‘Ain’t No Mo’ to Close on Broadway Less Than Three Weeks After Opening

“Thank god black people are immune to eviction notices.”

Yeah, who doesn’t love the Blacks?

Was this a Little Richard jukebox musical?

[quote]Yeah, who doesn’t love the Blacks?

Apparently, theater goers.

Will and Jada to the rescue!

Go woke go broke?

It looks like just the ticket!

Ain't No Mo' is a play consisting of a series of vignettes that takes a sketch comedy look at racism imagining descendants of enslaved persons being voluntarily repatriated on Flight 1619.

The show debuted Off-Broadway in 2019 at the Public Theatre.

Broadway performances began November 9, 2022 ahead of a December 1 opening, at the Belasco Theatre starring Jordan Cooper, Marchánt Davis, Fedna Jacquet, Crystal Lucas-Perry, Ebony Marshall-Oliver and Shannon Matesky.

Cooper was the playwright, and at 27 is the youngest American to make his Broadway debut as a playwright.

There were also productions in Washington D.C. at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and at Baltimore Center Stage in October 2022.

The Broadway production announced on December 9 that it would close on December 1

Is this the sequel to Five Guys Named Mo?

All is NOT forgotten, Will n Jada.

Broadway and Hollywood both seem to have trouble learning that while you can produce something with woke politics and have it be a success, just [italic]because[/italic] something has woke politics does not mean it will be a success.

"Ain't No Mo' is a play consisting of a series of vignettes that takes a sketch comedy look at racism imagining descendants of enslaved persons being voluntarily repatriated on Flight 1619."

Just what a typical Broadway prosperous, white-trending, older Broadway audience wants to see.

Sam Brinton is on his way to steal the costumes.

No one wants to see that stuff, r12

They/them/theirs writes:

Ain’t No Mo’ also closing. it’s brutal out here. so telling that shows like The Music Man are thriving while shows like KPOP and Ain’t No Mo’ that center BIPOC artists and stories are closing prematurely and abruptly. Broadway needs to change, this is unacceptable.

Not all the shows that open on Broadway are able to fill the larger theatres. Maybe it should have stayed off-Broadway. Sounds like someone failed in their business calculation. No show HAS to succeed in a larger theatre just because it's perceived as deserving to. The audience wasn't there and that's certainly not the fault of the 'Broadway' community. Go back, crunch the numbers and try again in a smaller venue.

I think there are plenty of mo's in that show.

Tiresome.

R12 not to mention I've seen comments online from black people objecting to the use of the N word as well as having black men doing drag.

The market must be saturated; how many black-cast shows can Broadway support?

Out of the 15 offers on TDF tonight, nine are black-themed to some degree or another:

1776

Ain’t No Mo

Between Riverside and Crazy

The Collaboration

Death of a Salesman

Some Like it Hot

A Strange Loop

Take Me Out

TopDog/Underdog

R20 it doesn’t make sense, 13% of the total population, which has never been that into live theatre, is supposed to somehow fill 60% of Broadway shows. The Twitter idiots are now heading in the direction of accusing people who see something else as being racist. Going to the Music Man is now equivalent to attending a Kid Rock concert.

Reparations through entertainment.

[quote]Reparations through entertainment.

Especially tv commercials.

"...shows like KPOP and Ain’t No Mo’ that center BIPOC artists and stories are closing prematurely and abruptly. Broadway needs to change, this is unacceptable."

Well as long as tickets to Broadway shows are insanely expensive, audiences are going to continue to be on the older, richer, lighter side. Just because that's who has hundreds to throw away on a night out, that and tourists out to live it up for once, and even NYC tourists skew richer and lighter than the average American.

There's a black version of Some Like it Hot playing on Broadway right now?

So for all this endless bellyaching about "those traditionally MARGINALIZED, whose VOICES are never heard" they put up shows specifically for, by, and about the "Black Experience" that black people probably don't even know is playing on Broadway. I guess now there's another show they are shunning besides "A Strange Loop"!

The whole idea is to produce shows you can find an audience willing to pay to come see. I have no idea if it is any good, maybe it is, but I'm busy getting ready for Christmas!

For chrissake, just change the name to "Hamilton".

This show and the playwright sound exhausting. It's like you're supposed to buy a ticket to his show before you can even consider contemplating attending The Music Man.

I need to see more dong before shelling out $50 in Times Sq. Bring back Stella’s or the Gaeity Theater and have them perform the show between dances!

It is THE PRODUCER'S job to connect the show with the audience. Period.

So how's all that virtue-nagging as far as filling seats going? Other award winning black shows are closing because all the white arty farty types who can be guilted into seeing them have already seen them. They've done their duty, go find someone else to come to your high-priced chitterling circuit vaudeville!

As the old press agent saying goes, "If they won't come, you can't stop them."

The video is of clips from the show. What's quoted is from Playbill. It's been promoted on the local news and talk shows, but, apparently, not enough people were interested in seeing it.

[Quote]Having premiered to critical acclaim at The Public Theater, Ain’t No Mo’ dares to ask the incendiary question, “What if the U.S. government offered Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa?” The answer is the high-octane comedy about being Black in today’s America from the mischievous mind of playwright Jordan E. Cooper (“The Ms. Pat Show”). Seamlessly blending sketch comedy, satire and avant garde theater, Ain’t No Mo’ will leave you crying with laughter—and thinking through the tears.

[Quote]SYNOPSIS: Ain't No Mo' is a vibrant satirical odyssey portraying the great exodus of black Americans out of a country plagued with injustice. In a kaleidoscope of scenes of the moments before, during, and after this outrageous departure, Jordan E. Cooper’s masterful new work explores the value of black lives in a country hurtling away from the promise of a black president.

I can’t wait for the Broadway version of Bros. Smash hit guaranteed.

Of course a guilt-ridden whitey would squawk about it- see R15's twitter link. That/they/them/their thinks the Blacks will like him more. They won't.

R15 what an annoying asshole that guy is.

If they'd just called it "Madea's 'Ain't No Mo'" everything would be fine.

R34 - ugh that "christian lewis" person is insufferable. All virtue signaling, no intelligence.

A show [quote]about being Black in today’s America

Oh boy. Another one.

Do people not get the market us absolutely saturated with this stuff?

The title turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Mo'Nique thought it was about her - boy was she pissed.

When isn’t she?

Why didn't the huge white "bridge and tunnel" audiences from places like Long Island and State Island flock to this performance event? Or the mass of "flyover tourists" from the rest of America? Those are the audiences make shows on Broadway successful.

(They know exactly what they're missing . . .)

Broadway is about "flyover tourists" and I don't understand why anyone would close a show the weekend BEFORE Christmas. Late December is big box office for Broadway.

The Music Man has a great big star in it. Blame your producers for failing to secure one.

Redoing "Book of Mormon" for the Comedy of Outrage movement doesn't play to Minnesotans visiting New York.

"You have a moral obligation to see my show" has never made for a convincing ad campaign.

With the high cost of B’way tickets, people play it safe with middle of the road offerings — Disney shows, those featuring H’wood stars, and old classics. This playwright sounds exhausting. Yes, likely should have stayed in a smaller venue.

According to historical accounts, Lincoln actually considered sending all Blacks to Africa, even though most had no ties to the continent, and had family lineage that went back several generations here in the US. .

