Saving BOOP? #SAVEBOOP?

I know that there are major problems with the book, but I saw BOOP with my daughter last night and I can’t stop thinking of the color as the tap dancing and the talented cast. I do believe that is the type of show that I wish every kid in America could see and fall in love with. A month extension with some cheaper summer tickets aimed at families could do that. 

 

Has a show ever been “saved” after a closing announcement and is there anyone else who wants to campaign to save this show? I think it suffered from being expensive and some poor marketing-  but it is the type of show that should run through the summer.  I think that if it could get a month extension and there was heavy promotion of some of those beautiful, colorful numbers it would get such a lift. We know there is better material; but there is a lot worse that has survived for years. 

 

The dance numbers should have had more exposure; the dog should have been all over as it is one of the cutest pieces of merch I have ever seen. It is a shame that BOOP didn’t get a Tony performance on TV because we would not be having this conversation.  I had a dream where I sat outside of the theater refusing to move with my daughter and a #SAVEBOOP sign.

 

Anyone with me or is it just too little,too late? The stage door was packed last night, the cast was incredible. It was a really great night at the theatre and I think it deserves a little longer. 

 

 

Realistically the only thing that would lead to an extension/delay of the closing is a sudden surge in sales for the last weeks, indicating there's enough interest to keep it going. That bought an extra week for Swept Away in December. Last week there was talk it might happen for Real Women Have Curves, but the advance sales didn't materialize, so it's closing as announced.

Right now the sales for Boop's last week are still very low, with a lot of availability. The closing announcement hasn't had much of an effect getting people to get tickets. No reason to keep it running if they can't even sell that week.







 

Only a billionaire who loves the show and is willing to dump their own money and not care of the weekly lost revenues can save the show. Regardless how happy and joyful the show is to many, the key ingredient that’ll keep the show from closing are ticket sales, which keep going down weekly. A show’s closure has zero to do with its quality. Countless major Tony Award winning shows closed shortly after winning and it was based on not finding an audience to buy tickets. Those ticket sales are what generate the money to make payroll and cover the costs that make the show happen in the first place. People just seem to have this fantasy that these Broadway shows are free and that a petition will convince producers to just keep a show running because 2,000 signatures want it to. 

jazzicat said: "Wow, thanks for such a thoughtful and well-written series of responses. Logically, I know all this.

Maybe I looking more for an answer towhat works to help drive ticket sales vs. not… why does it work sometimes and not others? "

There’s a list a mile long of shows that “should” have succeeded that are far and away better than those that did and have run for decades. If there were a simple answer as to what makes a show a success, “Caroline or Change” would celebrating its 21st Broadway anniversary this year. 

 Just wanted to comment on one sentence:

"A month extension with some cheaper summer tickets aimed at families could do that."

Unfortunately,  Broadway shows can not survive by selling cheaper tickets.  They must sell a good portion of the premium seats at $200+ in order to continue.  It is a commercial enterprise, not subsidized by charitable donations or government grants like some smaller community theatres might be, or the theatre programs in other countries.  If you attend a live theatre show here in Canada, there can be pages & pages in the program of letters from various government ministers from every level from Federal & Provincial down people in the Mayor's office.  I noticed the same thing on my recent trip to Paris & Amsterdam.   So you might pay only $30 or $40 for a ticket, but remember our income tax rate in Canada is 20-30%.  30% of every one of your paycheques goes to scumbag politicians who have to justify their jobs by putting some if it in the arts or healthcare.  Then you've got to fight tooth & nail to get any deductions on your income tax return to maybe get something back.

Updated On: 6/28/25 at 10:10 AM

I wouldn't worry about it closing, I'm planning to chain myself to the theatre so they can't load out. 

In hindsight, i think the producers could have saved the show if they had ponied up the funds to perform on the Tonys.

We were all expecting the show to post a closing notice the Monday after the Tonys (myself included, and i love Boop!).  Even the show seemed to assumed this too as they chose not to 'pay to play' on the broadcast.

But they stuck it out to try and  find an audience, and hoped to pull ticket buyers from Smash, Curves, and other shows that have announced their closings.

I'd guess that it costs significantly less to perform on the Tonys than the amount of money they've spent this past month to keeping the show open and find an audience??!!!??

Had they spent the money to perform, people would see that the show really is quite fun, rather than the abysmal flop that word of mouth has led people to believe.  Their box office would probably have increased, and we might not be having this conversation right now

Updated On: 6/28/25 at 12:28 PM

The8re phan said: "In hindsight, i think the producers could have saved the showif they had ponied up the funds to perform on the Tonys."

The problem with performing on the Tonys is you're one of a dozen shows performing on the telecast, and it can be hard to stand out from the crowd.

I don't think ANYTHING on the telecast -- a performance, a win for Jasmine, a win for Jerry -- could have given BOOP the needed boost. The numbers have just been so consistently bad, sales needed to double (or more) overnight and remain there for months.

It was probably a good strategic move to spend that money on other forms of advertising. But we'll never actually know.

Updated On: 6/28/25 at 12:43 PM

jazzicat said: "A month extension with some cheaper summer tickets aimed at families could do that."

So a show, which has been losing money every week, should extend longer but lower how much money they're bringing in each week to help? If they can't afford to stay open now, how are they going to afford to stay open when they lower all the ticket prices? Is everyone involved with the production going to take a massive paycut for that month?

Not trying to be mean here and I absolutely respect your love for the show and your desire for it to keep running. But I'm simply saying, this is a business, not a charity or a non-profit. You can't just keep running and make it affordable so everyone can see it, as nice of an idea as that sounds.

Is it that terrible, though… I had no interest in seeing it.. then my daughter talked me into it and it was just so colorful and fun and yes, corny and cartoonish as heck- but I was absolutely delighted. and maybe that was always the point- fun. We walked out with armloads of merch and had a blast.

My comment on the “cheaper tickets to grow the audience” was that I think you need word of mouth to help certain shows- getting more exposure to gain a following could help but taking short term losses to make the tickets hotter down the line…maybe it doesn’t or could never work that way? 

I do genuinely naively hope something will happen- at the stage door one of the principal actors said.. thanks for coming, tell your friends… maybe this show will have another life somewhere else.  It just made me want to help, but clearly too little, too late.

 


 

jazzicat said: 

My comment on the “cheaper tickets to grow the audience” was that I think you need word of mouth to help certain shows- getting more exposure to gain a following could help but taking short term losses to make the tickets hotter down the line…maybe it doesn’t or could neverwork that way?

It is common for shows to offer cheaper seats in the early part of the run (sometimes a code is needed or tickets are offered on tkts), and as you say build word of mouth, and eventually the show becomes a hit and the ticket prices go up.  It's just that in this case, they've given it three months to catch on, and it hasn't. 




"

 

jazzicat said: "Is it that terrible, though… I had no interest in seeing it.. then my daughter talked me into it and it was just so colorful and fun and yes, corny and cartoonish as heck- but I was absolutely delighted. and maybe that was always the point- fun. We walked out with armloads of merch and had a blast.

You say yourself that you had no interest in seeing it. There are others who feel the same myself included. I live in Massachusetts but come down to the city about one weekend every 6 weeks or so - this has never made the cut for me as I'm just not interested at all.