The Griswalds' Broadway Vacation -- What's next?

[aces25]

Posted: 10/25/23 at 11:20am

Is there a next life for this show following last year at the 5th Avenue Theatre? 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 10/25/23 at 12:12pm

100%. The creators are quite busy now with a lot of other things and putting up a show on Broadway is very expensive. It will come to New York when it's ready :)

[JSquared2]

Posted: 10/25/23 at 12:45pm

aces25 said: "Is there a next life for this show following last year at the 5th Avenue Theatre?"

 

Highly doubtful.  More likely that Davenport just licenses it out to high schools and community theatres.

 

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 10/25/23 at 4:16pm

It was a true mess in Seattle and needs MAJOR work

 

 

[BETTY22]

Posted: 10/26/23 at 12:45pm

There is a workshop planned in a few months. 

This is the process.....

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 10/26/23 at 12:50pm

JSquared2 said: "aces25 said: "Is there a next life for this show following last year at the 5th Avenue Theatre?"



Highly doubtful. More likely that Davenport just licenses it out to high schools and community theatres.

"

How often do shows get licensed out without having a Broadway run? I can think of Freaky Friday as one, but none others come to mind. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/26/23 at 2:00pm

HenryTDobson said: "How often do shows get licensed out without having a Broadway run? I can think of Freaky Friday as one, but none others come to mind."

Not infrequently. SUPERHERO, FAR FROM HEAVEN, and ALICE BY HEART being recent-ish shows that had Broadway hopes + enhancement money, but scrapped Broadway plans and went straight to licensing.

Updated On: 10/26/23 at 02:00 PM

[JSquared2]

Posted: 10/26/23 at 2:06pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "HenryTDobson said: "How often do shows get licensed out without having a Broadway run? I can think of Freaky Friday as one, but none others come to mind."

Not infrequently. SUPERHERO, FAR FROM HEAVEN, and ALICE BY HEART being two recent shows that had Broadway hopes + enhancement money, but scrapped Broadway plans and went straight to licensing."

 

A few others --- The Bodyguard, Dirty Dancing, We Will Rock You, James and the Giant Peach, Ever After, Fame...

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/26/23 at 2:26pm

Has EVER AFTER been made available for the masses to license? It had a reading produced by Kevin McCollum a couple weeks ago featuring Christy Altomare and is now on its third director after two pre-Broadway engagements at Paper Mill and Alliance.

[Hey, Zelda!]

Posted: 10/26/23 at 2:30pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "HenryTDobson said: "How often do shows get licensed out without having a Broadway run? I can think of Freaky Friday as one, but none others come to mind."

Not infrequently. SUPERHERO, FAR FROM HEAVEN, and ALICE BY HEART being recent-ish shows that had Broadway hopes + enhancement money, but scrapped Broadway plans and went straight to licensing."

Throw Heathers and Ride the Cyclone on the list--both in particular have done very well for themselves in licensing.

[George in DC]

Posted: 10/26/23 at 3:08pm

"Batboy" got licensed. I think "The Toxic Avenger" did as well.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 10/26/23 at 3:13pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "HenryTDobson said: "How often do shows get licensed out without having a Broadway run? I can think of Freaky Friday as one, but none others come to mind."

Not infrequently. SUPERHERO, FAR FROM HEAVEN, and ALICE BY HEART being recent-ish shows that had Broadway hopes + enhancement money, but scrapped Broadway plans and went straight to licensing."

Off-topic, but whatever happened to SUPERHERO? Have there been any other regional productions? The book is a mess but there's some lovely songs in the score.

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 10/26/23 at 3:22pm

Alex Kulak2 said: "ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "HenryTDobson said: "How often do shows get licensed out without having a Broadway run? I can think of Freaky Friday as one, but none others come to mind."

Not infrequently. SUPERHERO, FAR FROM HEAVEN, and ALICE BY HEART being recent-ish shows that had Broadway hopes + enhancement money, but scrapped Broadway plans and went straight to licensing."

Off-topic, but whatever happened to SUPERHERO? Have there been any other regional productions? The book is a mess but there's some lovely songs in the score."

Ever After was also recently performed in concert at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul.  But as far as I can tell it's still unavailable for licensing.  As far as Superhero goes, it was acquired by Concord Theatricals and is available for licensing through there.  There aren't any productions currently listed on the site, and I can't find any stories about other productions after 2020.

 

[DBAK]

Posted: 10/26/23 at 6:08pm

I've lived in Seattle for several years now. I had missed a few premieres at the 5th Avenue/Rep prior to the pandemic so one of my major pledges was to catch as many new musical premieres as I could once we got shows up and running again. I love the 5th Avenue so much (our recent productions of Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd were remarkably good btw!) In 2022, the 5th hosted two premieres: Afterwords and Griswolds Broadway Vacation. Afterwords was a breath of fresh air; it took me to similar places that next to normal did when it was brand new. There's been zero talk of Broadway, but I highly recommend finding what you can from the show. Griswolds Broadway Vacation, on the other hand, was a hot mess. Some of the set design was super fun/original. Apart from Hunter Foster, who isn't my cup of tea, I thought the cast was super talented. I've never seen such a talented cast sell such mediocre material. I would argue that there is about an hour of workable/salvageable material in the show, and the rest should be completely rewritten from scratch. I think the only move that could make the show good is condensing most of the runtime into the second act and adding an hour of completely new material into act one.