re: Riedel -- High Fidelity & Pirate Queen in Trouble

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 4:36am

High Fidelity has an advance of only $600,000? Ouch.

Riedel:

"PANIC is starting to set in at "High Fidelity," the new Broadway musical, based on Nick Hornby's popular novel, that begins previews Nov. 20 at the Imperial Theater.

The reason: Ticket sales are so awful that unless the show gets over-the-top raves, it could close faster than "The Times They Are A-Changin'."

According to production sources, "High Fidelity" so far has sold about $600,000 worth of tickets, an appallingly low figure for a $10 million show.

In Boston, where the show recently wrapped up its out-of-town tryout, the box office was a disaster. The owner of Colonial Theater is said to have taken a $1 million bath.

The problem, sources say, is that the show's target audience - straight males in their 20s and 30s - would rather be caught in a gay bar than at a Broadway musical.

With the exception of the very hetero "Spamalot," musicals simply don't appeal to these guys.

The John Cusack-Jack Black movie of "High Fidelity" made great use of classic songs by the Velvet Underground, the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder (early Stevie Wonder!) to tell the story of a lonely slacker (played in the musical by Will Chase) who's obsessed with his record collection. ("High Fidelity" is sort of a heterosexual "The Drowsy Chaperone.") But the musical doesn't use any famous songs. It has an original score by Amanda Green and Tom Kitt.

And that may be another problem, since anybody who loves the Velvet Underground isn't going to rush out to see a show written by the daughter of the man who wrote "Subways Are For Sleeping" (Adolph Green) and the musical director of "An Evening with Mario Cantone."

Meanwhile, women - who buy the vast majority of tickets to Broadway shows - appear to be shunning "High Fidelity," even though it's being billed as a "romantic comedy."

The show has undergone an extensive rewrite since it opened to mixed reviews in Boston. The first half-hour has been completely altered, one of the female leads was replaced, and new songs have been added.

A Broadway insider says the producers are talking up the changes all over town, but "you can see the fear in their faces."

IS the captain going down before the ship?

From the poop deck of "The Pirate Queen," which is foundering in Chicago, I hear director Frank Galati may soon be forced to walk the plank. He hasn't been seen at the show in a week, and he's scarcely been involved in a series of intense meetings with the show's new bookwriter, Richard Maltby Jr.

Maltby secretly joined the $15 million production last week. He's trying to bail out his pals, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, who wrote the musical's book and score.

The Frenchies created "Miss Saigon" with Maltby, whose last Broadway venture was the ill-fated "Ring of Fire."

Production sources say Maltby has proposed a stern-to-bow rewrite of "The Pirate Queen," which is slated to open on Broadway in April.

Backstage, though, gallows humor prevails.

Says one company member: "We may look like pirates, but in fact we're passengers on the Titanic."


http://www.nypost.com/seven/11102006/entertainment/theater/high_fidelity__low_box_office_theater_michael_riedel.htm

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 5:01am

Holy heck. Do you reckon they'll go through with it? If it's already gotten bad reviews, I can't see how it's suddenly going to get raves. And then it's all a matter of just exactly how long it'll stay open...

Seems like "Pirate Queen" is falling under the old "Martin Guerre" curse. I do hope they succeed though. But Richard Maltby Jr.? Yech!!! Some of his lyrics for "Miss Saigon" are, eeek... let's not go there

Updated On: 11/10/06 at 05:01 AM

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 6:23am

wow, that worries me about HIGH FIDELITY
only $600,000 in ticket sales so far? that is horrible

[FrontRowCenter2]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 6:28am

With $600,000 of advance sales, I suspect the producers are seriously thinking about their opening! And yet another prime theater will now become available.

[alterego]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 7:01am

From what I've read about both both shows I can't say I'm surprised.

[Bruce Memblagh!]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 7:34am

"The Frenchies created "Miss Saigon" with Maltby,"


Does this arrogant man, (ever trying to pass himself off as a credible journalist) not realise how offensive it is to refer to them as "Frenchies"? Next he will be suggesting that Bush is a proponent of human rights.

[Craig]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 8:54am

"And that may be another problem, since anybody who loves the Velvet Underground isn't going to rush out to see a show written by the daughter of the man who wrote "Subways Are For Sleeping" (Adolph Green) and the musical director of "An Evening with Mario Cantone."


Is a silly statement anyway. The odds in anyone who is INTO Velvet Underground KNOWING who Adolph Green can't be that low. That statement doesn't really support the earlier comment how men would rather be caught at a gay bar that at a musical. If that's his "argument" - then how can he follow it up with a musical reference that they aren't going to buy tickets based on whose daughter wrote the score. They wouldn't know or care based on his example

[BreeDaniel]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 8:54am

I'm not surprised about Fidelity. IMO, to avoid an embarrassment like "Times", they should cut their losses now. I had little faith in this show since Bobbie was named as director and it's been downhill and troubled on just about every level, since.

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 8:56am

high Fidelity is in too big of a theatre

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 10:05am

I think it is more surprising that they may be replacing Galati. Just because you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear doesn't mean the seamstress is to blame. I wonder if this is HIS decision.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 10:07am

...so then Les Mis can move to the Imperial, and Zero Hour can move into the Broadhurst? :)

[jerseygurl]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 10:09am

anybody know how the advance is for SPRING AWAKENING?

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 10:47am

If both of these show founder it would be a blow to what originally appeared to be a blockbuster season for new musicals.

