Wonderful Town to close Jan 30 with Brooke Shields' departure

[Luckydave14]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 3:58pm

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/90365.html

This is the "Playbill" story.

[Ebonic_Singer]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:02pm

Hmm.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:02pm

Not surprising.

Sweet Charity needs a theatre.

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:06pm

With all the buzz... who knows maybe they will be nice and record the show for PBS. I know many of you dont like Brooke but still it would be nice.

[Razz77]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:07pm

Interesting. I guess Sweet Charity has its theatre now. Could this 500+ performance "Wonderful Town" be called a "successful" run? I don't know how well the producers fared, so I'm just wondering if its being considered a success.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:08pm

100% expected

[WOSQ]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:10pm

My guess is that financially the run has been a bust. The grosses have never been good.

Ordinarily I'd feel bad for the producers but since it is Fran and Barry, I don't.

Is there a big enough star to commit to a tour?

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:11pm

Were the grosses good before the Donna-absences began?

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:14pm

Maybe they could get Brooke to do it?

[junglered]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:15pm

Well, I think the revival of WT ended up having a much longer run than a lot of its detractors anticipated. Many folks on this board thought that it would close last summer. Personally, I enjoyed Donna Murphy's performance as Ruth Sherwood last June. I guess I was lucky to catch her and the show was fortunate to have Brooke Shields step in as her replacement. Overall, I'm glad that I was able to see this the revival of Wonderful Town.

One final thought - I think it is important to note that the WT orchestra was truly marvelous.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:16pm

You couldn't call "Wonderful Town" a successful" show. It limped along and struggled at the box during the entire run. Most weeks attendance was in the 50s and 60s -- I don't know if it ever topped 80 or 85% (certainly not since the first couple of months after opening), so it was never really a "hit" or a hot ticket.

I wonder what percentage of its initial investment that the producers will have managed to recoup by the time it closes January 30th -- probably a very small amount if anything.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:16pm

The grosses were never good. They probably broke even, made a little, lost a little on a weekly basis. Brooke's grosses have been on average above Donna's.

And unfortuantely Donna missed performances quite near the start of previews. I think the 2nd one was cancelled.

I know it is heresy to say, but Donna Murphy is not a star except in our own rarefied world.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:19pm

I know, WOSQ. The only reason Donna was hired in this leading role was because she headlined it at ENCORES and somehow convinced them to let her play in on Broadway. I don't know the details.

Updated On: 12/29/04 at 04:19 PM

[Corine2]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:22pm

Donna was incredible. I am very sad to hear this news.
I never saw the show with Brooke, but went to see Donna three times. I loved it.
This is a very dark day. First the loss of a legend, now this.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:30pm

I was expecting this. It wasn't doing too well even with Brooke. It is sad that she finally found a role that got her good reviews and now has to close the show with her departure. It had a healthy run for a revival...they just don't last as long as they used to. But, now I suppose Sweet Charity has found a home.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:31pm

I just went back and checked -- following all the good reviews when it opened 11/23/2003, the attendance figures were in the 80s for the month of December. After that, it sank like a rock, posting numbers in the 40s and 50s (and occasionally the 60s) from January 2004 through the remainder of Murphy's run (which officially ended in September, though she stopped showing up at least a month before that). The numbers have been in the 60s and 70s for the most part since Shields took over, but clearly it's too little too late.

Updated On: 12/29/04 at 04:31 PM

[Corine2]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:31pm

Why Sweet Charity. I was hoping it would be the new home for Forbidden Broadway.

[gettinhep]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:46pm

Rath, I don't think that Donna needed to do much to convince the Weisslers. She received absolute raves for the Encores! production. The three year delay, Donna's flu during previews and the lack of much of an advance didn't help the Broadway opening.

Donna received raves for the Broadway production and that helped the show for a while. I don't think that there was all that much maintenance for the show's publicity after the first couple of months. Of course, when the main publicity seems to be of missed performances by the leading lady, it doesn't help. There was a little flurry of activity around Tony time and then a large burst for Brooke.

I saw WT in June. Donna was marvellous. There were bits of business that I won't forget. The ensemble was excellent. I am certainly pleased that I saw this little piece of Bernstein and Comden and Green.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:48pm

It's not about Donna being fabulous or not fabulous - she's always fabulous. It's about her being a ticket-seller or not - and she's not. We know the Weisslers are all about "names" (as most producers have to be these days) and as was pointed out earlier, she's not a name outside our little world and does not sell enough tickets to pay the rent.

[gettinhep]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 4:58pm

Sad but true, Rath.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 5:19pm

I ushered this afternoon and Barry announced it to the cast after the show. He said they had to close because they couldn't find anyone to replace "this lovely lady" (Brooke, obviously). Kind of sad, seeing as it's been selling very well lately.

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 5:38pm

I have never seen this show, but I do not like it. lol Open PINK FLOYD: THE WALL there now.

[marincrazy11]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 5:42pm

I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to see this show in June (w/Donna). Not that I didn't know it was coming eventually, but I am sad the show is closing. And yes junglered, the orchestra was amazing!

[cmleidi]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 6:04pm

Does anyone think the location of the theatre is a factor in the low grosses?

[magruder]

Posted: 12/29/04 at 6:06pm

No.