The Music Man should do the right thing and postpone/cancel the run now- Page 5

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 6/8/20 at 4:38pm

If fans wanted Beetlejuice to keep running, they should have bought tickets to the show.  The show only closed because it wasn't selling well enough.  Profits don't come from people talking about how much they like it.  Profits come from people shelling out money to see it.  That's the way business works.

Updated On: 6/8/20 at 04:38 PM

[schubox]

Posted: 6/8/20 at 5:10pm

Broadway61004 said: "If fans wantedBeetlejuice to keep running, they should have bought tickets to the show. The show only closed because it wasn't selling well enough. Profits don't come from people talking about how much they like it. Profits come from people shelling out money to see it. That's the way business works."

I don't have a dog in this fight, and I really have no vested interest in whether Beetlejuice continues or not, but I think the issue is people were buying tickets for the last several months of its run. The problem was the out clause was triggered well before that.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 6/8/20 at 5:13pm

Um, the show closed because of the pandemic. It had been selling well since last year, late Summer. They were going to transfer theaters and then this happened.

So, nah, that isn't the way "business works." 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/8/20 at 5:26pm

Well, they were talking about changing theaters.

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 6/8/20 at 6:01pm

Sutton Ross said: "Um, the show closed because of the pandemic. It had been selling well since lastyear, late Summer. They were going to transfer theaters and then this happened.

So, nah, that isn't the way "business works.""

If they were selling so well, then why was their stop clause triggered? Those only come into play when grosses drop below a certain point. That is, in fact, how business works. They were only evicted because they weren't selling enough tickets. And yes, sales had started picking up again after their closing announcement, but that doesn't matter. They were not selling enough, so they had to close. Period, end of story.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 6/8/20 at 6:06pm

But it was not going to close, they were offered the Barrymore Theater. I'm not defending Beetlejuice, I don't care about the show or the rabid fans, just letting you know. Business had been great for half a year before the shut down, they want to continue making money off of it and knowing they still could, they were offered a new theater.

That IS how business works. Money to be made? Let's do everything in our power to make more of it!

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/8/20 at 6:29pm

There has never been a show situation like Beetlejuice in two different ways: never before had social media fandom ACTUALLY driven a show to success (common consensus before this was that it frankly couldn’t work as a marketing technique); and never before was a show’s stop clause triggered before the show suddenly became a major success.

An okay-to-good show that one essentially no awards just won its place in the history books two times over. Of pandemic closeouts net them an empty space they can transfer into, they’ll make it a hat trick. But it won’t be Music Man’s space if they do.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/8/20 at 6:51pm

Broadway61004 said: "Sutton Ross said: "Um, the show closed because of the pandemic. It had been selling well since lastyear, late Summer. They were going to transfer theaters and then this happened.

So, nah, that isn't the way "business works.""

If they were selling so well, then why was their stop clause triggered? Those only come into play when grosses drop below a certain point. That is, in fact, how business works. They were only evicted because they weren't selling enough tickets. And yes, sales had started picking up again after their closing announcement, but that doesn't matter. They were not selling enough, so they had to close. Period, end of story."

To be fair.....they "triggered" the stop clause MONTHS before they got their eviction notice. They had been doing quite well for several (many?) months before they announced closing.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 6/8/20 at 8:28pm

dramamama611 said: "To be fair.....they "triggered" the stop clause MONTHS before they got their eviction notice. They had been doing quite well for several (many?) months before they announced closing."

Once they met the stop clause criteria, they were informed they were being evicted. The public "announcement" was a response to them being able to convince the Shuberts to move The Music Man to another theater. They were "shaming" them. But wren't sales already on the decline by the time the pandemic hit? That's why a move was only being considered.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 6/8/20 at 8:53pm

Sutton Ross said: "But it was not going to close, they were offered the Barrymore Theater. I'm not defending Beetlejuice, I don't care about the show or the rabid fans, just letting you know. Business had been great for half a year before the shut down, they want to continue making money off of it and knowing they still could, they were offered a new theater.

That IS how business works. Money to be made? Let's do everything in our power to make more of it!"

You are only partially correct IMO.  Business was not so great that anyone was thinking 'wow...we are going to return our investment.'  It was more about 'we are going to be able to stretch this run out a little (lot??) longer, which will help the road tour (maybe).  It definitely did better than earlier in its run, and much better on holidays weeks, but there is no-one who could predict how soon it was going to run out of steam for good.  

The real shame is how expensive it has become to move shows between theatres.  Decades ago, shows constantly moved theatres, sometimes for short periods.  That is no longer possible, and I blame the unions for that.  In their zeal to ensure that their members get paid the most they can, they have also been responsible for shows closing prematurely because of the expense of a move.  That is just wrong.

In the case of Beetlejuice, it was more complex than that, per prior topics on this board.  To move to the Barrymore, a much smaller theatre, the sets would have had to be re-designed (re-scaled), and that was going to add expense to the already obscene cost of a simple move.

The thing that no one ever focused on (that I remember) was the fact that this uptick in business was enabled by ticket discounting at the large Winter Garden.  I have no doubt that that would have needed to continue at the Barrymore.  Unless there was a drastic cut to the cast and orchestra and equivalent backstage support staff, it would not have had a chance of success.  Definition of success: not even returning investment, just seeking out a materially longer run and at least making back the cost of the move.

Theatre is a business.  There is no business person with a functioning brain who would not have evicted Beetlejuice for TMM.  Had the show actually opened in September, it would have seen the type of grosses only seen by Hamilton; if not as much, pretty closely.  On the other hand, no one could predict how long BJ was going to run at a decent profit at the WG.  A bird in the hand was most definitely worth two in the bush.