Out of curiousity I checked out the "2007 Predictions" thread that was started right after this year's Tonys. So many of the crystal ball prognosticators picked these two shows plus The Times... as potential best musical nominees. Most agreed that Best Musical would come down to a race between Pirate Queen and Mary Poppins reminiscent of 1998 when Ragtime and The Lion King battled it out.

Obviously, The Pirate Queen isn't dead yet and we all know how Reidel likes to fan the flame of controversy (even when the flame is just an ember), so the show could conceiveably rebound. However, it is kind of interesting to think that we aren't even to the end of 2006, and already the 2007 season is turning out to be vastly different than expected. Does this now make Mary Poppins the even clearer favorite? And what will now be its closest contender? Curtains? Does it open things up for Grey Gardens? or will a show like Legally Blonde now have a chance?

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 11:04am

It was foolish of HF's producers to select such a large house. There are no big stars, no recognizable creative team names, and the source material is a small cult film that did less than $50 million. They should have switched with Les Mis and taken the broadhurst when they had the chance. As for Pirate Queen, Im sure this show will be on broadway regsardless, as their producers seem to have pockets deeper than Gods. Didnt they offer to BUY the hilton theatre for the show?

IF high fidelity closes early, I do hope that an earlier prediction of Reidel's comes true: that the National theatre's production of Coram Boy comes in. A really marvelous epic straight play. Between that and Coast of Utopia, Broadway may actually resemble London in terms of large casted straight plays.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 11:12am

For the record, I think he has a really valid point about High Fidelity... some of the people who are most into the movie are music snobs who relate to the characters, and from what I've heard at least, the songs in the show aren't much going to appeal to them. It was just a weird concept to make a musical about people who are really, really picky about music (unless the songs are completely fantastic).
Updated On: 11/10/06 at 11:12 AM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 11:34am

Having just seen Pirate Queen, the news of Galati possibly being replaced doesn't surprise me too much. The direction did seem rather pedestrian with only Block and Balgord delivering nuanced performances. The opening number seemed horribly immature (what was with that melody? are these pirates or children singing a popular drinking song?), the sinking of the British ship was embarrassing (think children in a kiddie pool with a large toy boat), and the pub number and the first queen's court number were disasters. And I'm not sure what the finale was like for others or if it had been changed, but it certainly did not seem sudden or unexpected to me. I found it to be rather drawn out and unnecessary. **SPOILER** I mean, once reunited (a somewhat anticlimactic scene), do we really need another scene as they join their clan? And watch them all just stand there and sing something that sounded like a reprise, but was such a forgettable tune I couldn't remember if I had heard it before or not? Why not reprise Sail to the Stars, which was one of the only interesting songs in the show?

It could be a wonderful show. If the story actually represented what the title implies. But it will take a lot more than book and lyric changes to make it work. The score needs a LOT of punching up. With only 2 or 3 good songs, and none of them memorable, there is a ton of work to do to try and draw in audiences. Not to mention the set design, which serviced the second act pretty well, but the first act (especially the opening) just looked kind of silly. I've been a B&S fan since Les Mis, but the quality in their work has decreased in degrees with each new show they have presented and from what I saw, they really bottomed out with Pirate Queen. It's neither bad nor good, entertaining or dull, moving or ambivalent. It's just there. Mildly interesting with a few nice moments. But I only saw about 10-15 minutes of really good material in the entire 2.5 hours.

Anyway, I don't think I could say anything that hasn't been said already. But I do give kudos for a wonderful cast. If Block ever gets the material she deserves in this show, she could be a major contender for the Tony. Cut the girl becomes a boy to be on the ship nonsense. It's not interesting and we've seen that stuff a million times. Just start with her already sailing with her father and the crew. If they need to reference how she ended up on a pirate ship, give a beautiful song of nostalgia to the father. Something that could resemble the poignancy of "I Dreamed a Dream". You've got a great actor there. Use him! Merge the last two scenes together and give us a sense that they once again return to a life on a ship. I recall the gorgeous sailing scenes in the Scarlet Pimpernel, which were brief, but far more effective than anything I saw in Pirate Queen.

Anyway, if there isn't a major overhaul of this show, it will be Broadway's next Woman in White.

Updated On: 11/10/06 at 11:34 AM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 11:42am

HF should have pulled a Mambo Kings. Cut their losses.

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 12:05pm

if not close. High Fidelity should move to the belesco

[ashley0139]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 12:07pm

This is disappointing to hear. I saw HF twice in Boston and I had a great time. I thought the music was GREAT, too. Maybe not in the realm of what the original movie's was, but I was singing the songs for days after it. I do love Tom Kitt's music though. I hope it can pull back from this as I thought it was a very enjoyable show and I saw it before they made all the changes.

[buskeat]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 2:01pm

Frank Galati's in rehearsals for his new adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" at Victory Gardens Theater, which opens on Dec. 1st. That may explain his absence from "The Pirate Queen" for the past week.

Rob
Updated On: 11/10/06 at 02:01 PM

[alliez92092]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 2:30pm

I hope HF can pull through. I do agree it needed to be in a smaller theatre, but I love it.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 2:34pm

HIGH FIDELITY should just close now. It makes no sense to bring it to Broadway.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 3:17pm

Well they've done plenty of rewrites like Riedel states. So maybe they can pull a "Movin' Out" and turn a bad show around? Who knows. I just hope it can make it through previews without closing.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 3:23pm

Think High Fidelity belongs off broadway

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 3:28pm

Shhhh.... Don't tell everyone that PQ is in trouble. A few of us have been negatively criticizing it on another thread and we've been put in our places for being so mean.