Riedel: Refunds Rampant after GREASE Finale- Page 3

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 8:39pm

Haha, I laughed when I read that, Tuttle. I got it

[Rotel1026]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 8:47pm

a $9 million advance is nothing to sneeze at though, no? I mean I can understand not liking the show, I absolutely hated it and only was able to make it thru the first episode and then just watched bits and pieces of it from there.

I'm coming in December and my friend wants to watch this, I'm kinda hoping this closes before then but the 9 million dollar figure made me lose that hope. Guess I'm watching this.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 8:55pm

Why haven't they announced what theater they're opening at? If they're holding out for Legally Blonde - which I doubt will close by July - how are they selling tickets to people? How do you pick which row you want to be in if you dont know what theater it's in?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 8:58pm

It's announced for the Atkinson.

You must have missed that.

[chino]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 11:18pm

"The only insider I know who was able to stomach every episode was writer and performer Seth Rudetsky. And that, I hope, is only because Playbill.com paid him to write a column about it every week."

And how about you? were you paid to do this as well? So mean!

Look, if you guys dont like the show, then stay away from all the things that concern this production. Give those kids a break, they deserve a chance to fulfill their dreams. I sure am, you would not want anybody messing with your chances to do so.

Why continously rob the opportunity for these kids?

Updated On: 4/4/07 at 11:18 PM

[LoringsGuy]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 11:26pm

Chino, I'm kind of with you---I'm finding the incessant Grease-bashing to get a little tiresome. Let's wait until the show opens before getting all snarky. They might actually surprise us.

Mr. Tuttle--a very astute observation!

[Spacedog78]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 9:51am

"There was a bit of a frenzy because a lot of people wanted Austin and Ashley to win," says a source. "They wanted their money back."

Amen! I hope this show flops big time!

The show would flop anyways even if Austin was in it. Hopefully they will let Girly-Austin understudy Rizzo or Sandy!

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 10:18am

"His words about the winners being "nobodies" makes me angry - I think it's EXCELLENT that the production isn't relying on names to get people in the seats."

They are using names, thats the point, they are now names from the reality show.

Look at the sound of music over here in the UK, the ticket sales were high due to the fact people wanted to see Connie in the show forcing the original(and better) lead who was sharing the role to quit.

I hate this idea that TV studios are now looking to Broadway and The West End for there cheap reality shows.
Connie came out and said she could do every performance of the sound of music(low and behold shes finding it tough and been off ill)
People who are not trained properly for theatre cant sustain doing 8 shows a week, there voices just don't seem to hold out.

We now have a Joseph reality show and a Grease one starting here in the UK and i cant think of anything worse.

And the fact they use the worst shows like Grease and Joseph is a joke(Grease never stops touring in the UK and Joseph is always touring as well as having a flop run in london only a couple of years ago).

Make it Stop

[jv92]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 10:20am

I loved reading this. I hope this is a huge flop as well. It doesn't deserve to be on Broadway. It's going to be nothing but a lousy piece of crap to attract people that wear sweatpants to the theatre and eat cotton candy at their seats. I'm all for entertaining big budget musicals that will attract people to the theatre- but what about good ones with competant actors in the leading roles?
Michael Riedel, I want to know Elaine Stritch's take on this. Invite her back onto Theatre Talk to blast this show with you. It'll make my Friday night.

[winston89]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 10:34am

The thing is this. People were going to try to get a refund if it wasn't the pair THEY wanted. I am not suprised that people are gegging for refunds. Personally, I don't know why they went with a grease reality show at all. I am sure the whole idea looked good on paper but when they got down to it and started to actually do the damn show it looked like crap.

And I couldn't agree more about the fact that the dude who created the show is still holding on to it. He had one good show and that was it. He is lucky that the show turned into one that has/had an almost cult following to it. I give it three months before it closes.

[jv92]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 11:01am

Here's a question...
Arent't Broadway tickets non-refundable?

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 11:03am

I'd hardly call Grease a show with a "cult following." It's a huge, huge, huge mainstream success that ran for YEARS, spawned one of the more successful movie musicals in history, and had a long-running revival despite the readily available film and thousands of community, school, and semi-professional productions every year.

That having been said, I hate it.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 11:06am

Yes JV - unless they are purchased as part of a group sales, Bway tickets are non-refundable - making the whole article even sillier.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:16pm

If it bombs its their own fault. That's what happens when you play to the philistine Funyun-eaters.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:19pm

There is no way its going to bomb. It will run at least two years. TV show or not - It's GREASE people. That is high brow music theatre to most tourists.

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:22pm

At least there will be plenty of fodder for the "bad audience behavior" threads come late summer.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:27pm

I agree with MichaelBennett. A cult musical would be FOLLIES or MACK & MABEL, not a show that has had two economincally successful Broadway runs and has one of the most famous movie adaptations of a Broadway musical. Critics will probably tear it apart but tourists will flock to it, unfortunately.
I still can't get over Jim Jacob's riculous arrogance though.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:30pm

For what its worth - GREASE did get good reviews when it first opened on Broadway. I think critics will only tear it apart if Marshall takes the Jeff Calhoun approach to the material. If she tries to replicate something more along the lines of the original productions feel/tone - the show, I think, could actually get decent reviews.

[Vespertine1228]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:41pm

Much has been made of the show's low ratings, but it's important to remember the difference in scale between TV and Broadway.

If 8 million people watched the finale as Riedel claims, then that means that even if only 2% or 3% of the audience bought full price tickets, that's still enough support to keep them going for a while. Add that to the likely support from tourist groups, then they've got it in the bag.

I have faith in Kathleen Marshall. Most at BWW were making fun of a revival of The Pajama Game with Harry Connick Jr. until they actually saw it.

[Producer2]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 2:40pm

How can they get their money back? There were no promised starring names when the people bought the tickets.
If Glenn Close was out of Sunset one night, then you could get a refund because they advertised that Glenn would be there.

[jv92]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 2:52pm

Michael Bennett- The people calling for refunds are silly, not the article which is a joy to read. A two year run seems a little too long. I'll have to disagree with you on that. Tourists don't come year round. When Broadway isn't filled with tourists, the grosses will be quite low, I think.
I have little faith in Kathleen Marshall. In fact, I've lost most of my respect for her. How could she sink this low? There are plenty of other shows that don't get revived and that NEED TO that she could do. Not this.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 2:58pm

JV - I mean that Riedel, fully aware of Broadways box office return policy is rather silly to do an article on the supposed demand for refunds - though again the article is clearly slanted to insinuate that the supposed "cry" for refunds is actually affecting the box office.

If he were interested in reporting facts, he'd be forced to mention that supposed 9 million advance - a couple of million of have been banked after the finale (and the winning stars announced).

The last revival of GREASE ran four years. I think 2 years is a more than reasonable estimate given that healthy advance and that the show is booked into the small Brooks Atkinson theatre. If the producers do some star-replacements - I think the show could easily run longer.

[Julian2]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 4:00pm

The first part of the article may have been ridiculous. Although, while they may not have been able to get a refund, that dosen't mean people didn't try, sooooo, IDK.

But I did think the article did an excellent job of laying out why many didn't like the show.

[luvliza89]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 4:08pm

I actually think Max is very attractive.

But that's besides the point. Nothing new is being said here. Same old, same old. I also actually thought that besides Jenny Powers, the rest of the Broadway cast looked like a major bore. At least Max and Laura had amazing energy.

I am not a fan of Grease, but I have opening night tickets because I think Max and Laura are great talents.

=)

[devonian.t]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 4:35pm

Pray the production does not resemble David Ian's West End show- it's dumber than dumb!