Oh please let this be another Porkalob thread! I love watching people in shitty shows complain about how no one will come see them. And that fucking Christian Lewis GUY is the worst, "it’s brutal out here. so telling that shows like The Music Man are thriving while shows like KPOP and Ain’t No Mo’ that center BIPOC artists and stories are closing prematurely and abruptly. Broadway needs to change, this is unacceptable." Stamp your little feet all you want, you can't make people like shit, it's something those they/them folks just won't wrap zheir heads around. The bottom line is money and Broadway is not obligated to keep funding losing shows. That clip was fucking unbearable.

[quote] Broadway is about "flyover tourists" and I don't understand why anyone would close a show the weekend BEFORE Christmas. Late December is big box office for Broadway.

My guess is their advance was down to about $14.93

It is funny that they picked the Belasco. It was once a lovely, important little theater but it's definitely now a Broadway outlier and a little shabby. Was the Biltmore not available, or did they think a black show would be jinxed at the newly renamed venue Friedman?

POC make up 40% of the population in NYC but just 5% of the Broadway audience. And that percentage of POC attendees hasn’t changed in decades. Shit, 11% of Broadway theatergoers are asian and their experience is almost never represented.

And then, when a screed about racism and white privilege like Slave Play opens to an audience that’s 90% white and isn’t embraced, it’s somehow Broadway’s fault when it doesn’t find an audience.

If a white person wears corn rows it’s cultural appropriation. When Death of a Salesman is ‘reinterpreted’ as a vehicle for black artists, it’s illuminating. Let’s see how illuminating current cultural gate keepers would react to an all jewish version of Raisin in the Sun about a lower east side family trying to make a new life in a restricted suburb in the 50s.

In essence, Broadway is in the midst of paying reparations to black artists. And that’s ok, but that’s what it is and it should be formally noted that that’s what it is.

Those clips are just painful. Why would you want to pay to see something so depressingly dull and mediocre that just bashes you over the head with THE MESSAGE for the entire runtime?

All black (or any other minority) version of traditionally white plays don't bother me so much EXCEPT that the cultural differences get lost.

The interracial marriage of James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander when they did "Long Day's Journey Into Night" (long ago) bothered me not because they were an interracial couple but because they play is set around 1900 in New England. Somehow I don't think wasted artistry, alcoholism, and a morphine addiction would be this family's biggest concern.

Similarly, an all-white version of "Othello" would lose the subtext of the sole Moor in 1500s Venice. Billy S. made Othello a Moor for a reason and the whole play has an intentionally uncomfortable racial subtext because of it. Othello's paranoia is not coincidental.

It sounds awful and the fact that the flight is numbered 1619 is just embarrassing. It's not even an interesting premise. There were repatriation movements in the 19th and 20th centuries. It's something that was actually tried and didn't work out too well. Why not tell the actual story of someone in the past who actually went back to Africa? I don't understand what the point is to set the story in the present day when postcolonial Africa is such a mess. The state of Africa is the fault of white countries, to be sure, but what's humorous about it?

I ain’t no Mo either. I’m more of a Larry or Curly.

[quote] Mo'Nique thought it was about her - boy was she pissed.

Who the fuck cares enough about you, bitch, to create a musical. It should have been about me -- someone the gays love!

The tweeter at R15 knows how to tick all those boxes HIMSELF.

"it’s official: I just passed my dissertation defense and completed my PhD.

I’m Dr. Christian Lewis now. I cannot believe it. I did it y’all. My queer trans nonbinary disabled self has a PhD"

Is there anything HE'S not? Apart from 'normal'.

He must love the BBC but does the BBC love a skinny white disabled 'they'.

^[quote]His research focuses on intersections of disability, gender, and sexuality in Victorian literature.

That pretty much writes itself.

R44 I'd love to see Hansberry's story told from a Chinese perspective...An Asian in the Sun!

[quote]The Broadway production announced on December 9 that it would close on December 1

How timely.

I watched the clips of the show offered here and don't get the jokes

I’d see this at a regional theater but I sure as well wouldn’t pay Broadway prices to see it

[quote] It is funny that they picked the Belasco. It was once a lovely, important little theater but it's definitely now a Broadway outlier and a little shabby.

When was the last time you were in there, R48? It was spectacularly renovated about 10 years ago and is probably the most beautiful playhouse in NYC. It has also been much more in demand since the reno.

Awful lot of coloreds in this show.

Da white man dun us wrong!

R55 he’s everything wrong with everything. And he’s fugly.

R55 I think he's just an unfortunate looking gay dude, a dime a dozen. He's not disabled, not in the traditional sense, he probably calls himself that because he's "non binary". Just a white dude, nothing to see here.

There are few things I could care less about than the "black experience".

I understand that "the black experience" is on fashion right now (at least in the USA).

It's difficult to find a negative review of a novel with a racial theme even if they are as mediocre as Such fun age or The sweetness of water. But of course on novels you only need to be on the Oprah's book club the sell well.

I find absurd when Viola Davis blames racism or Billy Eichner blames homophobia for the faliure of their movies. Sometimes box office is unfair and good movies don't sell well and the other way round, but in the end people pay the tickets and they want to watch what they want to watch.

On theatre is even more difficult because they audience is basically white and the tickets are expensive. Sometimes is a good idea to be on off broadway first to taste the waters

I wonder what the audience demographics are for this version of Death of a Salesman.

Maybe they should tweek the titles a bit.

Ain’t No Mo Black

Between Riverside and Crazy Black

Death of a Black Salesman

Some Like it Hot and Black

The show’s title was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

R55 How many more times do you intend to obsess about that tweet today?

Speaking of tweets, someone on twitter should complain about how poorly Hamilton did...

I would add Six, r20, which I regrettably saw.

What do you mean r72

r67 = strange affinity for the preposition "on"; possibly retarded.

I wonder if people confused it with "Ain't Too Proud."

"Oh -- that show about the Temptations? I've already seen it."

R61 - More than 10 years. Thanks for the correction. The last time I was in NYC (I used to sell tickets to Broadway shows), it was a shithole as well as the theatre former known as Biltmore. Feels like half the theaters have been renamed in recent years. Do Brooks Atkinson and Martin Beck no longer matter? Was Ethel Barrymore THAT more important than either of them?

R74, Seriously? Hamilton featured primarily black (and some latino) actors in roles traditionally played by white actors. It's made over $610 MILLION in ticket sales over the last seven years...but according to the entitled director of Ain't No Mo', people aren't going to see his play because of racism.

A woke production is bankrupt? LOL. Quelle surprise, bitches.

I guess what all the woke bullshit boils down to is: is what you're selling what people want to pay to see? Forget your desired audience--who's your paying audience? That's show business.

[quote] "You have a moral obligation to see my show" has never made for a convincing ad campaign.

Insistence breeds resistance.

Wasn’t that the tagline for Bros?

“You have a moral obligation to see this movie.”

If it was called "Ain't No 'mo" I would go see it.

I actually am a ‘mo!

R83 Did I say you could get off your knees, faggot?

[quote] I'd love to see Hansberry's story told from a Chinese perspective...An Asian in the Sun!

I guess you never saw "A Lychee in the Sun" by David Henry Hwang.

[quote]"You have a moral obligation to see my show" has never made for a convincing ad campaign.

They really couldn't have done any worse by going with their original title "Whitey Bad!"

Wow, those clips were really not good at all.

Who wants to see a show filled with overly broad, unfunny "humor", while simultaneously getting hit over the head with an oh-so-obvious "important message"?

How did this mess even make it to Broadway, and how did it not close after the first night?

