Riedel on Pretty Woman changes- Page 2

[Dallas Theatre Fan]

Posted: 1/18/18 at 7:34am

Have any of y'all seen the poster for this show? It screams Billy Elliot.
I would post a picture of it but this website is fighting me tooth and nail to post it so, you can see it on the Broadway in Chicago website.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/18/18 at 7:42am

The average show to open doesn't sell well EIGHT months in advance -- things like DEH, The Band's Visit and Hamilton did because there was buzz from the off-Broadway productions.  This is an unknown entity except for its title/movie.

 

I don't pretend to know whether or not this will be a hit or flop - I know my own personal interest in it is low.  But your drive to already prove it will be a failure is ridiculous.  (Skimbleshanks)

[Up In One]

Posted: 1/18/18 at 9:08am

"You forget that the show is opening in August which is eight months away."

Another odd choice, August is the downward slide into September not the best in terms of Bway grosses.  When I saw that I assumed they either were aiming to be a popular hit based on the title or a  critics darling (and that doesn't always turn back the tide of low attendance weeks) 

[markypoo]

Posted: 1/18/18 at 10:15am

For the record, the Oriental in Chicago has a gazillion seats to fill.
Only a show like Wicked seems to pack it.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 1/18/18 at 11:23am

Tom5 said: "Sweet Charity worked for among many, many reasons a great score and a sad ending. My best advice: No jokes."

I agree Tom. The original Pretty Woman called $3000 wasnt a comedy and ended with Roberts (whose character had a drug problem in the original script) being thrown out of Gere's car. It ended with her and Viv going to Disney World. 

The musical will have tonal issues that rival Carrie. 

[Skimbleshanks2]

Posted: 1/22/18 at 4:47pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/FREEZE-FRAME-Meet-the-Broadway-Bound-Cast-of-PRETTY-WOMAN-20180122

I'm already so bored... but damn I will say that STEVE KAZEE is a hunk...

 

[BwayGeek2]

Posted: 1/23/18 at 10:36am

I think it is a bit of a gamble as well. So much invested already. However, I think you could blame low ticket sales on the fact that they just started rehearsals yesterday. So how can you buy a ticket for a show when there are not even rehearsal clips?? Hard to justify really.

Also, Jerry Mitchell is a personal fav. I just love a director/choreo combo because it's just all one thought and vision. Cannot wait to see his execution, either way.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 1/23/18 at 5:15pm

It's not like I'm against feminist musicals. But that's so clearly not Pretty Woman. You can't make it a thing it's so clearly not. Why not adapt something else or write something new?

If you know anything about the original script, you'll know it's a miracle they managed to twist that into a romance in the first place.

The changes make it sound like the audience will be left wondering why this highly capable person is a prostitute to begin with. And by prostitute, I mean streetwalker, not sex worker or sugar baby. Vivian was already a little unbelievable in the movie. This feels like a complete fantasy... and a weird one.

Also, yes, why are there no women on the creative team? Maybe they realized this was a bad idea.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/23/18 at 7:18pm

Why not just make a whole new musical with a different title and just say it’s inspired by. Name recognition, as we’ve learned, doesn’t help anyone. Look at “The Band’s Visit” and “Fun Home.” No one knows those source materials.

[Tom5]

Posted: 1/23/18 at 10:16pm

Because "Pretty Woman" is a highly commercial brand name that everyone knows. If, as indicated here, they had gone with the original title "$3,000" and staged it at, say, The Public I know I'd want to see it.

[And Peggy]

Posted: 1/24/18 at 1:43am

Dallas Theatre Fan said: "I would post a picture of it but this website is fighting me tooth and nail to post it so, you can see it on the Broadway in Chicago website."

Not trying to threadjack, but I had this problem just now and I can't figure out what's going wrong. I've successfully posted images to this board many times in the past. 

 

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/24/18 at 10:50am

But obviously name recognition isn't all it's cracked up to be. Talk to "Cry Baby," "Legally Blonde," "Groundhog Day," etc. 

[newintown]

Posted: 1/24/18 at 11:04am

This millennium's flop musicals with famous titles:

Jane Eyre
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Urban Cowboy
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Dracula
Little Women
Tarzan
The Wedding Singer
The Woman in White
High Fidelity
Legally Blonde
Cry-Baby
The Little Mermaid
Young Frankenstein
Xanadu
9 to 5
A Tale of Two Cities
Shrek
American Idiot
The Addams Family
Catch Me If You Can
Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Sister Act
Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Bonnie and Clyde
Ghost
Leap of Faith
A Christmas Story
Bring It On
Big Fish
Bullets Over Broadway
Rocky
The Bridges of Madison County
An American in Paris
Doctor Zhivago
Finding Neverland
Honeymoon in Vegas
The Last Ship
American Psycho
Amélie
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Groundhog Day

[smidge]

Posted: 1/24/18 at 11:32am

Not to be nitpicky (but I like being nitpicky), but was The Last Ship a famous title? Sting was ,of course, but did that title exist before he wrote the musical (even though it was inspired by The Soul Cages album) ?