Personally, I am so sick of this Beetlejuice topic; I only responded here because I think that, despite repeated explanations, there are people who refuse to accept that Beetlejuice was never going to turn into a big hit.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 6/9/20 at 10:28am

I just got a refund for my MUSIC MAN ticket for November after e-mailing Telecharge. Even if the show is *somehow* opened by November, I am not comfortable with traveling to the city when COVID is still at large.

[spicemonkey]

Posted: 6/9/20 at 3:12pm

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "I just got a refund for my MUSIC MAN ticket for November after e-mailing Telecharge. Even if the show is *somehow* opened by November, I am not comfortable with traveling to the city when COVID is still at large."

Hey, can you please share the Telecharge email you were using?

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 6/9/20 at 4:32pm

Yup: [e-mail].

I'm sick of the Beetlejuice feud too. I loved Beetlejuice. But, it seems like the MM producers had the house before Beetlejuice started to take off. It's not really their faults that it took off the last second. Hopefully, Beetlejuice will somehow find a new home in this bad time. For now, let's just move on.   

[spicemonkey]

Posted: 6/9/20 at 8:51pm

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "Yup:[e-mail].

Thank you : )

[djoko84]

Posted: 6/10/20 at 6:35pm

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "I just got a refund for my MUSIC MAN ticket for November after e-mailing Telecharge. Even if the show is *somehow* opened by November, I am not comfortable with traveling to the city when COVID is still at large."

Thanks so much for the info! I also have tickets for November and want a refund. I am going to email them as well.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 6/10/20 at 8:51pm

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "I just got a refund for my MUSIC MAN ticket for November after e-mailing Telecharge. Even if the show is *somehow* opened by November, I am not comfortable with traveling to the city when COVID is still at large."

 

Good...but thinking that ''somehow'' the show may be open in Novmber...well that is not happening...Rudin should just make annnoucement soon that it's not opening in the fall and let us know the new date and or if it's not happening as they are still selling tickets which I don't understand why? 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 6/10/20 at 10:20pm

Because he's the worst?

[barcelona20]

Posted: 6/11/20 at 9:20am

If/When they re-open, do you think some of the roles might be recast to make it more diverse?  Which should have been done initially...

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 6/11/20 at 10:00am

Robbie2 said: "disneybroadwayfan22 said: "I just got a refund for my MUSIC MAN ticket for November after e-mailing Telecharge. Even if the show is *somehow* opened by November, I am not comfortable with traveling to the city when COVID is still at large."



Good...but thinking that ''somehow'' the show may be open in Novmber...well that is not happening...Rudin should just make annnoucement soon that it's not opening in the fall and let us know the new date and or if it's not happening as they are still selling tickets which I don't understand why?"

They're selling tickets because the only thing the Broadway League has declared is that shows will not resume until September 6th.  Yes, we all know it's highly, highly, highly unlikely anything is running November.  But until the League officially cancels everything, they're going to continue selling tickets and not refunding folks just like it's planning to be on.  Because a) if some miracle happens and things are running again, they will have refunded a bunch of what should be their profit and b) while I don't know for sure what kind of insurance they took out, I can only assume that until everything is officially cancelled by the League, they wouldn't be able to cancel while still collecting everything.

Updated On: 6/11/20 at 10:00 AM

[Javi]

Posted: 6/12/20 at 1:30am

I've got tickets for what's meant to be the first preview of The Music Man on Sept 8.  I just wish they'd refund the tickets now.  I'm in Australia and so there's no way I will be able to make it even if, by some miracle, they actually start previews that night.  I wonder if it's worth emailing them like some of you have.

[amaklo]

Posted: 6/12/20 at 8:08pm

I emailed Telecharge a couple of days ago asking for a refund for my two Music Man tickets for late October, and got a response today that my refund request was approved.  They attached a return receipt showing the full amount I paid.

[kaybay2]

Posted: 6/12/20 at 9:36pm

Same here, and my tickets were for February. Quick and easy. 

[djoko84]

Posted: 6/13/20 at 12:49am

amaklo said: "I emailed Telecharge a couple of days ago asking for a refund for my two Music Man tickets for late October, and got a response today that my refund request was approved. They attached a return receipt showing the full amount I paid."

Were the tickets bought through telecharge online or at the box office? I also got an email response and was told since I bought my tickets at the box office, the refund would have to come from the box office itself when it opens. Has anyone else had that issue?

Updated On: 6/13/20 at 12:49 AM

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 6/13/20 at 1:47am

If/when this production is able to happen, I am not going to be shocked if we end up loosing Foster in the production to keep Jackman.

There is NO question at this point that this is not going to be able to happen in it's original timeline even though Rudin has yet to make that announcement. And I am sure that the delay in said announcement would be in large part right now with attempting to re-align the schedules of their two headliners.

Foster was supposed to have the next season of her TV show filmed before starting Music Man rehearsals. That did not happen. And let's be real, if she has to make a choice between filming her tv series once it's possible to do so again or being on Broadway, she will pick the TV series. Just like if Jackman has any kind of film projects lined up for after Music Man and those films are still on schedule for post pandemic starts, he's gonna pick the film. If they can move the dates but only keep one of the stars to do so, they are gonna work around Jackman and if Foster can't line up with him, they will recast her to keep him. 

Updated On: 6/13/20 at 01:47 AM

[amaklo]

Posted: 6/13/20 at 8:56am

djoko84 said: "amaklo said: "I emailed Telecharge a couple of days ago asking for a refund for my two Music Man tickets for late October, and got a response today that my refund request was approved. They attached a return receipt showing the full amount I paid."

Were the tickets bought through telecharge online or at the box office? I also got an email response and was told since I bought my tickets at the box office, the refund would have to come from the box office itself when it opens. Has anyone else had that issue?"

I bought them through Telecharge online.