Open letter from the playwright:

AN OPEN LETTER FROM PLAYWRIGHT JORDAN E. COOPER

Ain’t No Mo’ needs your help! It’s a new original play that’s BLACK AF, which are both things that make it hard to sell on Broadway. Now they’ve posted an eviction notice, we “must close” December 18th. But thank God black people are immune to eviction notices. The Wiz got one on Opening Night in 1974, but audiences turned that around and it ended up running for four years. This show is THRILLING audiences night after night and has been acclaimed by critics, but it hasn’t had time to reflect in our ticket sales. People are coming and calling it the best theatrical experience of their life, but traditional Broadway marketing doesn’t work for this kind of show. We’re doing something new on Broadway but is Broadway ready? I believe great things happen in this world when the world ain’t ready. Help us get it ready by spreading the word and showing up to support. If you have the means, please BUY A TICKET to see “The Best New Play On Broadway” (The Wrap). If you don’t have the means, we’ve worked hard to make it accessible with an average ticket price of $50. If you can sponsor someone, please do. We need all hands on deck with urgency. In the name of art, in the name of resistance, in the name of we belong here too, in the name of every story telling ancestor who ever graced a Broadway stage or was told they never could, BUY A TICKET and come have church with us. Radical Black work belongs on Broadway too. #saveAINTNOMO

R89 we know, it's at the top of this thread!

I saw this play off broadway pre-pandemic (sitting in front of Bradley Cooper and a male companion) and thought it was funny, cheeky, and insightful. It was cheaply staged and a bit over-the-top, and not all the vignettes were as strong as the harried flight attendant filling the plane, but one of the better things I have seen. In a smaller theater it could have run for years. Broadway brings expectations that most dramas cannot squeeze into

[quote] In a smaller theater it could have run for years.

Really? Years?

Worst things have run forever off Broadway: The Fantasticks, Nunsense, Perfect Crime, and Blue Man Group all come to mind.

I hope this trend towards trying to guilt people into seeing your show quickly dies. It's intensely annoying.

I'm curious, given that show is apparently "Black AF", what percentage of the audience were Black and paid full price? Not counting nights when the likes of Will and Jada bought out the house. And what did the producers and marketing do to advertise and promote the show to the Black audience? Any church outreach? Other means of reaching out to the community in the NYC area? On line presence? What about Black Twitter beyond getting likes? Any challenges to them to do more than like and retweet and actually fork out some money to get tix and see the show and spread the word based on actually seeing the show?

Most woke people (very much including performative white "allies") are also people who make a gofundme every time rent is due. They aren't buying tickets to Broadway shows.

The Broadway audience is older and white. Someone like Tyler Perry could full a theatre with a mostly black audience but I can’t think of anyone else who could. Is MJ bringing in a diverse crowd? That seems to be doing well.

Bridge and tunnel and flyover audiences will pony up to see African-American stars like Denzel Washington in properties with a track record like "A Raisin in the Sun."

No stars, in an unknown work, with no "wow!" production values? At three-figure ticket prices. Forget it.

So if Will and Jada bought out the house for a night, will they actually go? Will they give all the tickets away, and to whom?

[quote]And what did the producers and marketing do to advertise and promote the show to the Black audience?

Things that are “Black AF” are not made for a black audience. Black people like to see black people in their entertainment, but the subject matter had better be scary, funny or exciting.

Content that’s very preachy about social issues isn’t made for them. It’s made mostly for white liberals. And even they would rather consistently be entertained than lectured.

I haven’t seen it so I’m not saying the play is just a lecture, but from its description of itself it’s clear there’s an element of that, and it’s exhausting.

Telly Leung on Instagram: "This phenomenon is discouraging, between @kpopbroadway and @aintnomobway. There are STRUCTURAL changes to Broadway that need to happen for daring shows like @aintnomobway & @kpopbroadway to stay live. The changes will be incremental (and trickle slower than our liking) but we need to have this convo. And it begins with voting with your DOLLARs for the kind of theater we want to see. Otherwise, young brilliant voices like @jordanecooper might also pack up his gifts and leave Broadway for elsewhere - as his characters do in his play - and leave the Broadway we love(d) a desert of mediocre art."

Telly, the audiences have apparently done exactly what you wanted, "... voting with your DOLLARS for the kind of theater we want to see." They want to see " The Music Man," " Hamilton," and " Funny Girl." What kind of " structural changes" can be implemented which will change their minds, unless every show on Broadway has to pass the " woke" test before it is allowed to open? Then, you will see the " brilliant voices" leave. Maybe they should anyway and find places in which a ticket doesn't cost triple digits, allowing more people to go to see and hear the messages of the " brilliant voices." A Broadway run is no longer necessary to have a successful production. Start there - make the top ticket $100.00 if you want people to take a chance on shows they would not normally attend.

The whole "make the ticket prices more affordable" thing has been tried a handful of times on Broadway and it has never worked. The last time was the 90s where they did a season or so of plays with a top price of $35. For whatever reason, the plays they chose were not of interest to anyone, got middling reviews and were poorly attended, even for $35. And this was back before everything was a jukebox musical or a popular movie turned into a musical (i.e. completely catering to flyoverstan).

The state of Broadway 30 years later is such that these shows are not going to survive. Not because of racism, but because they are poor choices for what Broadway has become. Even KPOP, which is mindless entertainment, isn't going to run because the audiences who go to Broadway are not KPOP fans.

But I think what a lot of people are glossing over is that many of these failing shows are retreads. They played Off-Broadway a season or two or three ago (or in the case of Topdog/Underdog, have been revived more times than The Glass Menagerie), and have already burned through the majority of people who have any interest in seeing them. They weren't moved because of a massive demand for tickets, they were moved because they were easy to move compared to creating something from scratch and were seen as relatively inexpensive to transfer. But no one was looking for A Strange Loop or Ain't No Mo or KPOP or The Cost of Living or the dozens of other shows that were stupidly transferred. I'm pretty sure even the investors knew they wouldn't run. They were moved for possible awards and the hope against hope that they may get a decent short run.

And the same thing is going to happen with Fat Ham. And we're going to have to hear how it's racism that no one wanted to pay commercial Broadway prices to sit through something that had limited appeal and which had burned up that limited appeal before it even opened on Broadway.

K-pop fans wouldn't spend that kind of money to see the show when they could see the real thing, done a thousand times better, for the same price or lower. How could anything on Broadway ever hope to compete with this? Seriously.

[quote]I hope this trend towards trying to guilt people into seeing your show quickly dies. It's intensely annoying.

I first saw this with Be More Chill in 2017, when whiter than white Jennifer Ashley Tepper had a meltdown over its closing...I'm not sure why.

If the show was good, and it had a talented name star, it doesn't necessarily have to be BlackAF.

See: 'Hello, Dolly!' starring Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway.

Its failure is more the fault of the lousy advertising company they hired to promote the play (practically no advance ads, no tv spots, no press releases-NADA!) than an anti-black Broadway environment. Nobody knew it was there until it announced its closing.

Fuck off Jeremy

R65. My guess is he’s either mildly on the spectrum, perhaps clinically depressed, or has some learning disability’s, like ADHD or dyslexia. All disabilities, to be sure, but he seems to delight in the number of oppressed intersectional identity he can claim—it’s like a game of Bingo! for him.

I wonder how sketch comedy does on Broadway historically? It is a hard sell for commercial theater, I think. Sketch comedy is practically synonymous with TV and nobody wants to pay a lot of money to watch something like that.

T101. Telly Leung certainly knows from “mediocre art”—anyone remember sin Transit and the revival of Flower Drum Song, just for starters?

