Broadway Legend Joined: 12/10/04
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Think there are 3 possibilities
Jan. 4 Feb. 15 or May 3. It does n't have enough for people to love it and see it twice or Really recommend it to others.
Think they have the financial backing to go to Feb. 15 but will close Jan. 4, partly due to all the other great choices out there this season.
your 2nd and 3rd dates make no sense. If it is flailing after the holidays, it will close then. Otherwise, on to the Tonys. And why would you run through the tony noms and then close? Utterly unfathomable. As I said above, the real question du jour is getting TO the holidays.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
As was said, there are a lot of seasoned producers working on this project. They know how to market it, and they'll know when to close it. This week's numbers don't mean much because of press nights and opening night. Opening night was not onsale to the public and therefore entirely comped.
I think the reviews will set it over the edge for the people on the fence to see it. But I'm not sure word-of-mouth is strong enough to keep it going. When I saw it, everyone around me seemed to be very ho-hum about it. It's not the kind of show you leave just raving about. It's very middle of the road.
Got comped seats today front mezzanine.
The upstairs was pretty much full . Many of the seats appeared to be of the papered variety. The show was better than expected. The score and acting were first rate especially Fred Applegate. The book was good. Not a fan of minimalist sets like those on display here. The choreography is what you would expect.
No idea if it will make it as I gave up on getting behind shows after last season. I wish the cast luck.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/04
I attended that matinee as well. It has moments that are rousing or touching, and the performances are uniformly top-notch. But there are dreary stretches as well that to me don't bode well for packing them in come the winter doldrum months. It's very darkly lit, too.
My mini-takes: Personally, I love the wistful, melancholy title song. I wish Aaron Lazar had more to do. I don't remember Michael Esper's singing voice from AMERICAN IDIOT. Did he always sound like Sting? Or was this either deliberate or unconscious imitation? Really curious.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
Apparently the reason the show we attended was papered was that Lord Brantley was in attendance. He apparently was out of town (maybe being knighted by the queen) and that was why Isherwood did the review
For some reason, the producers were naïve to believe that with a full house of happy customers, their reaction would be better and that Lord Brantley would look more favorably on the show. Naive is the word to assume this would influence Brantley in the slightest.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
Swing Joined: 3/29/14
Not too sure about sales but friends went Tues night and some on Weds Upstairs was virtually empty . Everyone was moved to the front. There were tickets for opening night on sunday. I got one way up in the mezzanine.They were limited in number though and only put on sale on the saturday.
Riedel's column says the reviews didn't affect the box office as much as they expected:
"The $14 million musical opened with less than $3 million in the bank. Monday, the day the reviews came out, sources say “The Last Ship” took in a little more than $100,000. On Broadway, the minimum threshold for a new musical’s opening day should be $250,000, maybe $350,000, given the high weekly running costs most shows have these days.
In previews, “The Last Ship” grossed a little more than $500,000 a week — which, I’m told, is a bit shy of the weekly overhead."
http://nypost.com/2014/10/30/stings-the-last-ship-needs-to-sell-more-tickets/
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