Will Ragtime Really Close on JAN 10th???

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:17am

This closing made me wonder if it was made just to extend the show and make more money. Is now a closing notice a commercial technique?

[tazber]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:19am

No. It will run until the world ends in 2012. My crystal ball says so.

[NotYourMemories]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:22am

Excellent - now we can fill this board with unsubstantiated rumors that Ragtime *isn't* going to close! (Or will those threads get deleted as well?)

Hey, I have a reliable inside source who tells me that a two-week "staying open" notice has already been posted...

[tazber]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:23am

I have a friend with a second cousin in the ensemble who told me that his girlfriend said that the cast was told NOT to look for work for the immediate future.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:28am

LMAO!!!

Well, the show was making over 600 K's a week if I'm not mistaken when the closing notice was announced...

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:28am

I still think if I was a producer I would keep it open. Word of Mouth is all this show has and over time it will just keep increasing. They did great this week, supposably selling out nightly.


I do think the closing notice was to boost ticket sales, and that seemed to work so they extended but only a week... I'm wondering why they choose to only extend a week.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:42am

They did great this week, supposably selling out nightly.

Practically EVERY show sells out this week. It's no accomplishment, and certainly not a barometer of how well the show is doing.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 12:08pm

"Practically EVERY show sells out this week. It's no accomplishment, and certainly not a barometer of how well the show is doing."


And exactly how does that make a difference? Selling out is selling out.

[snarkywannabedreamer]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 12:11pm

the other factors would be the costs that go into putting that show up. They may be selling tickets but from what I understand that is a very big cast and a very expensive show to put on every night. Weighing that against the ticket sales might just not add up.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 12:15pm

>And exactly how does that make a difference? Selling out is selling out.<

It makes a difference in that the sellouts this week are due to the influx of tourists who are currently swarming Times Square and are hungry to see anything. After January 3, they leave town and it's back to reality.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 12:32pm

^^I realize that but it's selling out and that's good for them. I still think they will continue to do better next week due to selling out and all the good word of mouth from the tourists.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 12:33pm

Assuming everyone who saw it enjoyed the show.

[BroadwayBound115]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 12:47pm

I thought it was fishy announcing the closing date about 6 or 7 days before they were going to close. But then again, many shows announce closing dates very soon. I also wonder if this was a marketing ploy.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 12:54pm

You have to be open and on sale for word-of-mouth to work like the way you are describing, Drunk Chita. So say a tourist sees and loves Ragtime or Finian's Rainbow this week. They go back home and tell their friends and family. Unless the friend or family member has the time and the money to board a plane in the next week or two, where exactly are the new audiences coming from? And if you are offsale after January 10 (like Ragtime) or January 17 (like Finian's Rainbow), you have to start from scratch again if you are going to go back on sale and continue past the announced closing dates.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 1:15pm

Those people who saw it aren't necessarily coming in from far away, they could be in NYC for all we know. I realize it takes a while for word of mouth to kick in but that is why I'm saying I think the producers should keep it open longer.

[romgitsean]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 1:17pm

I'm agreeing with Drunk Chita.

This is a stunt. I'm 100% sure. Didn't they do this when Rent closed? Granted, two different scenarios, but when a show says it's gonna close, that's when the house can typically get filled.

[MusicSnob1]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 1:33pm

Drunk Chita - What are you even saying, exactly?

You're trying to find the logic in keeping open a sinking show. Why? Don't make them suffer anymore.

[mikem]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 2:06pm

I do not believe that Ragtime's one week extension was a marketing ploy.

While shows advertise "Last weeks!" or potentially a closing date down the road as a marketing ploy, announcing you are closing at the end of the week is not a marketing ploy that would be effective. It is not enough lead time as Smaxie described.

And certainly the fact that they took next week's tickets off sale, sent out an e-mail saying such, and then put the tickets back on sale has created some havoc that benefits no one. The producers would not have taken the tickets off sale if they were intending at that time to extend the show.

Also, I was at the stage door after the Wednesday matinee, and I feel confident in saying the cast did not know at that time that the show was being extended. (Yes, I know they are actors and they may have been sworn to secrecy, but multiple small things happened which would not have happened if the cast knew they were extending past Sunday at that time.) So if there was a marketing ploy, the cast was not in on it.

Also, the press release about the extension went out before the cast knew about it (some of them heard from the audience members at the stage door on Wednesday), which would not have happened if this was a pre-planned marketing ploy.

I think the producers are genuinely surprised by this week's ticket sales. They set a target for Christmas week and were disappointed. The show is selling out, but many shows this week are not. (TKTS had some Broadway shows listed on Wednesday right up to curtain time, so not every show is selling out.)

Updated On: 12/31/09 at 02:06 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 2:08pm

What mikem said. Posted my original response at the same time, more or less saying, I don't think the original closing notice was a marketing ploy.

Updated On: 12/31/09 at 02:08 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 3:18pm

Not a ploy. IMHO.

[Dagobert]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 6:42pm

A closing notice is not a ploy, no my boy, not a ploy.
And there will be no more extension....they have to be out for the next show which is giving them the "boote."

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 7:25pm

I can assure you that the original closing notice was not a marketing ploy. I know people involved with the show who were in the process of making arrangements with the crew to load equipment out on Monday the 4th when the extension was announced.

It's not uncommon to have notices for a Sunday closing go up the Tuesday before. There have been shows that posted closing notices weeks ahead and then moved their closings up with just a few days notice, I prefer this sort of change.

[VeraCharles2]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 7:31pm

I'm here to reinforce what TechEverlasting said. I too know people involved with the production. This is not a "marketing" ploy, and those who think so are incorrect. The cast was told on a tuesday that they had to be out by Sunday. Load out was to begin january 4th, as of the night before the extension was announced.

Ragtime has been evicted. It is not just a decision to close whenever they want to--they must be out of the theatre. They do not have the choice to continuosly extend based on sales.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 8:21pm

If they theater's owner have no new show coming in & they are in the slowest months of the year, they would have to be crazy to force them out unless they want an empty theater generating no revenue.

[onedaymore]

Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:38pm

^^Does anyone know of an upcoming show that wants to move in to the Neil Simon? Otherwise Mr Roxy's got a point.