I'm not sure if shows' runs are shorter now or if our expectations are much higher that everything will run 5-10 years.
I don't agree with that. And I don't agree with stripping down a show and passing it off at top dollar, just to keep it alive for a few more months with half-empty houses.
I also think that audiences' behavior continues to change, largely due to the massive wide release of films these days. When I was growing up, movies didn't play on 3,000+ screens at once across the country. They didn't take in 90 percent of their total gross in the first two weeks. I remember people queueing up for two hours (!) in advance for every screening of the first month that "Jaws" opened. "Star Wars," too. Lines around the block ... for weeks and sometimes months for the big blockbusters. Not any more. Not because so many less are attending movies (although that's true, but not quite THAT much). It's because they don't have to wait anymore. It's playing in seven theatres, every 20 minutes, just miles from where they live.
That's changed the way audiences go to theatres (both live and cinematic). When a show or movie is a hit, everyone wants to go see it right away. After a few weeks or months, they are conditioned now to move on very quickly to something else. Gone are the days when "The Sound of Music" played for TWO YEARS in movie theatres. Yep, two years where I lived. I remember "Jaws" playing for roughly six months solid when I was a kid. It opened in the early summer, and played into early fall.
I think to some degree this has happened to live theatre. A hit show is a "hot ticket" for the first few months. It may or may not continue to sell out like "Wicked," but the must-see buzz dies down quickly now. The attention shifts much faster than before to something else.
Back to the orchestra thing ... I find it so sad when the material isn't honored. WSS is a legendary show largely due to its music (as well as its choreography).
If audiences have moved on to something else, then close it. Don't strip it down and defame it. I would hate to be an audience member paying top dollar to see this for the first time on Broadway and to walk away with a memory of a cut-rate production.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
