As you may remember, I wrote a post late this summer about how this season was shaping up to be a pretty boring one. It seems I was right. Just this week alone, three shows have announced closing dates: CHAPLIN (Jan 6th), SCANDALOUS (Dec. 9th), and THE ANARCHIST (Dec. 16th).
This comes right after THE PERFORMERS closed less than a week after it opened and BRING IT ON announced it was closing early after an announced extension.
What is going on? Are people not going to shows? Are the shows just that bad that no one wants to see them?
I think this is a much larger problem than quality of shows. I think people have more or less stopped going to see shows that aren't an adaptation of something they know or starring a huge Hollywood star. I don't know how to fix this. I doubt anyone does. Which is why Broadway is in this current situation.
Here's to hoping that the spring is more successful (and if MATILDA and CINDERELLA are an indication, it should be)!
Any ideas? Thoughts? Comment below.
Honestly, I think it's a marketing issue for most of them. I like to consider myself pretty up to date on the theatre world. I knew NOTHING about Chaplin until the day it started previews. Truth be known, I still know very little about it.
ReplyDeleteI will say that some of the shows are just bad, but I think that the word isn't getting out about stuff. Even to people who frequent Broadway shows. I don't know what they need to do, but something needs to happen. I need to know a little about a show before I decide if I'm going to make the trip to NY to see it. It's a lot of time and money for me.
I don't need to know a show (though a "brand name" is catching to theatre-goers) before I see it. But I do need a show to court me. Show me interviews. Show me commercials. Let me know WHY I want to come see it.
Lately, it seems that they've been relying on a "brand name" show so much that they think people don't need to know anything about a show before they see it. And in doing so, they've forgotten how to court their patrons.