When will "Cats" be revived?- Page 2

[sanda]

Posted: 11/16/07 at 2:43pm

I saw a 3rd rate tour production in my local theatre. The dancing is a joke. The music is servicable.

However, the concept of "Cats" is genius. The set design, light design and all costums, no matter how shabby they are, can still reflect the glorious days it used to have.

I sincerely wish "Cats" back to Broadway and I will go to see it for sure.

[sanda]

Posted: 11/16/07 at 2:47pm

Margo,

Do you have number to support your claim that Les Miz did not regroup this time? I just do not understand how that can be true since they basiclly reuse most of the set and there is no such a big cost as developing a new show. The avarage filling rate is about 75% from the gross report we see.

[StageFan2]

Posted: 11/16/07 at 3:11pm

If you go to playbill.com and type 'recoup' in the search, a list of shows will come up. LM is not among them.

[sanda]

Posted: 11/16/07 at 3:21pm

I just did.

From 2006 to 2007, in 2 years, there are only 10 news about 10 shows recoup on playbill site. Does that mean there are only 10 shows recoup in 2 years?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/16/07 at 3:26pm

As a general matter, most shows are budgeted to break even somewhere around 65-70% attendance capacity (though that number isn't exact due to the varying amount of discounting that many shows do). If a show is only doing a little better than break even on weekly basis for much of its run, it could run for years and never recoup (like the 42nd Street revival that never recouped despite running over 4 years). If what you say is right and Les Mis was usually around 75% for most of its run then, it would be highly unlikely for it to have recouped in the year that it has been running. These days, the only shows to have recouped in a year or less have been ones that were soldout 9Or close to it) nearly every week of its run. Heck, even Wicked took 14 months to recoup and it was totally selling out one of the biggest houses on Broadway for most of that period (plus selling thousands of premium seats at $300 a piece).

Like I said, I didn't base my statement on numbers but on having spoken to someone affiliated with the production who told me that it hadn't yet recouped and probably wouldn't. It still may, but any profit it makes would likely be negligible as it has been far from selling out in the past year and been doing fairly average (just above break even) business most weeks.

[sanda]

Posted: 11/16/07 at 3:35pm

I am just guessing about what Les Miz doing based on my observation of each week gross. In hot season(Thanksgiving-Christmas, Springbreak, summer), it can do pretty well at 90% easily. In January, it fells about 60% as most shows does. 75% is a very conservative number that I guessed.

Most recoups that take years as you talked about, like Wicked, are new shows that cost a lot in the developping phase. Les Miz is a revival with no new cost. There is no big name in the cast so the salary should be modest. Then where is the big cost coming from?

Is the Les Miz Revival a big hit like Wicked? Certainly not. A Solid financial success as it used to be after 10 years running. I think so. A flop? I don't understand how that can be.

[noubaguy]

Posted: 11/16/07 at 4:46pm

While I agree that "Cats" may not be a deep and meaningful theatrical experience, I still found it entertaining and enjoyable. It also has a very nostalgic characteristic that takes you back to being a kid again. Although, that may just be a purely generational feeling (i.e. seeing it for the first time as a kid?). I don't think EVERY show on Broadway should be full of philosophical undertones and political/social commentary. Sometimes I just want a big ol' hoopla of over-the-top fluff and spectacle.

It may be a bit too early for a revival of "Cats"; however, it will eventually happen. When it does, I hope they give it a fresh perspective and not just put on the same show we have already seen.

[philly03]

Posted: 11/16/07 at 6:12pm

I think it would be a brillant sucess on Andrew Lloyd Webber's part to revive Cats or EVITA (originally planned for this time this year )even if they only planned what Les Mis had done, about 6th months with maybe some new orchestrations, maybea new songish or sets or something somewhat different (like Les Mis did) just to prove that he can still be a major sucess on Broadway, since his last 3 or 4 projects flopped, or never made it to Broadway, most particularly: The Woman in White which I would have love to seen, but it was indeed a major flop, as was Sunset BLVD. and of course The Beautiful Game, etc.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 11/16/07 at 6:27pm

Just remember that the show cost next to nothing to put back into NY. It was a touring production that got a few tweaks prior to opening.

[alterego]

Posted: 11/16/07 at 8:23pm

To do CATS these days would almost be high camp!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/16/07 at 9:10pm

Hopefully not.

[Liverpool]

Posted: 11/17/07 at 4:43am

in response to the original post



When god blots out the sun with the corpses of every person that wishes Cats would be revived.

[Chason]

Posted: 11/17/07 at 4:51am

With any luck at all - NEVER.

[westcoast_wannabe]

Posted: 11/17/07 at 5:43am

A book of childrens poems set to music is a great concept for a musical. I think that as a small piece of experimental theater it could have been appreciated for its simplistic brilliance by the theater going community. The problem was that it became the huge Mega Musical that conquered Broadway for fifteen years.

Just my 2 cents