Ah yes R109, you're probably right. Those are disabilities but usually the people who have them don't revel in them and instead just live their life. Yeah as far as ads go, someone upthread posted something about how people were bitching that they see commercials for things like "Wicked" from far away from NY. But again, who buys those ads? I'm guessing the producers of Wicked and the other advertised shows. So no mo needs to advertise before they are literally no mo. Someone mentioned church, yeah, that's a good idea, that's the kind of place to pull viewers from. Luckily they are immune to eviction so they will still be there on the 18th despite being asked to close, I hope some customers will be there too.

The marketing pitch: "See it - OR ELSE!!!"

R62,

Your post has me doubled over with laughter. Possibly because I actually am from Columbia, SC.

Thank you.

What exactly does Dr. Christian Lewis have his doctorate in?

His tweets are among the most annoying on Twitter, and that's saying something.

And, I might add, most are rather dim. Does he not have even the most basic understanding of the business?

R75 English is obviously not my language. Si te quedas más a gusto te escribo lo mismo en español sin ninguna falta (y si quieres te enseño unos cuantos sinónimos de retarded en español)

Is KPOP a musical about the lifeguard days of young Joe and his nemesis Korn Pop?

R116, I’m not involved in this exchange, but I’d welcome a lesson in Spanish synonyms for retarded.

Any boots around?

Shuberts blew it when they built the 499 seat Little Shubert on 42nd street at the exit of the Lincoln Tunnel. Empty for years. They should have just picked it up and moved it a few blocks up 8th Ave to the lot next to The Imperial, added a seat to be a legitimate Broadway theater for plays and small musicals.

This isn’t even a musical. Even far fewer people see plays as compared to musicals.

The entire post feels like Bros all over again. You can say something is historic or important all you want, but if your own community doesn’t support it, then don’t expect others to.

And why are we pretending like this play is something new? Blacks and black themed musicals and plays have a long tradition in American theatre. There idea that there is some sort of lack of representation of Blacks on Broadway hasn’t been true since the 70s.

[quote]It’s a new original play that’s BLACK AF, which are both things that make it hard to sell on Broadway...

A Raisin in the Sun

The Piano Lesson

Two Trains Running

Ain't Misbehavin'

Purlie

Hamilton

Hallelujah, Baby!

Hello Dolly (with Miss Pearl Bailey)

Jelly's Last Jam

Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk

What's that you say, dear?

[quote]Now they’ve posted an eviction notice, we “must close” December 18th. But thank God black people are immune to eviction notices.

Can you even IMAGINE of a white person said this?

Theater is not a opportunity for me to pay a couple hundred bucks so you can scream "Black AF" things at me, we all can get that elsewhere and for free. If your show can't find an audience consider blaming the producers or the play itself. Broadway is commercial theater for large audiences, if that doesn't describe your work, take it somewhere else, Toots! We don't owe you anything!

Remember that "Broadway is RACIST" manifesto signed by every black and other POC Broadway talent a few years ago? They've successfully shamed producers to bring a raft of shows about the black experience (or what white people think it must be) to Broadway without a thought in the world about finding an audience who wants to be hectored and harassed by black authors to buy tickets for them. How the fuck did they think this was going to turn out?

Now Telly Leung, an Asian actor who has never been without a job is pissed because these shows are not connecting! He's another genius blaming the audience. He sure sounds high and mighty, perhaps he and Sara Porkalob can do a show together!

Has Sunny Hostin commented yet on how racist Broadway's white audiences are because they are staying away from 'Ain't No Mo' ?

BTW - "The Piano Lesson" is also an 'all black play' on Broadway, which is in a limited run (set to close in February). It has gotten some great reviews, but has not exactly set the box office on fire.

Best plays of the year. From the selection, guess what gender and what color the writer is:

Telly Leung is a cutie. If ever he's out of work, he should turn to 'escorting'. Gay men are always in search of hot, handsome Asian men.

R116 I could tell it was an ESL situation but you speak beatifully and it's cute, don't sweat it.

Broadway has been better to Telly Leung than to ANY other Asian actor I can think of.

Why is he the one bitching? It's all worked out for him all right.

[quote]but I’d welcome a lesson in Spanish synonyms for retarded.

1. Charo

Wait R129, are you calling DL icon Charo retarded? She's a classical guitarist who's fluent in at least two languages so....

[quote]There idea that there is some sort of lack of representation of Blacks on Broadway hasn’t been true since the 70s.

The Wiz, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Guys and Dolls, Eubie and Sophisticated Ladies would disagree with you, r121.

[quote] not all the vignettes were as strong as the harried flight attendant filling the plane

Danitra Vance did that 40 years ago

[quote] According to historical accounts, Lincoln actually considered sending all Blacks to Africa

The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freeborn blacks and emancipated slaves to the continent of Africa. (Wiki)

They called it 'Liberia' while its capital was named after ACS supporter and U.S. President James Monroe.

[quote] Stamp your little feet all you want, you can't make people like shit

R46 Normal people put it down a toilet and flush it away.

Tyler Perry partially got his start on the modern tabernacle/chitlin musical theatre circuit. Based on the photo, this play looks like it would do well in such a venue. The playwrights letter is pathetic. He should pay his dues with an audience that is happy to pay for and enjoy is play. I LIKED Tyler Perry's shows in such venues.

[quote] Ain’t No Mo’ also closing. it’s brutal out here. so telling that shows like The Music Man are thriving while shows like KPOP and Ain’t No Mo’ that center BIPOC artists and stories are closing prematurely and abruptly.

How odd people would prefer Meredith Willson's beloved masterpiece to these brand-new shows!

[quote]Broadway needs to change, this is unacceptable.

Spoken like a true Karen.

Newsflash to Christian Lewis: you can't FORCE people to buy tickets for expensive Broadway shows because you deem them more morally worthy.

Why do these idiots seem to think Broadway does not operate as a business?

R136 many times it is because they have been cosseted on free rides through fine or performing arts educations being told for a decade or more (by professors and woke critics) that their shit (and productions) don't stink, rather are fabulous and worthy and important.

I had no idea that First Night-Fanny was such an enthusiastic racist. I thought her enthusiasms were strictly theatre based.

R53, Curly Joe Besser, maybe.

[quote]I had no idea that First Night-Fanny was such an enthusiastic racist.

I'm an enthusiastic ticket buyer, but I'm still not coming to see your show I've never heard of, Mr. Jordan! By all means keep blaming the ticket buyers and calling them racists. I hear it makes them pry open their wallets faster!

The Colored Museum had a very successful 8.5 month run Off Broadway back in the ‘80s. Not everything is meant to be on Broadway. Maybe it should have stayed Off Broadway, rather than feed the ego of this Billy Eichner equivalent, by having it produced on Broadway as a vanity piece. These queens are tiring!

Is Kandi Burress an investor in this? All I know is, I'm literally flying in next month from Wisconsin to see Funny Girl.

If only Telly Justice and the HAGS crew had done a “dinner and a show” experience with the Mo producers, both could’ve been saved!

Remind me again, how long did Black & Blue play? How about all those other flops: Ain't Misbehavin'; Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk; Carmen Jones; Dreamgirls; Fences; Once On this Island; Porgy & Bess; and, Your Arms Too Short to Box with God. Flops all of them.

Maybe they lasted because they were good shows, not a night of cheap lecturing or shows being put up simply to appease the SJW's who demanded more black presence on Broadway. Plus, the ticket prices were considerably lower than the outrageous prices charged today. When you put shit on the shage, don't expect people to pay big bucks to smell the stench.