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/24/18 at 11:39am

I also wouldn’t count A Christmas Story since it was only a holiday show and it probably recouped by now with the numerous tours it’s done.

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/24/18 at 11:47am

And let's not forget that a flop on Broadway is often not the end of the line anymore- with at least a few of those shows, tours and innumerable professional, regional and amateur productions have recouped many of the producers' losses.

Broadway failings aside, it's hard to compare all of those: you can't find a new production of "The Woman in White" to save your life, but I doubt you have to travel more than twenty miles to see "Shrek" or "Legally Blonde." The Disney Workshops production model has changed the game, to the point that some shows (and no doubt some producers with a canny contract model) see the New York run as secondary to the afterlife in licensing.

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/24/18 at 11:58am

This is true, but just saying the big hits of the past few years have all been new original works or obscure titles. I think the title "Pretty Woman: The Musical" will actually turn a lot of buyers off. It just sounds cheesy. 

[newintown]

Posted: 1/24/18 at 12:27pm

Conversely, this millennium's hits with famous titles:

The Producers
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Hairspray
Wicked (up for debate...)
The Color Purple (original)
Mary Poppins
Billy Elliot
Newsies
Once
Matilda
Kinky Boots
Aladdin
School of Rock
Waitress (also up for debate)
A Bronx Tale
Anastasia (not a hit yet, but seems probable)

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/24/18 at 1:12pm

The more I look at this list, the more I question whether it actually says anything; just a little more than twice the "famous name" musicals flopped financially on Broadway (ignoring the fact that many of the flops have been lucrative in licensing).

Would a list of "original" or "obscure" musicals show the same one-third hit, two-third flop breakdown? Is that a typical average for Broadway shows in general in the twenty-first century?

[newintown]

Posted: 1/24/18 at 1:44pm

Worth a few minutes research (I'm only looking at original book shows, not revues or revivals):

Flops without the "famous title" (65)

A Class Act
Seussical
By Jeeves
Sweet Smell of Success (or is this "famous?"
Thou Shalt Not
A Year With Frog and Toad (or is this "famous?"
Amour
Dance of the Vampires
Bombay Dreams
Caroline or Change
Never Gonna Dance
Taboo
All Shook Up
Brooklyn
Good Vibrations
The Frogs
Hot Feet
In My Life
Lennon
Lestat
Curtains
Grey Gardens (famous?)
Lovemusik
Fame Becomes Me
The Pirate Queen
A Catered Affair
Glory Days
Passing Strange
[title of show]
13
The Story of My Life
Everyday Rapture
Fela!
Million Dollar Quartet
Baby It's You
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
The People in the Picture
The Scottsboro Boys
Wonderland
Lysistrata Jones
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Chaplin
Hands On a Hardbody
Motown
Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella (recouped on tour)
Scandalous
First Date
If/Then
Soul Doctor
Holler If You Hear Me
It Shoulda Been You
Something Rotten
The Visit
Allegiance
Amazing Grace
Bright Star
Disaster
Shuffle Along
Tuck Everlasting
Bandstand
Paramour
In Transit
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
War Paint

Hits sans "famous title" (21)

Mamma Mia
Avenue Q
The Boy From Oz
Spamalot
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The Light in the Piazza
Jersey Boys
The Drowsy Chaperone
Spring Awakening (famous?)
In The Heights
Next to Normal
Rock of Ages
Memphis
The Book of Mormon
A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Beautiful
Fun Home
Hamilton
On Your Feet
Dear Evan Hansen
Come From Away

[newintown]

Posted: 1/24/18 at 1:55pm

Which, I think, just proves that the idea that having a famous title/source is an advantage is a myth.

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 1/24/18 at 1:58pm

Remember when they tried to make GIGI less creepy, then realized that a significant portion of the audience finds sex work inherently creepy no matter how many press releases declare that your leading lady is a feminist? That sounds like this.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 1/25/18 at 5:26pm

I get why they want to exploit the existing IP. And I'm not saying this would make it a success. But it seems like it would make more sense to lean into the original, problematic as it is, or sanitize it so it's all romance instead of trying to trick people into thinking this story is empowering and feminist. 'Cause it's not. It's super not.

Also, was Dirty Rotten Scoundrels a flop?

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/26/18 at 8:34am

I hope they at least consulted with some SWs on this- I think that's the only people who can actually say how they feel about this material and what it says and does.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/26/18 at 8:52am

I think the Gigi comparison is spot on -- heck you wouldn't be in left field saying that Pretty Woman as a modern day Gigi.  (Which I had never considered before.)