bwaylyric said: "The celebrated Palace reopening with two duds in a row?"
Whether it's a dud or something better remains to be seen, but Broadway doesn't exactly have a great track record for reopening a re-named theatre with a hit (be it financially or creatively). Such as...
- Belasco Theatre reopened with WOMEN ON THE VERGE (a costly flop for LCT and a hotly anticipated show that disappointed)
- Henry Miller's Theatre reopened post-reno with that awful revival of BYE BYE BIRDIE, followed by Dame Edna & Michael Feinstein's short-lived flop ALL ABOUT ME. When it was renamed the Sondheim, its first tenant was PEE WEE HERMAN...at least that one made money?
- St. James Theatre: FROZEN (some of those renovations were specifically done to attract Disney)
- Nederlander Theatre: that misguided GUYS & DOLLS was the first to play there after the post-RENT renovation.
- James Earl Jones Theatre: OHIO STATE MURDERS (closed early, lost money)
- Gershwin Theatre: Angela Lansbury's MAME revival (closed after 41 performances)
- Al Hirschfeld Theatre: the tail end of Stokes' MAN OF LA MANCHA (which lost money & didn't wow critics) followed by WONDERFUL TOWN (mixed reviews aside from Murphy, ran a year but lost money).
There are exceptions, of course (such as BOEING-BOEING at the Longacre, SUNDAY at the Hudson, and SIX continuing on at the Lena Horne) but there's no added sales value or creative magic for a show reopening a Broadway house.
Updated On: 10/20/24 at 06:10 PM