WONDERLAND to Close on Broadway; Plays Final Show May 15- Page 2

[BroadwayBen]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 7:18pm

Weren't all the investors from Tampa? How much did they lose?

[shaydedenigma]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 7:21pm

Wow that truly is a shame.....I saw the show the week it opened and my mom, sister, and I had such a great time watching it....of course I had not so great expectations from the show due to reading some of the reviews before hand but I ended up liking it a lot as I watched it. I personally don't think Wildhorn is a bad composer....I feel like he just has the worst luck with finding the right collaborator....I'm a little bit saddened by this news especially since it definitely is so sudden

[96000ith]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 7:22pm

Do you really think that Janet won't play the last performance? I'm hoping she will, but who knows what she's doing in L.A and if she can cancel it.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 7:27pm

Weren't all the investors from Tampa? How much did they lose?

Everything. The show never had a profitable week.

[ahhrealmonsters]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 7:28pm

"You can't put the blame for this on Wildhorn. It's the book to this show that's awful, not the music."

Agreed. The book and lyrics bring the show down far more than the music.

[wdwfreak]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 7:30pm

I still don't know why they didn't try to hold into the summer. During spring break, they grossed over 900k dollars that week so I don't see why it would have been any different during the summer.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 7:32pm

"Sad for the fact that we were planning to take a group of 35 students, most of whom it was their first Broadway show to it on the 25th."

At least now, the chances are the students first Broadway show is going to be positive. Take 'em to 'Book Of Mormon' instead, they love it, 100% guaranteed.

However this premature closure of 'Wonderland' might not be anything to do with the show, it could be the famous curse of the Marquis!
Updated On: 5/10/11 at 07:32 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 7:42pm

Although I do have to wonder if Wildhorn can ever learn from his mistakes. I mean after three out of town try outs, one would think he would have something more to show for it.

Didn't sound like Wildhorn was the primary problem.

I personally don't think Wildhorn is a bad composer....I feel like he just has the worst luck with finding the right collaborator....

With the exception of Dracula, I'd agree. Too many cooks spoiled the Broadway productions of Jekyll and Hyde and Scarlet Pimpernel. Civil War was an interesting concept that was poorly executed. Dracula was the only Broadway score I found just tedious and dull.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 7:47pm

I wonder how much moola Wildhorn's shows have lost collectively on Broadway?
If he has worked with so many collaborators and they have all failed, he has to take some of the blame.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 7:54pm

For some reason I was under the impression that Wildhorn had more to do with the show than just the music, which I happen to like. I stand corrected!

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 8:03pm

"Sad for the fact that we were planning to take a group of 35 students, most of whom it was their first Broadway show to it on the 25th."

That is sad. I feel bad for those students.

I feel bad too for the performers in this show. A lot of good people are in it.

It's sad too that they couldn't get this right. The tale is a classic that lends itself to humor and enchantment. If Disney was able to do it, why can't anyone else? Perhaps the secret is not to modernize it in any way. And not to make Alice an adult!

[trentsketch]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 8:14pm

This just makes me sad. In spite of the awful second act (Dear God, that was terrible), I did enjoy myself at this show and hoped it would find an audience as a family friendly musical with a lot of style and impeccable sound design. I knew it would be eaten alive in that theater. Shoot, I was shocked The Drowsy Chaperone ran as long as it did there.

Well, that just means that the rights for amateur groups will get released sooner (pwease?) and this becomes as popular as All Shook Up for high schools to do. There are worse fates for cute family shows than that.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 8:29pm

Why are they launching a national tour?

Sad to see it close so soon - but it's lost money everywhere, don't get how a tour helps anything.

[bryan]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 8:31pm

boo i thought that this show would be like the addams family of the senson.

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 8:52pm

Re:Tampa investors.

Gads, I hope that's not the case because I am really looking forward to Bonnie and Clyde and have close attachments to that show. I'm going to feel super terrible if that show doesn't make a go of it this summer/fall. I've heard pretty good things about it.

Sorry to see Wonderland close because of a pit musician friend that I know in it. He was so proud to have his first run on Broadway and now brokenhearted that it's not going to last. That's the suckiest part of any show's closing...having to provide dry shoulders for dear friends to weep on.

[Pan_Am_L-1011]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 8:55pm

Well that's too bad. Surprisingly, I quite enjoy the CD. I listened to snippets of the concept and didn't like what I heard. After listening to snippets of the OBC, I bought it and really like the recording. I didn't see the show though, but it's really too bad when something original closes.

[wendilin622]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 8:58pm

They were so excited. I'm not looking forward to breaking the news to them tomorrow. Also very sad for all those involved with the show.

Were going to try to get tickets for another show (according to Ticketmaster, CMIFYC has almost the entire balcony empty. We shall see. Hoping it all works out for their sake.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 9:04pm

I actually think it would have made some money back during the summer.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 9:07pm

They managed to find us 40 seats to another show the Friday Tale of Two Cities announced they were closing early and had a show set by Monday for Wednesday.

[jovie27]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 9:09pm

"Ive heard much much worse."

Oh, Jordan, so you must of heard his other shows!

[jasonf]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 9:20pm

I agree with Jordan - the score for this show is NOT nearly as bad as the book. And there have been WAY worse scores on Broadway than Wonderland.
I still haven't made it through the whole cast album of Memphis...

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 9:21pm

Take them to BOM instead?
1. You can't get discounts even for groups for this show.
2. They were getting a crazy cheap rate for Wonderland.
3. You can barely get single seats for BOM 6 weeks from now, let alone 35 seats only 15 days away.

Obviously, their advance must be incredibly weak, with no movement since the reviews. Their gross vs POTENTIAL was incredibly low...under 40% of their potential if I remember correctly -- average ticket price in about 55 bucks, I think.

Still -- am suprised they aren't sticking around for the summer as well.

[wendilin622]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 9:30pm

"Take them to BOM instead?
1. You can't get discounts even for groups for this show.
2. They were getting a crazy cheap rate for Wonderland.
3. You can barely get single seats for BOM 6 weeks from now, let alone 35 seats only 15 days away."


4. I do not think that is an approved BOE approved musical.

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 9:30pm

Janet will be back for the final show but she's missing Friday and Saturday per Morgan James' twitter

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 9:35pm

Yeah, I'm not gonna blame this one on Wildhorn. The music in the show wasn't terribly inspired, but save for the fantastic breakout performance of Miss Sinclair, it was the only thing that kept me in the theatre for the second act.