Show That Have Sat Down

The ones that come to mind: Avenue Q, Phantom, Hairspray, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Once, Cursed Child, Six, and Wicked. Mainly the bigger/tourist friendly/best musical winners. 

Had they been rockin' the boat? 

Toronto has had several sit-down productions. SIX is a sit-down that is currently running, The Lion King opens one later this year too. They've also had sit-downs of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Dear Evan Hansen, Come from Away, Matilda, Kinky Boots, War Horse, Les Miserables, Hairspray, Mamma Mia, and several others.

Brave Sir Robin2 said: "Las Vegas has seen many! MAMMA MIA, JERSEY BOYS, LION KING, PHANTOM, AVENUE Q, SPAMALOT HAIRSPRAY, THE PRODUCERS, CHICAGO come to mind pretty quickly! After the success of MAMMA MIA, there was a big burst of shows, most of them cut down to 90 minutes."

Vegas also had Phantom for a while.  The stagework was cool for that one in Vegas.  

Toronto also had sit downs of Beauty and the Beast, Jersey Boys, Sunset Blvd, Tommy, The Sound of Music, Rock of Ages, The Wizard of Oz, Dirty Dancing, Phantom, Hairspray, Miss Saigon, Les Miz

Boston had a production of 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Phantom had a sit down production in Los Angeles. After it closed, the physical production moved to San Francisco for an even longer run. I believe each of these productions were produced under the old production contract with Los Angeles and then San Francisco being the home city. As I remember, the Equity production contract used to allow a production to choose one of four home/base cities: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Having a production based in one of these cities allowed the production to avoid paying a weekly per deim if a cast member was cast locally, I believe the Chicago Phantom was technically the start of the first national tour though it played a very long run before its first move. I think the Los Angeles and San Francisco production were not designed to tour and took a long time to make the move between the two. Las Vegas has its own Equity contract for musicals, which allowed for more performances for show that only ran 90 minutes (which was also the traditional limit for how long casino owners would allow patrons to be away from gaming tables/slots). Several of the musicals in Las Vegas were full length including Mama Mia and Lion King. Phantom, Hairspray, Producers were cut down to 90 minutes (boy did Hairspray move fast--and lost two songs (Baltimore Crab/Act 2 prison opening, if I remember correctly--only slowing down for You're Timeless to Me)

jpbran said: "BalconyClub said: "Chicago also had sit downs of Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, and Ragtime.

Outside the Loop, there were long-running productions of Pump Boys and Dinettes at the Apollo, Forever Plaid at Wisdom Bridge, and Coed Prison Sl*ts at the Annoyance Theatre."

Forgot about Joseph! (despite the incessant 90s ads! haha) Are the others sit-downs or just longer tour stops? I may be unclear on what makes a sit-down production. I thought they were purpose-built open-ended productions vs. extended tour stops.

Not all open runs have to run for years to be an open run. The only thing that makes something a sit-down or open run is that the show opens without a pre-determined closing date. And with the exception of Hamilton, all were physically designed to tour.

You can also add The Lion King,  Beauty and the Beast, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Color Purple, Jersey Boys, and Hal Prince's Show Boat to the list of Chicago's open runs (and as has been previously mentioned, Billy Elliot, Wicked, and Hamilton). 

Billy Elliot and The Color Purple were the only two that underperformed, though the former did have a lengthy run. Some shows might have had an internal, unannounced closing date in mind (i.e., even if sales supported a longer run, they would still close on Xxx date to tour). And the earlier shows weren't really  advertised as open runs, they simply just kept extending. 

A fun note: Cameron Macintosh actually shuttered Miss Saigon early and moved it to Boston in response to a then recently-passed entertainment tax by the city, which was ironically passed because of the success of the recent long runs of Phantom, Lez Miz, and Miss Saigon.

jpbran said: "(And the off-loop mentions were just local productions that found long-time audiences, no?)"

Not necessarily. Most off-Loop shows that are derived from off-Broadway, etc. aren't big enough to have national companies, and often rely on local producers to mount productions. That doesn't make them any less legit open runs.

Updated On: 3/28/24 at 03:06 PM

If I remember correctly, Wicked in Chicago was a strange situation, with the first national tour booked for a very limited run (which may have been due to several previous big touring shows under performing, especially Sunset Boulevard)--when the  show sold amazingly well, the run was turned into a sit down production. The original tour cast went on with scheduled tour and new Chicago based cast was hired to take over the show. Not 100% sure--but I think the set stayed in Chicago and a new one constructed quickly to continue the tour. The original tour cast (Stephanie J Block, Kendra Kassebaum, Carol Kane, David Garrison) played April 29 to June 12, 2005. The Chicago cast (Anna Gasteyer, Kate Reinders, Rondi Reed) started performances June 24th with the run continuing to January 25, 2009.

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET ran in Chicago for over 3,000 performances - seven years! Longer than the Broadway run.

The Toronto production of Phantom ran for 10 years, 1989-1999. 

LuckyDipster said: "I've not heard of this before. What is a sit down show?"

Ok, I'll take a guess.  Is it a show that has an extended run in a non Broadway theatre?