Why did Titanic close?

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 1:59am

I mean, it didn't seem like the attendance was low at all when it closed...

[cturtle]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 2:12am

it didn't close ... it sank.

jk ... i LOVED that show. it was the first show i ever saw on b'way, and i cried and cried.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 2:14am

I adored that show. What a gorgeous score.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 2:16am

Well, bottom line it was losing money pretty severely. Attendance was only OK (60s and 70s), despite heavy discounts -- it had an average ticket price around $40, although its top was $75. If you do deep discounts (40+%) and still can't fill the house and STILL can't meet your weekly nut, then it's time to close. It was a big show in terms of sets and size of cast, so without a sizeable advance (it had none at the point when it decided to close) and a sizeable audience willing to pay FULL PRICE to keep it open, the producers had no choice, but to close it, or else face even more substantial losses.

For a not-so-great-show, it had a great run (2 years, 800+ performances), so there was no shame in it closing when it did.

Updated On: 11/26/06 at 02:16 AM

[Liverpool]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 2:16am

They had a little trouble staying afloat.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 2:17am

DISNEY was lurking
and in bed with the Neederlanders'

[Julian2]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 4:16am

Well if they did, I think they need a few more.

Posted: 11/26/06 at 7:05am

Margo makes an excellent point: It's really amazing that they eked out as long of a run as they did. I enjoyed they show but it was FAR from perfect.

[IssaMe]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 9:32am

LOVED this show.

Sat with the producers and creative team at the extremely emotional final performance - they were all in tears (and not because it lost almost its total investment but because they truly, truly loved the show and regretted having to close it). They thought they'd make it up on tour but never did.

Alas.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 9:47am

Judging by it's reception during previews and after those horrible reviews...I'm quite surprised it had the run it did.

Back in the day, everyone singled-out Rosie O'Donnell for having saved this show and bringing it to the nation's attention -- her constant praising on her highly rated weekday talkshow created the word-of-mouth that brought in those audiences. Even after the terrible reviews.

Then it went on to win several Tony Awards, which helped it even further. In the case of this show, seems people ignored the critic's reviews and went with the word-of-mouth.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 10:11am

I always loved the dumpsters outside the stage door - flotsam & jetsam.

It hit a berg & sank

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 10:37am

It wasn't a great show - not even close - but it grew on me after hearing the album over and over. I recall it being the only show I've seen to actually make me cry at the end. It won the Best Musical Tony that it deserved, I thought.

I remember there was an article in the NY Times about it's closing some years ago. Maybe someone has a link.

Just thinking about all of the actors who pretty much got their starts in that show - Michael Cerveris, Victoria Clark, Martin Moran, Brian d'Arcy James, Sean McCourt, Becky Ann Baker, Bill Buell, Danny Burstein....

[IssaMe]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 10:40am

Romain Fruge.

Lynne Taylor-Corbett.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 11:11am

It WAS a GREAT SHOW. Good Lord, the talent in that cast. the characters.

And the haunting score.

The Proposal/The Night is Alive has to be one of the best stage songs EVER. Can't tell you how many times I've pressed "replay" on that song.

Brian d'Arcy singing "Marry me..." could take you to dreamland.

[WhenURScrap]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 11:25am

"it didn't close ... it sank."

When I read the title of this posting I was thinking the same thing.

[cturtle]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 12:48pm

i saw a community theatre production earlier this year, and it was SO good to see it again. it actually worked well on a small stage, and the voices were particularly excellent for a local show. when we entered the theatre, we were given a ticket with an actual passenger's name on it ... then we checked the passenger list to see what class we were in and whether we survived or not :)

[LollyNYC]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 1:33pm

HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF ALL OF YOUR GRANDMAS DIED ON A BOAT AND SOMEONE MADE A MUSICAL ABOUT IT. THIS WAS A HIGHLY POLITICALLY CHARGED PIECE OF THEATER IN A TIME WHEN THE PRESIDENT WAS "DOING IT" WITH HIS INTERN, ONCE I WAS AN INTERN BUT I NEVER DID "DO IT" WITH ANYONE BECAUSE THEY WERE ALL OLD AND I WAS LIKE "OOH THATS NASTY MONICA WHY WOULD YOU DEGRADE YOURSELF GIRL!" BUT I WASNT AN INTERN AT THE WHITE HOUSE, I WAS AN INTERN AT RICHARD FRANKEL PRODUCTIONS AND MONICA LEWINSKI DIDNT WORK THERE AND ONCE WHEN I ANSWERED THE PHONE SOMEONE WITH A MEXICAN SOUNDING VOICE WAS LIKE "BLAHBLAHBABBLE BLAHBLAH" AND I HAD NO IDEA WHAT IT WAS SAYING SO I JUST HUNG UP THE PHONE AND PRETENDED LIKE IT NEVER CALLED.

[TomMonster]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 1:51pm

Yell much...

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 1:56pm

Did that rant have ANYTHING to do with the thread?

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 2:02pm

Titanic opened because Titanic sunk and Titanic closed because Titanic stunk. But that's probably only the tip of the iceberg if one want's to fully explain it's fate.

LOLYCAPS comment reminds me of a video clip showing ABBA:s manager Stig Andersson and Annifrid from ABBA being interviewed by swedish television directly after the victory (Swedens first victory in the european competition). The reporter said something like this (granted it was not the first thing he said): "Last year you wrote a song about how one calls one another (ring ring) and this year you made a song about a battle where 40 million ... eh 40 000 people died, cynically expressed" (waiting for a reaction). Obviously Waterloo was only a metaphor for a womans "defeat", when she falls in love with a man who has attended her for a while. The question might still be merited as victims of battles should also be honoured but one can question the timing of that statement from the swedish reporter (directly after the victory).

Updated On: 11/26/06 at 02:02 PM

[rose_pearl]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 2:18pm

"Brian d'Arcy singing "Marry me..." could take you to dreamland."

Word.

[DirtyRottenGirl]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 2:47pm

I loved the music and everything was nicely done. I thought the book was just ok. I felt like it introduced a lot of characters that really didn't develop into enough. Everyone who was in it was great. I loved it on broadway and then the tour came and I never wanted to see the show ever again.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 3:01pm

I've never seen it but I love the score. It annoys me to no end that there seem to be so many shows with excellent scores that are ruined by terrible books. I mean, shouldn't it be harder to write a good score?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 3:21pm

on the contrary I think the book for Titanic is awesome. one of the last in a long list of achievements from the late great Peter Stone.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 3:47pm

The show sucked through a straw!

Admittedly, I saw one of its first previews and the production ran nearly three hours. The first 45 minutes consisted of "gee isn't it big" songs. The next 45 minut4es consisted of "getting to know you" songs. The rest of the show as "We're goin' down" songs.

Yeah, there were some nice tunes in there, but the story was dismal and there weren't many interesting characters on the stage.

The next evening I saw STEEL PIER. It wasn't a good weekend for me.