Archive Import - Comment

Blind email received:

As someone who worked on "One Mo' Time", I have some insight as to why the show's closing. Put simply, the producers ran out of money. They budgeted the show at $2.4 million, a strategy that would work only if they did very little advertising and got a rave review from the NY Times. The first ads (even ABC listings) didn't appear until the show was loading into the theater. Trying to build word-of-mouth, they gave away literally thousands of free tickets at both previews and regular performances (700 on just one night last week), while deciding not to sell tickets through TDF, and to sell only limited quantities at the TKTS booth. When the Times review didn't give them the boost they expected, they didn't have the reserves to keep the show going until Tony nominations came out (which it surely would have gotten plenty of). So why didn't they open the show later in the season? Why did they budget so low in the first place? Why didn't the New Yorker, Newsweek, and Time (among others) review the show at all? Why aren't the black church groups coming to see the show? I don't know the answer, but everyone at the theater (cast, crew, and house staff) was absolutely blindsided by the closing notice. Even Vernel Bagneris was one of the last to hear the news (well after the news was posted on the internet). Why would anyone spend $150,000 for a full-page color ad in the Times and then close the show without waiting a decent amount of time to see if it was going to generate sales? Management had to have known the day after the Times review that they were going to have to depend on their reserves, yet they didn't invite Tony voters until just yesterday. The only people who can answer these questions are Michael Ritchie and Albert Poland, and they aren't saying. The company was expecting some kind of meeting/cry session/whatever with the producers Tuesday night, but management stayed well hidden. Probably a good thing, because (as one crew member remarked) there would've been a riot if there had been a meeting. Rumor has it that even Gerald Shoenfeld called the theatre asking what was going on. The audiences are still cheering and having a grand time, it's just absolutely criminal that the show was mismanaged to an untimely death.

Peter Filichia's Diary

Filichia is there as Dean Jones, the original Bobby in Company, is honored by his fellow Alabamans.

Toronto Star: The not-so-sweet smell of movie brought to stage by Richard Ouzounian

I saw SSS last night as well. Just a few comments... I was appalled by the number "Dirt". It is so unbelievable that people would stoop so low to discuss nothing but gossip with no substance! BTW - I noticed that there was no BC/EFA curtain speech/appeal. Was Patti in the audience? (Patti Plansker, I went to high school with her. Who did you think I meant?)

New York Observer: Welcome to My Pew by Rex Reed

Liza finally did it.

The last time she got married was in Halston�s living room. The fourth time, she got it right.[Thanks to Michael Colby for pointing this article out.]

For Arts Space, Shabby Charm Turns Sleek

By DINITIA SMITH
Symphony Space, that touchstone of culture on the Upper West Side, will reopen on April 8 with two theaters, a new cafe and new offices.

CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK

All-Black Casts for 'Porgy'? That Ain't Necessarily So
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI
Perhaps the time has come for the Gershwin estate to end its casting directive that "Porgy and Bess" be performed by an all-black cast.

Theater Review | 'Bewilderness': Facing the Word's Absurdity, Fortified With an Ocarina

Theater Review | 'The Master Builder': Laying a Firm Foundation for His Own Destruction

'Urinetown' hits road

Tour begins in San Francisco in 2003
"Urinetown" is beginning to look like the little tuner that could. Greg Kotis and Mark Hoffmann's unlikely hit musical about a drought-inflicted city whose citizens are charged a fee to pee is now a national tour.

Guthrie skeds August bow for Miller's 'Blues'

Play to run Aug. 3-Sept. 8

B.O. weathers warm winter

Sales keep tix moving, but tax plan still waits in wings

B.O. up; 'Meta' 228g

Gonna dance

Biz off; 'Phantom' $1.2 mil

Blair Brown to Star in Night Music at Kennedy Center

Blair Brown is set to play Desiree in A Little Night Music at the Kennedy Center, according to The Washington Post. As we [Read More]

Tony Voters Get One Mo' Week to See Show

In a surprising last minute move, producers of One Mo� Time have decided to invite Tony voters...[Read More]

Broadway Grosses: Topdog's an Underdog

Three 2002-2003 shows were at under 40% attendance last week, a frightening statistic. One Mo� Time, which has been consistently [Read More]

Patti LuPone to Revisit Anything Goes for LCT Gala

Patti LuPone, Howard McGillin and Linda Hart, who all starred in Lincoln Center Theater�s 1987 Tony Award-winning revival of Cole Porter�s Anything Goes, will reunite for a benefit performa…

SAVING 'GRACE'

By BILLY HELLERON
ONE week after its opening was soundly trashed by the critics, off-Broadway's "Surviving Grace" is somehow, well, surviving.

North Shore Music Theatre in MA Has Ragtime in the Round, May 14-June 2

Taper's Next Step Nurtures Loomer, Loh, Mapa and Culture Clash March 29-April 21

Petula Clark Comes to VHS and DVD on March 26

Blessing's Black Sheep Flocks North to Barrington Stage Come Summer

PBS to Broadcast Porgy and Bess March 20

Island, Rivera, Esparza Features in Trio of BC/EFA Benefit Concerts

Moses, Cahoon Head Cast of York's Mufti Concert of By Jupiter, April 5-7

PHOTO CALL: Brad Oscar Gets Hung Up at Sardi's

Gould and Kane Awaken in Chayefsky's Middle of the Night in L.A. March 20-24

Today In Theatre History: MARCH 20

Frisch's Andorra Explores a Dark World of Prejudice, Off-Bway April 2-28

Urinetown Will Spill Into North America, on National Tour June 2003

Colin, Cox, Countryman and Gerroll Roam MTC's House & Garden

PHOTO CALL: There is Nothing Like These Dames!

PHOTO CALL: Dames and Divas

PHOTO CALL: Chita Rivera and Phyllis Newman Celebrate Their Dame-dom

PHOTO CALL: Honorary Dames: James Naughton and the Tonys

Adams, Rebhorn and Robards Increase Miller's Luck on Broadway

Tovah Feldshuh Lifts US Premiere of Kilt in NYC, April 6

Donna Murphy Is Helen, Launching March 19 at The Public

PHOTO CALL: Marquee Idols: They're The Producers, Henry and Steve!

The Inland Sea to Set Sail in April in East London

Kenneth Branagh's Richard III Debuts in London

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Into London's Palladium

Broadway Grosses: March 11-17

At Starry Dames, There Was Nothin' Like Bernadette, Chita, Bebe and Audra

A Miller and a Martin Premiere During Guthrie's 2002-2003 Season