Tony Nominations- what does it mean as far as closing notices? — Page 2

Can someone explain what was so bad about the marketing for Bridges?

I know the original poster was boring, but I don't understand what else they did wrong.

"I think Bridges' days are numbered, sadly, although I have to wonder if they'll try to stick it out so voters can hear the score live and see Kelli O'Hara."

A large majority if the voters have already seen Bridges. Part of the eligibility is having made enough performances available for the voting body to see the show. That's why a show that closes unexpectedly after opening could be deemed ineligible. Or if the producers are smart and can see the writing on the wall they will suddenly get a lot of voters in during the final week of previews (I know for a fact that a number of voters were seeing Velocity of Autumn during previews).

"Can someone explain what was so bad about the marketing for Bridges?

I know the original poster was boring, but I don't understand what else they did wrong."

I don't fully understand how people pick shows to see, apart from the tourists who want to see The Lion King and Phantom. People on this board know about the general buzz for a show and what the reviews say, but my impression is that others--particularly people who show up at the TCKTS booths--are much less informed.

In the case of Bridges, I wonder how many people actually remember the novel? It sold millions upon millions of copies, so you'd think there would some general awareness about the story. Maybe people remember it as being this sort of treacly love story, which might narrow the appeal. For that reason, I wasn't particularly interested in seeing the musical until I heard the some of the songs.

How do you structure a marketing campaign that makes people aware of the score, which, together with the performances of it by O'Hara and Pasquale, is the real strong point of the show? I'm not sure. The leads appear to have been booked on every TV talk show that would have them. O'Hara is reasonably well known to Broadway audiences, and I thought her rave reviews would put enough butts in the seats to keep it going until her contract was up. But obviously I was completely wrong about that. What else could they have done to market it? I'm just not sure. Perhaps this should have played in a smaller, off-Broadway house.

Reading all of these comments (OK, I skimmed a few) it makes me sad we didn't have a message board like this in 1981 (42ND STREET vs WOMAN OF THE YEAR) or 1984 (BABY, TAP DNCE KID, LA CAGE, SUNDAY) or 1987 (LES MIZ (1), STARLIGHT EXPRESS, ME AND MY GIRL.)

There was a BBS in 1994 (GREASEPAINT) for the battle of PASSION vs. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The discussions grew epic with one guy insisting that if PASSION won over BEAST he would never ever watch the Tony awards again! (I wonder what he'll be doing on June 8?)

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Agree with the above comments about the "Bridges" marketing plan. But I also wonder if the source material was just past its prime -- the novel was published 22 years ago, and the film was released 19 years ago. Perhaps in the eyes of ticket buyers, "Bridges" is either completely forgotten, or just considered a pop culture relic from the past?