Why is FINIAN'S extending & moving to the Neil Simon?- Page 4

[winston89]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 2:27pm

Mark_E, There was an agreement between the producers of Ragtime and Webber that Ragtime was just a place holder until Love Never Dies opens. Had it been successful, Webber would have split the cost of moving with the producers of Ragtime 50/50.

ACL2006 was just thinking that it might have been cheaper for Webber to use the money to keep Ragtime open rather then pay what I believe is the more expensive option of moving an entire production.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 2:59pm

ALW likes FR, he does not particularly like RAGTIME, whether or not his personal opinion is vital in this decision to keep FR going.

I'm quite pleased that this FR extension has turned out to be true.

P

[Fanb]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 3:10pm

Has a Finians extension been officially announced?
Updated On: 1/10/10 at 03:10 PM

[winston89]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 3:23pm

Pgenre, I understand that Webber likes Finian's Rainbow and isn't to keen on Phantom. But, I do think that it woud be cheaper to keep a show open then to move a show to another theatre.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 3:43pm

Pgenre, I understand that Webber likes Finian's Rainbow and isn't to keen on Phantom.

I know what you meant, but this is a funny typo.

[winston89]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 6:04pm

Adam, believe it or not, I didn't even notice it until you pointed it out.

[matineeidol2013]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 6:18pm

It was a sad couple of days when Ragtime announced a closing, then Finians did shortly after. At least one of these shows get to stay open. Fingers crossed that the Finians transfer does turn out to be true!

[binau]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 6:22pm

Has ALW said anything publicly about Ragtime or Finian's Rainbow? (i.e. source comments that he doesn't 'particularly' like Ragtime etc.)

[winston89]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 6:35pm

Not really. He has spoken about how he has wanted to write a score as good as that of Finian's. And that it is one of his favorite shows but never did he say that he didn't like Ragtime.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 8:10am

My understanding is that this is not yet a done deal and that there is a meeting tomorrow to make the final decision about going forward.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 1:53pm

He has spoken about how he has wanted to write a score as good as that of Finian's.

He can't, at least not as long as he insists on working with inferior lyricists. The score of FINIAN'S RAINBOW is wonderful, but part of the brilliance comes from Harburg's delightful wordplay.

Burton Lane's melodies are glorious, and ALW could certainly come up with (or judiciously borrow) melodies to match. As Martin Gottfried pointed out years ago, Lloyd Webber's determination to be the sole above-the-title creator has done him great damage. So many ideas loaded with potential have been squandered thanks largely to insultingly bad lyrics, and to a lesser degree weak or problematic librettos.

For a man who so much admires Rodgers and Hammerstein (or in this case Lane and Harburg) it remains baffling to me that his ego cannot allow him to share credit. I just envision how much better all of his shows would be if he could get over that "star" attitude.

Updated On: 1/11/10 at 01:53 PM

[matineeidol2013]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 7:01pm

does smaxie or anybody else know if this is a done deal yet?

[Smaxie]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 7:02pm

It's not Tuesday yet.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 7:03pm

The meeting is tomorrow.

[matty159]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 7:05pm

I really hope this happens...and it opens in time for my next trip in March. (I am already pissed at myself for missing RAGTIME, so I hope to powers that be won't let me miss this one!)

[matineeidol2013]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 7:07pm

gosh completely skipped over the word 'tomorrow' sorry guys

[Eris0303]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 12:03pm

Fingers crossed that we get an answer today

[wickedfan]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 12:40pm

I originally didn't think this was true, but I've recently heard of this from people I know who work at Nederlander (the owner of the Neil Simon). Apparently the producers need to raise a certain amount (about 2.5-2.7 million) for the transfer to happen. They've already raised over 2 million, so this is looking like a possibility.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 12:51pm

I can throw about $10 their way.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 12:55pm

If this happens. I just don't get who they expect would want to see this in Spring when there will be WAY more competition than there was in the Fall?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 1:57pm

I imagine that in their frame of mind, the fact that they would have the opportunity to perform on the Tonys would help generate ticket sales (not that this has proven to be true for a lot of shows in the past, but just looking at it from their perspective).

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 2:04pm

They could also be really gimmicky and have some special St. Patrick's Day advertising/rates.

[Kalimba]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 2:18pm

Even a Tony win for Best Revival doesn't guarantee an extended run. Just look at La Cages from a few seasons ago.

If ALW wanted to pour money into a show, he should have done so by keeping Ragtime at the Neil Simon.

[arishmoof]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 7:20pm

its not happening, they just had their meeting. sorry.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 7:37pm

Same. It was nice that ALW offered, nonetheless.