^stage

R136, you make a good point. The wokesters of today are the Karens of tomorrow. They’re not fighting anyone’s cause but their own.

LOL at he backpedaling i the first question....

In your initial Instagram post about the closing, you said this is an “eviction notice.” Are you saying the theater owners are kicking you out?

That was more of a metaphor. Basically the Shuberts were like “You’ve got to close on December 18.” Thankfully, they’ve been really nice. They’re not like some evil landlords.

[quote]“This is so much bigger than Ain’t No Mo‘. We have to shift for the people that are coming after us. We can’t let this happen to this kind of work,” Cooper said. “It deserves to be in a commercial space, too.”

A bit egotistical?

Telly Leung needs to fix his career and not worry about "structural changes" nobody wants a past-their prime twink nearing 50.

The photo at OP makes the cast look like some dire off Strip Vegas nightclub act.

R144....or the entire oeuvre of August Wilson's plays.

[quote]“It deserves to be in a commercial space, too.”

And it is. But in commercial spaces, you have to make money. That's what makes it commercial.

I wrote a fan letter to one of the stars, showering praise on the production but also, humbly, offering my opinion that the cast could make a grand stand for the black is beautiful movement if she/they would wear their hair natural. Well, I received my self addressed stamp envelope back with her smiling glossy inside signed “drop dead.”

What in the Wakanda meets Drag Race meets House Party hell?

Tonys moving uptown to the United Palace, no doubt to please LMM. So expect an In the Heights themed opening number

Ha, apologies, I thought I was in the theatre thread, sorry!

I only want to see shows or movies where the creator lectures me that I'm a morally bad person if I don't shell out money to see them.

Someone should write a show called “Paradise” about what would happen if the world woke up one day, found that all the black people were gone, and it has ultimately no impact. In fact, crime has plummeted, the economy has stabilized, and money in social services has been diverted to infrastructure and planet-saving green initiatives.

The creator can describe it as “white AF” on Instagram and we can laugh at all the people who shilled for Ain’t No Mo threaten to burn down the theater.

But that would flop too. And you know why? No one wants to spend a night at the theater listening to one race rant about how much they superior they are to another race.

[quote] When you put shit on the shage, don't expect people to pay big bucks to smell the stench.

R145 Put it in the toilet! ! !

[quote] Tonys moving uptown to the United Palace, no doubt to please LMM. So expect an In the Heights themed opening number

I can't wait to see the stars being stabbed, shot, and bludgeoned with baseball bats while espousing SJW virtues on the red carpet in their $5K downs and tuxedos.

On the day of the Puerto Rican Day Parade! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahaahah.

The "issues" that Lee Daniels and playwright Jordan Cooper say their play are facing are the same for any straight play on Broadway (we're not a musical, we don't have a big star). Producers know this (or should know this) from day one. It's not racism, it's Producing 101.

I just saw A Strange Loop and that was sufficient black theatre for awhile. Does the black audience want to spend 100 minutes hearing themselves called the n word. Don’t they want to be entertained?

[quote] Don’t they want to be entertained?

Our current generation of Social Justice Warriors don't want entertainment. They want to be preached at.

And after the show they'll go out and pitchfork something.

If that's what they really wanted, they'd come to see this and this show wouldn't be closing.

The joke is that they SAY this is what they want, but even they won't go to see it.

One problem may be that there is a divide between Black creatives who create such shows as Strange Loop and Ain't No Mo, and the Black theater going audience, who shun such productions and attend the gospel musicals and Tyler Perry plays on the Black commercial theater touring circuit. That audience may just not be that interested in such shows as Strange Loop or shows that deal with racism. They deal with racism in their everyday lives and may want to escape it or deal with other matters when attending a play or musical.

That divide is a lot like the NYC mayor election of 2021. The activist types were behind Defund the police wokish candidates like Maya Wiley, but the grass roots went for Eric Adams.

R165, I think you’re missing a very crucial thing. They don’t *actually* want to be lectured in entertainment. They want to be the ones doing the lecturing. That’s why every time they make a new demand and it’s followed obediently, there’s never acknowledgement, just new demands. It’s not for anything other than the satisfaction of tearing down someone who actually tried and excuse as to why they could never be successful. The system is “rigged” so why even try?

The SJWs don't go to the theater. They just express their outrage as though they had gone.

Can't someone film Aint No More so I can watch from my living room couch?

R164 I just read about a strange loop here, it sounded...not good. How was it?

This is an ugly thread but r161 and r162 ar especially ugly. This thread needs to be shut down.

[quote] On the day of the Puerto Rican Day Parade! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaah - aahah.

the PR Day Parade doesn't go anywhere near W175th street. Plus that area is mainly Dominican, not Puerto Rican

[quote] I just read about a strange loop here, it sounded...not good. How was it?

I personally thought it was extraordinary.

It should have stayed Off Broadway or even Off-Off and it might have played for a long while. Shows with a cult appeal don't work well on Broadway. I wouldn't pay $100 or more to see what looks like a sketch comedy show with musical numbers when I can see the same thing at a cabaret space anywhere else in town.

Where is off-off Broadway? Always been curious

Off-Off Broadway isn't a where...it's a state of mind.

Off-Off Broadway theaters are generally to be found on streets with names, no numbers.

A Strange Loop was a bad first draft of a playwright student's thesis. And it never got any better. Any praise or awards it garnered had a massive agenda attached.

R179, oh please, it’s among the best shows on Bway now

You're easily entertained, R180. Good for you.

Something is going on but no one is quite sure or is willing to admit there is a problem.

It may very well be that theatre (musical or otherwise), performing arts and other entertainment in NYC are suffering same fall out damage from recent pandemic as other parts of NYC economy. How deep and or permanent things are is anyone's guess.

The problem is the crazy high ticket prices.

Those prices mean all plays suffer because tourists want to see musicals. Anything that is trying to rely on bringing out a minority audience suffers.

Producers who are loving the profits refuse to admit that and willingly allow these smaller shows to fail in the hopes that a hit will come soon

Just look at that the sums...

Ain't No Mo' barely reached 47% capacity for week ending 12/11/2022.

That is a pretty pathetic showing by any standard. Even in times past a show with those numbers wouldn't be long for this world.

Step right up to tickets for Aint No More--Center Orchestra just $248!!

Actually pretty sold out for tonight's performance

Ticket prices for Broadway just like performing arts and other entertainment reflect high costs of bringing things to NYC and working in same. Talent, stage hands, etc.. all don't come cheap in NYC in whole or large part thanks to union representation. The latter is a good thing no doubt, but factored into high costs of running a theatre or performance venue (including taxes and other costs) there you are then, ticket prices simply are a reflection of those sums and more.

Producers and others backing a show want ROI, if they don't get it that will be end of life as we know it far as Broadway is concerned.

[quote] Ticket prices for Broadway just like performing arts and other entertainment reflect high costs of bringing things to NYC and working in same.

And yet producers are making record profits....

Tell the truth.

Producers are greedy and want to squeeze as much money from a product that they can.

I understand that.

But because that seems rather crass, they keep talking about how expensive everything is and that's why ticket prices are so high.

On Broadway, you can make a killing but not a living.

“You can make a killing as a playwright, but it's difficult to make a living.”

"A reporter once asked the late playwright Robert Anderson, author of I Never Sang for My Father, if he could make a living writing for the theater. His reply: "You can make a killing, but not a living."

