Spring Awakening to move to Broadway- Page 2

[EugLoven]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 12:13am

Thanks Andy! I'll call ahead of time.
Where in the world did you get your Albrite Toothpaste Man avatar and are there more where that came from?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 12:40am

Hehe, I scanned it from the CD Booklet. There are a bunch of others, one of my favorites being "Oops Girl At Sea!".

Updated On: 7/20/06 at 12:40 AM

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 1:15am

Wow, this is incredible news. Incredible as in I can't believe it. I haven't seen the show yet (I plan to in the next week or so), but it doesn't seem like a Broadway show at all. Either way, I'm very excited about this, especially since I'm a fan of the play. Yay for putting Wedekind's brilliant work in the spotlight.

~Steven

[C is for Company]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 2:33am

Foster, don't you remember how people speculated on BKLYN becoming the next RENT?

Just kidding around, I'm actually curious enough to see the show

Updated On: 7/20/06 at 02:33 AM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 3:08am

"Another boring show that will only appeal to those under 25."

What's to say it won't? Just because you're old doesn't mean you have to can't like a certain show. It's all about having an open mind.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 8:06am

Imagine Duncan Sheik a Tony Winner! Talk about a thrill!

[Esparzafan]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 9:10am

This is the best news! I can't wait to see it again and again!

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 11:58am

I am in my 40's and really enjoyed this show. Saw it the night before it officially opened. Met Duncan Shiek and he said that they are looking to record the music. It will be interesting to see how the show is staged on Broadway. Can't wait to see it again. Especially for the "Totally f***ed" song. That song just rocked!

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 12:00pm

I also wonder if they will keep the hand held mic thing in the Broadway transfer. I would prefer they didn't. It wasn't really distracing but I think it would look a bit better if they didn't have them.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 12:20pm

Sorry, folks. I give this one a month to close...maybe more since it's a cheap to produce production. The score is not memorable (LAME lyrics!), book is clunky (it's not a play screaming to be musicalized), and the whole thing not terribly emotionally involving at all. The only thing that gave it any power was the intimacy of the Atlantic theater space. Take it away and you have a weak show, indeed. Obviously there are people who love it, but when I saw it I overheard nary a single positive conversation and at curtain call only about one fourth of the audience stood (and we all know how audiences LOVE to stand for weak shows these days).

It blows my mind that the same critics who trashed BERNARDA ALBA for musicalizing Lorca jizz themselves over this.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 1:03pm

well lea certainly will have a big decision to make maybe...

but it makes me happy that a broadway child actor like lea has turned into a wonderful actress and singer who continues to get work. yes, i know there are others, but lea's great.

[folkyboy]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 1:09pm

as much as i hate to admit it, i half-way agree with Borstalboy. While i differ in that i LOVED the score and music from it, it totally weighed on the fact that there weren't that many people in the theatre to take it all in.

i'm definitely going to have to see it twice now just to see what they altered and how it all came across. of course i'll always remember the good old days back when it was in Chelsea though

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 1:44pm

I can remember telling my friend that saw it with me that I don't think it should go to Broadway. I enjoyed the intimacy of the show. We were sitting in the second row and it was just kind of cool how they would come right up to the front row and sing.

[folkyboy]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 2:13pm

oh silly semantics like that can be easily done with a starewell leading down to the aisle.

i think what i would be concerned with was the way the stage was used so you could see every nuance going on. the movements that were chosen and the set designs gave the story an almost 360° feel to it that i think i would find hard comes across as 3D on stage.

staging is everything.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 2:41pm

I think the staging would be fine--it's the intimacy that one might be concerned about. The show is basically done in thrust with the bulk of the audience on one side. They would be smart to make sure any far rear seats or far side seats (if blocked by onstage audience) were sold very cheaply.

(edit for clarification)

Updated On: 7/20/06 at 02:41 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 3:09pm

That is what I meant by staging in my earlier post. The set design made it feel so intimate to me, along with it being a smaller theatre. No stairwell was needed, it was just all right there.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 3:26pm

Yet another example of how the death of commercial off-Broadway is hurting shows. A decade ago, this show would have moved into one of the larger off-Broadway spaces like the Union Square or the Minetta Lane or the Jane Street or the Promenade and been able to have a decent run in a properly-sized space at modest prices (back then $25-30 a piece) and still been able to turn a profit. Now, with the economic model for commercial Off-Broadway being broken where almost nothing can turn a profit anymore, this little show (with probably limited appeal) is forced to try its luck on Broadway where it'll cost $3 to 4 million to mount and thus be forced to charge $100 or so for its top ticket price and be in a space too large for it, that will wind up undermining one of the main things that makes the show something special -- its intimacy. I wish it well, but this show doesn't belong in a 1000 seat house and I fear that that's all that will be available for it when it decides to move.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 3:38pm

But how are shows like I Love You..., Altar Boyz, Tony N Tina..., etc. doing so well, if that is true? Not arguing your point at all--just curious what the difference is.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 3:41pm

Thank you Margo.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 4:08pm

Altar Boyz, according to its producer, hasn't paid back a dime of its capitalization so far. It constantly hovers around break even, making a few thousand one week and then losing a few thousand the next. It can run for a while like that, but at this rate it'll never recoup and end up as a flop whenever it finally closes.

I Love You, You're Perfect has a cast of 4 and one musician, so it costs nothing to run which is why it has lasted for years.

Tony N Tina is basically glorified dinner theatre (with a top ticket price of $125 for food and the show) and as such has a completely different financial model than regular Off-Broadway shows.

Jewtopia recouped and it has a cast of 6 and no musicians.

Spring Awakening has a cast of 14, plus understudies, plus 4 musicians. Simply put, you can't turn a profit with a show that large anymore, so Broadway is your only option (even if your show really doesn't belong in a Broadway-sized house).

Out of the hundreds of shows that have opened in commercial off-Broadway in the past 5 years or so, fewer than 10 turned a profit (including shows like Orson's Shadow that ran nearly a year). The handful that did all had tiny casts, good reviews, great audience appeal and word of mouth and somehow just got lucky,

[J.J.]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 4:09pm

It seems that they don't want a smaller house. If so, they could take the Longacre (1095). Or wait until Inishmore closes in the next couple of months (Lyceum - 922). But from what I've heard from a couple of people is that their eyes are set on the O'Neill (1104) after Sweeney closes this fall/ winter.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 4:10pm

Sigh

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 4:19pm

Gotcha! Makes perfect sense.

[eve harrington2]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 4:27pm

Margo, you are so smart. I want to be just like you.

:)

Sounds like moving SPRING AWAKENING will be more difficult than people thought. I wonder if/when it will happen.

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 4:28pm

well I would think or hope that they know that it can't be the same production in a larger venue and will make accomadations. Michael Mayer is a smart guy...I'm hoping.