really... how does a show open and close on the same night???

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 1:13am

i was just reading stuff about Carrie the Musical and was just interested to know how that can really happen??? yeah sure the show had bomb written all over it, but why even go through opening night and all that crap if it's just going to close on that same night... it just doesn't seem right to me... i could see the producers deciding to close it after three or four more performances... but right after opening??

thoughts?

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 1:17am

I don't really have an opinion about CARRIE...but if you want to know about how a show in general can close on opening night...or better yet, at intermission....ask "the chained woman" aka Dixie Carter...or Mandy Patinkin

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 1:19am

Or indeed, ask Ellen Burstyn.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 1:21am

And for the record, Carrie didn't close on opening night. The show ran for a whole 5 performances.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 1:23am

I dont think a show can actually close in 1 night it isnt logical.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 1:27am

Why isn't it logical? The producers of The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All announced the morning after opening that the show was closed, effective immediately. The reviews were not strong enough to keep it open so they cut their losses.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 1:41am

A show is in previews. It's bad. Really bad. The producers standing at the back of the theatre know it's bad. Audiences clearly hate it. The critics obviously are going to hate it even more. They're not selling tickets and are losing money with each performance. There's no advance sale. The producers post a closing notice before the official opening (Equity requires a week's notice to be given to the actors -- if you close during that week, they have to be paid for the whole week).

Official opening happens. The reviews are terrible across the board. Things obviously are not going to get better. You close the show immediately to stave off further losses. The end.

Now the question is, how the hell did a show that audiences hate and critics hate that much make it to Broadway in the first place? What prompted anyone to put up the millions of dollars it takes to move a show this bad to Broadway? Vanity and ego on one level or another is involved, typically.

In the old days, the list of shows that never made it out of New Haven or other pre-Broadway stops is ENORMOUS. Mind you there were several shows that, due to the hubris of the producer, still got to Broadway and closed that night or the next day.

In my next life, I want to come back as someone so rich that blowing millions of dollars on a terrible vanity project is no big deal and that if I want to do a two hour tribute to the Thighmaster and my tortured childhood to the tune of $3 million or so, it won't cause me to miss any payments on any of my 5 mansions.

[Hairspraydoll]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 1:55am

"In my next life, I want to come back as someone so rich that blowing millions of dollars on a terrible vanity project is no big deal and that if I want to do a two hour tribute to the Thighmaster and my tortured childhood to the tune of $3 million or so, it won't cause me to miss any payments on any of my 5 mansions."

OMG so funny!!! You crack me up Margo!

There's a musical called "Kelly" that I believed closed after 1 performance...Margo probably knows if this is true or not.

Updated On: 8/15/05 at 01:55 AM

[professor]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 6:52am

Years ago, there was a legendary flop that closed after one performance called "Moose Murders." The opening of Frank Rich's review of the show reads:

"FROM now on, there will always be two groups of theatergoers in this world: those who have seen 'Moose Murders,' and those who have not. Those of us who have witnessed the play that opened at the Eugene O'Neill Theater last night will undoubtedly hold periodic reunions, in the noble tradition of survivors of the Titanic. Tears and booze will flow in equal measure, and there will be a prize awarded to the bearer of the most outstanding antlers. As for those theatergoers who miss 'Moose Murders' - well, they just don't rate. A visit to 'Moose Murders' is what will separate the connoisseurs of Broadway disaster from mere dilettantes for many moons to come."

[sabrelady]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 6:58am

Thighmaster - the Musical! Nice little jab @ Ms Sommers and her foolishness there Margo! U go girl!!

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 7:34am

There was a musical in London last year based on the life of Oscar Wilde which closed after just one performance, but that was due to the fact they had sold less than twenty tickets for the next evenings show. In that case, it was clearly ludicrous to bother going on (and the twenty other people could get a refund and go and see something worthwhile!).