[quote][R179], oh please, it’s among the best shows on Bway now

What an indictment of Broadway if "A Strange Loop" is among its finest shows.

What's different right now with KPop and Ain't No Mo is that in the last 20 years or so, producers have had enough reserve to try to build an audience so things haven't been closing this quickly. In the 70s and 80s things would close after 1 or 8 performances all the time - and we're not used to that any longer. And that it's happening to shows with a different demographic people are crying racism.

Tennessee Williams and Talullah Bankhead should have appeared Johnny Carson in 1964, and beg and hector the viewers to support and go see THE MILK TRAIN DOESN'T STOP HERE ANYMORE.

R 193, when your entire industry declared that it was going out of its way to be more " diverse," this is the result: Oversaturation of the offerings. If the show isn't successful, crying " racism" is an easy rationalization. As is the case with most liberal movements, there is no moderation, it's all in, to the exclusion of everything else. "We don't have enough black representation on television." Now every commercial is black, the new television hosts are black. Liberals adopt the extreme "solutions." So, of course, they went extreme on Broadway. Interesting that to combat racism, liberal thinking justifies reverse racism in casting.

[quote]"We don't have enough black representation on television." Now every commercial is black

You would think the US is at least 75% AA judging from the commercials. Even weirder considering they're the demographic with the least spending power.

Last paragraph of NEW YORK MAGAZINE's slobbering valentine to Cooper (Dec 5-18 issue):

As for the whites who come out to see the show, did the artist [Cooper] feel weird about describing the secondhand marginalization in Black spaces between queer and straight Black people? "I always say white folks are not invited to the cookout, but we'll leave the door open," he said. "You can come in . . . and have a good time." But don't expect Cooper or the crowd to attend to whiteness or its concerns. "I wanted to write as if there were none there."

[quote] "I wanted to write as if there were none there."

Then you can't scream and cry RACISM when you write a play that doesn't make a white audience feel welcome or valued. You know, the audience that could have kept your shitty play running a little longer if you weren't such a twat.

[quote] "I always say white folks are not invited to the cookout…”

Then don’t be so shocked when The Music Man is a big hit and your show isn’t.

Tyler Perry to the rescue!

From the Guardian..

Our Rox has some thoughts:

It's sad that Perry badmouthed A Strange Loop without apparently even seeing it.

Sure, it makes fun of him but in a funny. loving way

Had no idea RuPaul was mixed up in this; that show won't be closing on Sunday. Ru won't have it.

Why didn't all these black celebrities come out to defend A Strange Loop??

Again, it is the PRODUCER'S JOB to connect a show they believe in to the audience they believe will want to buy tickets to it!

It really is not the playwright's or actors' job, they are already doing their jobs.

It seems most new works are developed within the non-profit/university cocoon which is more interested in defining themselves by which artists they champion. This never addresses the notion of developing a paying audience. This seems to give the playwrights the idea that they are truly worthy, special, magical and deserving, so when dropped into the for-profit agora, they are baffled when a paying audience does not appear! "But I was told I was SPECIAL AND TALENTED!"

Yes, dear....

Is it the observation that white academia MUST select a large group of Black (especially QUEER Black) artists to push to the front and produce? These artists are rarely a representation of the general Black population, or those most likely to ever purchase tickets to a Broadway show. That is the big disconnect.

"These artists are rarely a representation of the general Black population, or those most likely to ever purchase tickets to a Broadway show. That is the big disconnect"

So true. How big a black audience is A Strange Loop going to get? The music is based on white girl influences. The villains are the church and the black community in general. Is that going to have them breaking the doors down to get in? As a Jew, I wouldn't want a night of kike, kike, kike. But ASL is n word on repeat. Also, it shows life for a fat gay man as horrifying. Probably true but not fun to watch.

Is the 50-100K spent to buy out a performance really the best way to use the money? I don't get it.

r208 Well the real reason they're doing it is for publicity, so given how widely splashed the Smith buyout was, yeah.

And just to be clear - I mean publicity for themselves, not the show

[quote]Why didn't all these black celebrities come out to defend A Strange Loop??

Because the mostly white publications and reviewers fell ALL OVER themselves praising it as a work of genius and cultural significance. This got a lot of the white [italic]cognescenti[/italic]/theater goers to buy tickets and kept it afloat for eight months, but that's all dried up now.

Bottom line: Shows that connect to a broad audience of middle class theater goers tend to make a profit. Your mileage may vary!

It's now a hit, thanks to the celebrity buyouts! So, I couldn't get tix for two on the play's website until Monday, December 19th! We're going to the 7PM show, and we're very excited. A center seat in the second row costs $175.50 to "come to the cookout", but for white people like us, it's a bargain!

What do these people think will happen by buying out entire shows? Who’s gonna fill the seats? Will it just be open (free) to the public then? Is Jada or Tyler Perry going to fly to NY with their entourage and fill the theatre that way? Will the performers be playing to an empty theatre?

Were there no $21.50 tickets available for white folks, r212?

R214: the seating chart shows only full priced seats from December 19th onwards. And they're being snapped up fast, I am sure!

(Even though the show is scheduled to close on the 18th, a Sunday matinee, Telecharge is happy to take your money for phantom performances after that date).

This just crossed my mind. Sondheim, basically Broadway’s Shakespeare, has had 2 major revivals since his death last year. Both Company and Into the Woods earned rave reviews and after a couple of weeks of great box-office the advance sales tanked and they lasted 6 months. Broadway isn’t easy.

Everybody bitching about shows by/with/about POC should go see MJ the Musical and try to figure out what sells. I personally thought that MJ would run for three weeks, so there you are.

What’s the point in buying out a performance if it’s an empty house?

[quote] How big a black audience is A Strange Loop going to get? The music is based on white girl influences. The villains are the church and the black community in general.

What are white girl influences? Blacks in NY who would see this aren't the church-going type usually.

The BIG issue is the gay subject matter and the sex scene. It's not juts blacks but white straight audiences really don't want to see a show about that.

[quote] What’s the point in buying out a performance if it’s an empty house?

Don't be a dunce. They're giving away the tickets for free

I'm no theater queen and know nothing about the inner workings of Broadway, but...

Any chance this is all just a publicity ploy to snag a few Tony noms?

Is that kind of thing done, and if so, does it work?

Do they nominate plays that close after only a few weeks?

I mean, the guy has got to know his play is doomed, no matter how many rich black celebs give it a one-night reprieve...

Maybe it’ll create word of mouth

[quote]Maybe it’ll create word of mouth

Not really.

When you give away tickets just to put butts in seats for the actors to have an audience (called "papering the house"), you only create demand from more people who DON'T want to pay for tickets because they heard of everyone going for free. In the real world, that's all that papering does.

[quote] In a smaller theater it could have run for years.

It wouldn’t have run for years if it was playing at Don’t Tell Mama.

For the poster who asked what is 'Off Broadway' and 'Off Off Broadway' - it goes by the number of seats in the theater.

Off Broadway seats 100 - 499 theater goers.

Off-off Broadway seats no more than 99 theater goers.

Both theaters can be across the street from a 'Broadway theater' which seats 500 and up.

As a side note, "Ain't No Mo" is extended through December 23. I'm sure Tony voters don't care.

It worked!

The only shows grossing over $2 million a week are The Lion King, Wicked, Hamilton, The Music Man(closing soon) and Phantom of the Opera(closing soon, which is why it's seeing a box-office surge right now).

I don't understand why The Music Man is closing when it's making so much money?

