Saw Kerry in Little Shop tonight... — Page 2

"Some 12 year old arm chair quaterback who likes to think they are part of a major billion dollar industry..."

Are there really very many minor billion dollar industries?

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"Zoom":

You want back-up for my statement? Well, the first piece of "back-up" is Rob's initial post about the show handing out marketing surveys at this point in the run. That's a horrible sign. The other form of back-up that I'll offer is the grosses:

http://www.playbill.com/features/article/82162.html

A show that JUST opened that has as much of a life ahead of it as you all say should NOT be the second lowest show, in terms of percentage of seats filled. That's pathetic.

Bitter? How? I hate how discussions get out of control on here. My initial post commented on Rob's initial post regarding audience surveys and then everything goes haywire. If you love Little Shop 100% then great, but why bother even getting in the discussion?

No, but maybe you missed the part of the conversation where I informed you that LSOH has been handing out these flyers since the first week of previews, so the fact that they're STILL trying to figure out who the heck is paying to see the show eight weeks later is a bad sign.

That what is 100 percent the reason? Why they're handing out the flyers? YES! If a show is at 60% just weeks after getting some nice reviews and after spending money on big ads that don't seem to be working, they're desperately trying to figure out what they're doing wrong.

Well, I didn't go the first week. A friend did and got one. I went the THIRD week and did get one... Either way, the fact that they're handing them out at all is a bad sign!

Do you think that if the show was doing well, they would be paying the extra expense of hiring marketing people to do this extra work? The show has a very small advance, so they're nervous about the future. I can't believe this discussion is still going...

but if you were really that bad off you probably wouldnt have the money to spend to find out whats working and what isnt and to pay marketing people, etc.

-Christina

AGAIN, the marketing surveys are generic--they could be stuffed in any Playbill in this city. Why would that have anything to do with failure or success? They just want to know how people find out about shows in 2003. That's all. What radio stations. What publications. Who the audience is. That's it. It never says, "Oh dear audience member, how can we fix this show?"

The frustration with your posts isn't that you discuss the financial aspects--a worthy discussion--but how you discuss them. You seem to wish the show harm, as opposed to merely discussing it. In addition, you belittle others in the process.

Not cool.

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I just happen to think that the reason for the low grosses with this show now, is because of the season. Hell, they decided to open in the fall, the season in which the theatre suffers somewhat. Had they opened during the summer, as they originally planned, it would have been a different story. Furthermore, the leads of the show are not "superstars". As much as I love Kerry Butler, she is not as well known as say, Bernadette Peters, and even Bernadette isn't a mega star. However, her name gets butts into the seats at the Shubert. I have to agree with jrb -- it seems as if a few of you contributing to this thread wish the show harm. There doesn't seem to be any tone of regret that the show is not at full capacity - it seems more of a "See I told you so attitude....." and a "Let's drink to Little Shop's failure..." It's fine if you don't like the production, but I think it is rude and immature to wish a show to fail. Again, I have to reiterate that I am not worried about Little Shop's success. They will be fine, and I feel that they will be around for a while. Come Thanksgiving and other big holidays, they will get more butts in the seats. The thing that this show has going for it is that it is well known, and that people love it. Furthermore, the performances are pleasant and entertaining. I for one, wish the show well. And by the way, I am NOT a child. I might be considered a kid to some of you older posters, but I am definitely not some uninformed child. Thank you.

Cheers,
The Balladeer

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I'm going to join w/ those who say that a marketing survey this late in the game is not a sign of a show being on its last legs. Having said that... shows that don't need help designing their marketing obviously don't need to do that.

LSOH is a TERRIFIC show & gets an extremely diverse crowd. The question for the marketing team is which part of this diverse audience is going to pay the most to get through the door.

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The production must earn $350,000 a week to break even, and at this point has a 3 million dollar advance. It's not on anything resembling "last legs".It would be much better if the weekly grosses were better than 80%. What the marketing people are doing is seeing what their current audiences income and interests are in relation to how they spend their entertainment dollars.

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