'Swept Away’ to Close on Broadway December 15 — Page 3

white audience primarily. Do you see other ethnicities at this or Stereophonic?

Difference is that Stereophonic has a good script.



MezzoDiva47 said: "its difficult for shows like this one to catch on

the basic question still remains

who wasthe audience for this?

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "We are stuck in this endless cycle where writers/directors and their agents want to develop work for commercial life (for financial and visibility reasons), but in reality an off-Broadway nonprofit is a more appropriate venue for a musical like SWEPT AWAY.

It is viewed as a failure if the last stop on a musical's New Yorkjourney is the Public Theater or Playwrights Horizons and I wish that wasn't the case. But, the problem is, even the big nonprofits can't produce musicals without commercial producers enhancing the production, and they certainly can't commission at a meaningful price tag. And for commercial producers, actually mounting the show commercially is the only way to have a prayer of making back any money (even though that involves zillions more dollars).

"

Exactly. And this is where it's unfortunate how expensive it has become to produce on Bway. Because ideally, folks should shoot their shot. The more diverse of portfolio of stories on the Main Stem, the better for everyone. But it's sadly, then, true that we the state of things is such that a show can't be developed unless it is has enhancement.

To the point made earlier about authors saying how important it is to preorder books, it’s a bit like selling physical copies of music now. There is a lot of times lately an incentive to do so, like a signed cd or lp or even the chance to get one if you preorder by a certain date. This shows first preview gift (which I’m sad I wasn’t at, to get) of a signed window card would be a good incentive for sales, maybe? A poster for every order placed by a certain date? Or a cast recording with every ticket sold (Singers have done this lately and counted those albums into their total sold).


I think if the goal is to get more people in early to build word of mouth then these shows need to start looking at incentive type giveaways to excite people and make them whip out their credit cards, when tickets go on sale. Who knows if it’ll work or not but it seems like it would be worth taking a shot.

I don’t think there’s anything to question, really. As we all know prices are so stupidly expensive that people want to spend their money to see either people they know/recognize or a show with a title they know/recognize. As we’ve said for years now, it’s just too expensive for tourists (and locals) with limited time and money to take a risk on things anymore.

My thoughts exactly. I deeply feel for people like Josh & Raymond J Lee (going from Heart of Rock & Roll to Swept Away & Tammy Faye), I can't imagine how stressful and frustrating it is. Swept Away is such a specific show, and I am an Avett Brothers fan. I don't regret seeing it, and that I got to tell John Gallagher Jr that I felt like we'd grown up together because I'm the same age as most of the Spring Awakening cast. He couldn't have been more gracious. Did I want to bring my family who was visiting the next weekend? No, it's a dark show and I struggled with the book. It's a show I think could do more in a more intimate house, (or maybe should have opened next spring) but I can't same I'm surprised it struggled to find footing.

so lets sum up the blame game

lempicka - blame the critics

swept away - blame the audience

tammy faye - blame the producers

heart of rock and roll - blame the tonys

seems like the first three shows knew better than to announce a national tour that will never happen

There are plenty of shows that open to mixed reviews from critics but manage to have successful runs. But there is something disconcerting about the plug being pulled on a show in just two weeks after opening. I recognize the hard business decisions being made, because if the producers lose confidence that the show will build an audience they're likely to cut their losses. That doesn't change the fact that actors and crew lost their jobs very abruptly right in the middle of the holidays. For some actors, this might mean that they didn't work enough to keep their health benefits with Actors Equity. The profession has never been one that offered any kind of security, but it does appear to be getting worse. No one joins a show with the plan of making a flop and the cast and crew clearly did their absolute best so I understand the frustration. Especially to be given a week before the lights go out and when the shows opening in the spring are already cast so their opportunities to find work in the next few months are tanked.. It's been proposed before that shows should should open with the plan of being a limited run (3 months) and not close before that run is over. This gives the cast and crew a small measure of security, at least in the short term and lets audiences know that they likely have a limited amount of time to see a show that might interest them. If the run is successful, they can extend the run for a few more weeks or even indefinitely if the numbers work in their favor. This will also force producers to be more responsible and go into opening with enough reserves to keep a show going while it builds its audience. I don't know if any of this would have helped Swept Away or any of the new shows that have been struggling, but as I said before, the Broadway industry has reached a point that is unsustainable moving forward. It's expensive to stage a show, tickets are ridiculously expensive and seen as a luxury by the casual audience and shows either have to be hits right out of the gate or they open with vultures circling overhead.

Theatrefan2 said: "So basically what decently discounted previews used to be for."

This may be a case of "yes and." For me, better discounted previews is all it would take. Though I'd love to see other sales incentives like come to a preview and get a ticket discount for later in the run, value pricing on "bring a friend" tickets to a preview, etc. Little things that some shows have done in the past.

But for a generation raised on the concert perks Jordan mentioned, it make take a better preview discount AND some sort of extra perk or exclusive ... early access to a digital file for one or more of the show's songs, special photos they can use on social media, something signed, et al.

I don't know if productions will want to go down that road or how performer would feel about it, but it certainly is commonplace with books and concerts/music right now. I recently pre-ordered a new business leadership book and as a result of doing so, I now have access to a New Year's Day webinar with the author.

The word swirling among the cast (as stated at the stage door) was that the response to the closing was overwhelming enough where they may add a week or two of additional performances if they feel there is true demand for it.

I was at today's matinee and it looked completely sold. The audience was very responsive, and the principals even teared up a little at the curtain call. This is my second viewing (saw it a month ago in previews) and while it has not changed, it seems much tighter and the ending feels totally earned to me. I appreciated it at my first viewing, and was (can't resist) swept away this time.If it were to stay open till year end, I would go back again.

BroadwayGirl107 said: "quizking101 said: "The word swirling among the cast (as stated at the stage door) was that the response to the closing was overwhelming enough where they may add a week or two of additional performances if they feel there is true demand for it."



I suspected as soon as it was announced this was what they were always planning to do. They probably have an actual date in mind, but announced an earlier closing date in hopes of drumming up excitement to actually make money the last few weeks and end on a “win”. JGJ’s speech at curtain call felt very aligned with this and I think the cast, producers, etc probably planned out some of the verbiage—so many of them mentioned “glowing” reviews (which the show did not receive—but PR spin’s gotta spin).

Make it look like a tragic ending, spin it like this is some great piece of art closing too soon, get enough excitement to actually make some money in the past couple of weeks. A decent plan, honestly."

The thing that makes me wary of that is that December 15th is SO close. They'll be selling brand new tickets for literally the next week. I would be much more inclined to believe this was the strategy if they'd announced something more like a December 29th closing and then could announce they're extending into January this week with a few weeks to sell those seats.