"I don't understand why The Music Man is closing when it's making so much money?"

Does this answer your question?

r226,

And TMM is the only star vehicle among them, r226.

Hugh Jackman should just remake The Music Man movie starring himself.

Get Spielberg, r230!

R202 I don’t know anything about black consumption habits, but our Roxy is right that this is absolutely not how you entice people to your show.

R227, That article does not explain why they have not recast.

Just because they could not get a star as big as Hugh Jackman? That seems pretty lame.

"That article does not explain why they have not recast."

No explanation was given IIRC. A decision not to recast lead roles and everyone must cope as best they can.

R224 I asked about Off-Off Broadway, thanks for your answer!

Because the producers know the receipts will crash, and after a year of making a fantastic profit every single week, why spend money hiring new stars (who will want guaranteed fees) and give those profits back?

R232, true - a rare accurate statement from ol’ Roxy.

"Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the professional theatre scene and as an experimental or avant-garde movement of drama and theatre."

Months ago, they were bouncing around some possibilities of 'names' to replace Jackman in 'The Music Man' and keep it running for a while longer. I remember Neil Patrick Harris and Justin Timberlake were two names that grabbed a lot of attention - and it was rumored Timberlake was a 'done deal' by the end of the summer - but then it fell apart. I believe Jeremy Jordan's name was also thrown in the mix, but that also fell through. So the producers had no other logical choice but to close on January 15.

The problem is with MM - like 'Funny Girl' - it's not a particularly good musical in itself, and is star-dependent. It needs a name for the box office.

Timberlake would have made a good replacement. The Elder Fraus love him.

Music Man is an excellent musical, but it isn't an ensemble piece -like Gypsy, it is also a star vehicle.

[quote]it's not a particularly good musical in itself

Sure, Jan.

The irony is that even though it will close in the same month it opened, it will still probably get a Tony nod for Best Play.

Of course it will. That goes to show the sparse quality of Broadway.

Or the fear of not being seen as embracing diversity?

[quote] On Broadway, you can make a killing but not a living.—Who said that?

This guy.

That's what running and ruining Broadway, R246.

Embracing or not embracing this level of so-called "diversity" is not what's ruining Broadway, R248. It's ticket prices, general costs of productions, and the lingering effects of the pandemic. Also, the general lack of quality, which is not the same as any issues of diversity.

Broadway is fucked.

Broadway isn't necessarily fucked. It's a business. As long as there are tourists still interested, and as long as the industry doesn't completely price itself out of everyone's financial ability to pay (big IF there), and as long as there are stars willing to star in big touristy shows, Broadway (for what it's worth--not much in my opinion) will exist.

Beanie secretly donned blackface for this?

What ruined Bway as an artistic endeavor was the shift to getting tourist dollars rather than focusing on NY area families.

That might be the dumbest thing ever posted on DL, R253. How many " New York" families attend one Broadway show a year. And what would the artistic focus on NY families be, and how would it be different from the focus on the tourist dollar? I didn't see NY families rushing to see " Passion," which was composed by the NY God. Artists are fleeing the city in droves. People can't even pay rent and have problems surviving, much less shell out big bucks to see some esoteric art piece that producers deemed good enough for sophisticated New Yorkers. Just how sophisticated do you think most New Yorkers are? Get yourself out of the affluent gay ghetto and look at the city, then tell us again how Broadway will survive merely on shows geared toward "intellectually superior" NY brains. That might be one of the most short-sighted, arrogant posts ever.

It sounds like r254 had a lot to get off his chest.

R254 definitely needs to take a Midol.

[quote] Months ago, they were bouncing around some possibilities of 'names' to replace Jackman in 'The Music Man' and keep it running for a while longer.

We could have brought anyone into this show: Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul. Nomi Malone is what Las Vegas is all about! She's dazzling, she's exciting, and very, very sexy!

The Bridge and Tunnel, tourists and hell, even locals are not able to support all the "diversity" Bway has become.

I knew there would be a financial reckoning when the trannies moved in heavily circa 2019.

[quote] It sounds like [R254] had a lot to get off his chest.

The post at R253 was idiotic and anyone who isn't R253 can see that this stupid observation will do nothing to save Broadway, but will signal its doom much faster than " Ain't No Mo." No tourists = no Broadway.

[Quote] That might be the dumbest thing ever posted on DL, [R253].

You must be new to DL

[Quote] How many " New York" families attend one Broadway show a year. And what would the artistic focus on NY families be, and how would it be different from the focus on the tourist dollar?

Prior to this shift to the tourist dollar, ticket prices were cheaper and Bway was a typical choice of NY middle class families. Do I go to a movie or a Bway show was often the question.

The artistic choices shifted considerably when relying to tourists—those who don’t see Bway shows regularly—and the massive jump in ticket price. To be a hit, you to populate shows with TV and movie stars, B and C-grade stars are fine. Shows where people may already know the songs (jukebox) or know the plots (hit movie-to-stage transfers). Plays become secondary because they won’t last more than a year. So now we have a ton of unoriginal shit passing as high theater.

[quote]As long as there are tourists still interested, and as long as the industry doesn't completely price itself out of everyone's financial ability to pay (big IF there), and as long as there are stars willing to star in big touristy shows, Broadway (for what it's worth--not much in my opinion) will exist.

True, but...

Tourists are interested in big revival musicals with big star names; a musical they know and a star they know. Which is why 'Music Man' and 'Hello Dolly' worked. However, to get these star names, the producers need the big bucks - which are then passed off onto ticket prices. With today's inflation, and the shift in the job market, not many tourists can afford the ticket prices any more. Bette Midler shifted the prices for a ticket seven nearly six years ago. What was considered 'high' prices for 'Hello Dolly', are the going rates now - and that's for a musical or a play which no one has heard of and no star attached. Tourists are staying away.

Did Hello Dolly's box-office collapse when Bette left the show? Was Bernadette Peters not able to keep the show afloat?

[quote]Was Bernadette Peters not able to keep the show afloat?

Is it still running, r263?

[quote] Broadway isn't necessarily fucked. It's a business. As long as there are tourists still interested, and as long as the industry doesn't completely price itself out of everyone's financial ability to pay (big IF there), and as long as there are stars willing to star in big touristy shows, Broadway (for what it's worth--not much in my opinion) will exist.

That's what Patti LuPone said. She compared Broadway to a typical Las Vegas show. Which is why she quit Equity.

Yes - Hello Dolly suffered at the box office once Peters took over (and she was great - I saw her and I saw Donna Murphy, who was incredible. I never saw Bette because I couildn't afford her tickets). Peters is a 'Broadway star' , not a 'Hollywood name' - and the tourists passed. Her ticket prices were cut in half from Midler's. so she was affordable. Midler returned the last six weeks of the run (mid-July to end of August) to close the show in the black (her ticket prices were sky high, and she sold out her six week run).

Again, some of the names bounced around to replace Midler at the time included Queen Latifah, Whoopi, and Dolly Parton. None of them wanted to do it (actually, Whoopi wanted to do it, but not commit for months and do 'The View'), so they went with Peters.

I saw Bette and she was marvelous. I made the trip from Orlando in those last weeks to see her. Well, her and 'Boys in the Band'.... and the Harry Potter show (double show) before they whittled it down on one show.

I thought Midler was terrible. Her voice was shot, she mugged relentlessly and gave no performance at all.

^^^ All part of her charm. The audience ate it up!

I remember in the late 1970s when orchestra seat tickets rose to $18. That's around $85 dollars today. Expensive but still much less than today.

