think a performer winning a Tony for a musical doesn't mean much when they go to do a straight play, as evident by Audra McDonald. 

That does seem high, cost wise, but I'm always amazed at how much stuff costs to produce in this day and age.