The Scottsboro Boys" COULD transfer to Broadway before the Tony cutoff...- Page 2

[averagebwaynut]

Posted: 2/26/10 at 9:20pm

Fair warning: I have not seen the show but will be seeing it soon.

If award nominations were the sole, driving motivation, I would agree that trying to bring the show in this season would be worthwhile.

Having said that, I've always thought that the Weisslers' financial and business sense was at least as keen as their love of hype and awards. If I'm correct in that, I think there are a great many reasons why waiting until next season (be it summer or fall) is a far wiser move:

-- to expand on something others have noted, there isn't a theatre they can be sure they have right now, unless they were to take a temporary booking in the Neil Simon (which seems unlikely). Yes, it's possible that the "Looped" may not last at the Lyceum, but if you're willing to consider a theatre of 800 seats or so, why not wait and secure something like the Golden, without the Lyceum's second balcony, or the Kerr, which has a 2nd balcony but has 850 some-odd seats even without it. A summer or fall opening would bring even more desirable theatres into the mix like the Music Box, the Barrymore, the Schoenfeld, and perhaps the O'Neill.

-- on a related note: I believe the Vineyard seats 120 people (10 rows of 12). So a week's worth of audiences there would just barely fill one performance in a small Broadway house. While rave reviews will help move tickets, they would do well to build an advance for this so it doesn't burn bright for a short time and flame out -- especially with a show featuring serious subject matter, no stars and a score that some consider a gem and some consider recycled. As someone else said, better to build the anticipation and make it an event -- not unlike "Orphans Home Cycle" which faced some similar circumstances and opted to wait. Even "Rent" (with similarly serious subject matter, no stars and a much-heralded score) had two months from its Opening at NYTW before it started previews on Broadway.

-- "Paradise Found" is scheduled to begin previews at the Chocolate Factory in London on May 19 (thru June 26). There can be no question that if/when "The Scottsboro Boys" moves to a bigger theatre, it will require some re-staging. I just don't see how she could do one without screwing the other. If they work towards an "Avenue Q"-like summer opening, she'll be back in plenty of time, as would John Cullum.

As a theatre fan, nothing would please me more than to see Kander & Ebb and Stroman bring a terrific new musical to Broadway. But if it is that, it will still be terrific and new in 3-4 months which the businessman in me says is the financially prudent financial way to go and the course that gives the show the best chances at a long and healthy run.

[jv92]

Posted: 2/27/10 at 10:45pm

Saw the show today. It's extremely good, extraordinary, really and chilling. I have to think about it more for a full review. But I liked it. Transfer? If they find an extremely small theatre. It'll lose something in a big house.

[Brick]

Posted: 2/28/10 at 1:38pm

While I'd love Kander to have a transfer, I'd really like him to have a hit. And I just can't see this being a hit commercial production...

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 2/28/10 at 2:00pm

They said the same thing about NEXT TO NORMAL, SPRING AWAKENING and ROCK OF AGES.

Me, I got ants in my pants to see this!

[Jim3]

Posted: 2/28/10 at 3:24pm

Borstalboy, I think you're going to love this show a lot. It was so meaningful to me...one of the best I've seen in many years.

[jv92]

Posted: 2/28/10 at 7:13pm

Still can't write a full review (I'm not articulate these days), but I will say a few things:

- The show has the best opening number I've seen in a long time.
- The score is Kander and Ebb's best since Chicago. The lyrics are especially good.
- The book works. The minsttel show concept works.
- It's really, really frightening and chilling.
- The cast is really spectacular, and Brandon Victor Dixon is going to be a star after this.

If I get the chance, I'll say more. But I liked it. Go and see it if you can! I hope it transfers, just because I'm interested in seeing how it plays on Broadway, but I can't see it being commercial. And it needs to play a small theatre. It needs to.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 2/28/10 at 9:05pm

any gunfire?

[April Saul]

Posted: 2/28/10 at 11:01pm

I rushed Scottsboro this afternoon--waited over an hour and lucked out as they only had four tickets for rushees--and was really taken by it. Fitting that the creators of dark but stunning musicals like Cabaret would use a minstrel show to tell such a tragic story! But a few other theatergoers I chatted up were put off by that framework--maybe if they'd told the story "differently" some of them said, they'd have enjoyed it more. At the talkback after the show, I brought up the question of a potential transfer, and the failure of similarly innovative shows like Caroline, or Change to find a mainstream Broadway audience...and the actors insisted that no matter what, they'd still feel they'd triumphed in presenting this at the Vineyard. I hope they hold that thought, because it's hard to imagine it becoming a commercial hit...without someone like Denzel to bring 'em in. But a fascinating new work!

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 3/1/10 at 1:53pm

Limelight, there is a gunshot at one point. There is also a strobe effect used during one number.

April, I think you were sitting next to me and my boyfriend during the Q&A! I remember that question.

[Pippin]

Posted: 3/1/10 at 2:01pm

I saw the show last night. It excels in EVERY way, and I was emotionally devasted. DEVASTED at the end. I won't spoil it, but the ending image is very akin to the shock that the Mendes cabaret revival's ending was, and being in a smaller more intimate space, even moreso.

Go see it!!!

The score is wonderful, very nice lyrics, and Susan Stroman's direction is superb here. She's really turned a potentially disasterous idea into an evening of theater that chills, pleasures, provokes, amuses, and above all WORKS.

The lighting design is also superb, there were so many beautiful pictures and palettes on the stage, and he makes a very small space seem three times the size.

[Jim3]

Posted: 3/1/10 at 5:59pm

I pray that no one changes this show in any way, shape or form. The Minstrel concept is perfect. Please don't white-wash it, Stroman. If it's not meant for Broadway, so be it. You've done something brilliant at the Vineyard. I can't wait to see this show again, like it was the first week it previewed.

Updated On: 3/1/10 at 05:59 PM

[April Saul]

Posted: 3/1/10 at 11:33pm

I'm with Jim3, I hope they leave it as is! Hey Yero, I was in the front row during the talkback when I asked that question, although I sat further back for the show...felt a little like a grinch asking it but I get so sad when my most favorite, exciting, original off-Broadway shows transfer and tank that I had to bring it up. It was great to see how touched the actors had been by working on the show, and learning about the Scottsboro case. So glad I made the trip on Sunday!

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 3/1/10 at 11:40pm

Ah, we were in the second row for both the show and the talkback. I knew you were close!