[Corine2]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 7:43am

Suzanne Somers show was pretty horrendous but there have been worse.
Anyone catch the one woman nightmare with Jane Alexander. (What of the Night)
That my friends was the worst show I have ever had to sit through. It was more painful then listening to Somers sing "If I only had a brain" and worse then watching a monkey get masturbated in PRYMATE.

What of the Night was the worst thing I have ever had to sit through. I knew when my patient best friend pleaded to leave in the first half hour that we were doomed. Updated On: 8/15/05 at 07:43 AM

[leefowler]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 9:16am

I think a lot of people are confused about this. When people refer to a show that closed after only one performance, what they really mean is that it closed after, let's say, 14 previews, and one opening night. Previews don't count as performances.

But here's an interesting question: Has there ever been a Broadway show that closed after one PREVIEW? There's only a handful of shows that closed in previews on Broadway to begin with. There was a show called Senator Joe, I think, that closed after just a weekend of previews, although I could be wrong.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 9:43am

I would have sworn Senator Joe closed out of town (there was so much trouble with payroll & the producer eventually went to jail), but IBdb says it had 3 previews. Then of course there's the sad tale of Bobbie Boland (though that was more than one preview also).
Jack, with Nicol Williamson, also closed on opening night - it came very near to closing before the show was even over.
Updated On: 8/15/05 at 09:43 AM

[ticenewyorkcity]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 10:01am

in darlene loves book and her recent playbill interview she has said that carrie opened and closed the same night....she is wrong i don't know why she keeps saying this as it is clearly not true

[WOSQ]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 10:25am

My one and only Broadway show as an actor did indeed close after one night and 16 previews. This was many moons ago.

It is always about money. We ran out of it since our reserve was eaten up during previews, and one of the producers wouldn't put any more into the show even though she had piles and piles of it.[Bitch, but that's not what we're discussing.]

We had no stars, belonged off-Broadway, through no fault of our own we opened during the last newspaper strike in the city, word-of-mouth was decidedly mixed and there was no hue and cry to see the show. All of this worked against us and then the few reviews we got were mostly (but not all) unfavorable.

With no money in the bank and no way to raise more, were were doomed.

"Welcome to the flop you thought would run for years."

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 10:27am

I'll have to contact Frank and find out when the next "Moose Murders" reunion will be.

[midtowngym]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 10:29am

It's refreshing to read that actors actually care about not working. Sara Ramirez and Donna Murphy are giving actors a bad name.

Updated On: 8/15/05 at 10:29 AM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 10:40am

There is one reason why a stinker stays open through opening night: The Tony Awards. As long as they open, they can be considered.

For example, the musical "Rags" opened and closed in the same week. Yet it was such a bad year for musicals that Rags got nominated. This gives leverage to the producers as they pitch the show to regional theaters and community theaters.

[hushpuppy]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 10:57am

Back in the 70's there was a stinker called "Home Sweet Homer" that starred Yul Brynner and Joan Diener that closed after 1 performance. I saw it in tryouts at the Curran in San Francisco and it is memorable in my life for one reason: I fell madly in love with Russ Thacker and spent several hours after the show at Zim's on Sutter Street (an all-night restaurant, now sadly gone) blathering on to my theatre-going companion that I thought I might be gay (oh the drama! a much better drama than had been on stage at the Curran, I might add). Yes the show was a turkey, but I was amazed that they couldn't sell enough tickets based on Yul Brynner's name to keep the show open for awhile. (This was before he decided to make 'The King & I' revivals his life's work).

[WOSQ]

Posted: 8/15/05 at 10:58am

To share in any subsidiary rights a production must run for something like 21 performances including tryouts and previews. A producing company/producer will sometimes budget enough to play that long.

Subsidiary rights can include anything from a tour which is unlikely for a fast flop to a movie/tv sale (The Cemetery Club anyone?) to stock and amateur rights. There might be some small return from the last one in particular.

Sometimes a producer guarantees to the investors that there will be a NY opening. Of course s/he has to cover any shortages once the capitalization is spent.