I still have my ticket stub from August, 1996 - front row orchestra right, to see Betty Buckley in "Sunset Boulevard" at the Minskoff. $49, and that was considered " a lot of money " ! She was standing in front of us so closely, we could see the hairs in her nostrils when she sang.

Yes, r271, that *is* close. Thank you for sharing.

The Music Man's box-office would plummet without a big star to replace Jackman. Tourists aren't interested in seeing the show with someone like Brian Stokes Mitchell. Not many A-listers want to do a long Broadway run, and producers don't have the money to entice them.

It must be humbling for Sutton Foster to know that she can't carry the show without Hugh.

I'm available.

No, wait.

Just let the thought seep in.

[quote] She was standing in front of us so closely, we could see the hairs in her nostrils when she sang.

I had a similar experience seeing Lea Michele in "Funny Girl." We were so close we could see the individual hairs in her mustache when she sang!

I am surprised Neil Patrick Harris doesn't want to do "TMM." That's the perfect role for him, and he has such a nice voice. I can;t say I'd go see him in it, since I dislike him as a human being, but I know many people who like him who would go see it.

Huckster? How about Trump for MM. His casting would open a whole new audience to Broadway.

Oh what the fuck, since some of you sad lot won't stop whinging about why The Music Man is closing....

NYT piece linked above made it clear. Producers felt Jackman and Foster had created a unique on stage chemistry. It just wasn't felt any other two actors could create same sort of magic.

Show hasn't recouped all costs yet, but will by time it closes 15 January 2023

quote

An enormously popular Broadway revival of “The Music Man” will end its run on Jan. 1, reflecting a decision by the producers not to recast after the departure of the show’s stars, Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster.

The production began performances Dec. 20, so Jackman and Foster will have been in the show for a little more than a year once it closes. And both of them have been working on the project for several years, because it was, like many other shows, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We managed to get Hugh and Sutton until the first of January, which is a remarkable commitment, and I felt really strongly that they have created such a unique event between them, trying to think of somebody who could follow on that became impossible,” Kate Horton, one of the lead producers, said in an interview. “This was its own particular magic.”

At the time of its closing, the revival will have played 358 regular and 46 preview performances, according to the production. Like many other shows, it lost some performances to coronavirus cancellations, including during an ordinarily lucrative stretch over the holidays last December when both Jackman and Foster tested positive for the virus.

Horton said that the production has not yet recouped its $24 million capitalization costs, but that it will do so before closing.

“The stops and starts were costly in lots of ways, including financially,” she said.

When performances had to stop last December, it “was a big body blow to the show, and I had a moment of not knowing if we were going to be able to really keep it going — we were all over the place in terms of what Covid was throwing at us, and it’s probably one of the most challenging moments I’ve had in my career,” she added. “The fact that we continued and are going to recoup might not seem like a miracle, but it feels like it for me.”

Horton is co-producing the show with the billionaires Barry Diller and David Geffen. The three took over when the initial lead producer, Scott Rudin, stepped away from his role amid accusations of bullying behavior.

Despite tepid reviews from many critics, and despite winning zero Tony Awards, the show has consistently sold out, with a high average ticket price. The revival has been the top-grossing show on Broadway throughout its run; for a long time, it was grossing over $3 million a week, which is huge for Broadway, although recently its grosses have softened slightly to a still enviable level of $2.7 million to $2.9 million a week.

As of Sept. 4, the revival had grossed a total of $106 million and had been seen by 400,435 people.

“The Music Man,” a classic of golden age musical theater, was written by Meredith Willson and first played on Broadway in 1957; this revival is directed by Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Warren Carlyle.

Site Information Navigation © 2022 The New York Times Company NYTCoContact UsAccessibilityWork with usAdvertiseT Brand StudioYour Ad ChoicesPrivacy PolicyTerms of ServiceTerms of SaleSite MapHelpSubscriptions

/quote

Just who goes to Broadway performances?

Queen Latifah is hosting tonight's performance...

R278, So the producers say there’s some kind of magic, but the critics and dataloungers have seen the show tend to disagree…

Anyway, no one is buying a ticket to see Sutton Foster’s brand of magic.

I'm available!

I thought Jackman and Foster each gave awful performances in their own ways, but they clearly enjoyed working together onstage. They especially enjoyed the impression of great chemistry, since they planned out “spontaneous” ad livs and laughing fits to price it. And they raised a lot of money for charity by auctioning off props and costumes each night.

What s weird production - almost everything was good but the two leads.

Just thinking about the international press coverage Ain’t No Mo’ has had over the past week - this is the type of publicity that can’t be bought with money.

And yet, despite all of this free publicity and performance buy-outs by the rich and famous, they only managed to extend by a single week? Closing before Christmas? There clearly isn’t an audience for this and the public aren’t buying enough tickets to keep it going.

Irrespective of questions about representation and the imperative for Broadway to be more diverse, this just looks like bad, bad producing.

Why must art be more diverse than its culture?

Am argument can certainly made that out should accurately reflect its culture, but the US isn't 10% white, 30% mixed race, 20% Latino, 39.9% black and .1% Asian.

[quote] tell us again how Broadway will survive merely on shows geared toward "intellectually superior" NY brains

Where did anyone say anything about intellectually superior NY brains?

Timberlake was a promising option but can he sing an entire show? He hasn't been a regular workaday entertainer for a very long time.

[quote]NYT piece linked above made it clear. Producers felt Jackman and Foster had created a unique on stage chemistry. It just wasn't felt any other two actors could create same sort of magic.

Bwahahahahahahaha!

Do you think the producers are going to tell the NYT the truth ? "We really tried to get some big names to fill Jackson's role - like Neil Patrick Harris, Justin Timberlake and a few other actors - but none accepted the offer we gave them ? "

And the show opened Dec 20 of last year, but was closed more than it was open the first few months due to COVID. Either Jackman, Foster, or one of the cast members or crew tested positive for COVID, and the production was shut down for days. I believe it was shut down more than it was open through from Dec - April, 2022. (Then there were scheduled vacations throughout the run for the two stars). SO they really didn't play a full year.

[quote]Where did anyone say anything about intellectually superior NY brains?

Every DL poster from NYC.

Why does The Music Man have to be a man?

(I'm available, BTW)

Billy Porter, Elliot Page and, in their acting debuts, Jessica Alves and Sam Brinton

in

Noel Coward's Private Lies

er.....

Private LIVES

Well, Beanie, you conned theater goers out of a lot of money, so you could be Harold Hill.

R182 - Hell, people are cancelling Netflix and Amazon Prime because the monthly fees are starting to get crazy, and they are under $20 for hundreds of hours of programming. Who the fuck wants to spend $250 for a three hour musical?

Why would NPH want to work when he rakes in millions just sitting on his ass?

Because he wants to PERFORM! To ENTERTAIN! To hear APPLAUSE!

Sounds like there were a few problems - one, not running long enough in Off-Broadway to catch buzz and justify the promotion to a Broadway Theater.

Two, opening on Dec 1st. You're competing against too many other shows AND Christmas-time events (Rockettes). It's more of a family month. I'd have to think that any show opening on Dec 1st would be tough, unless it's a remake AND it had big names in the cast.

Three - you need some NAMES in the cast for an unknown show. They could have contracted SOMEBODY for a 12 week run to open the show.

This reeks of bad business decisions. There have been plenty of other non-white productions that have run for years and years.

^^^ Dreamgirls, anyone?

R297 - No thank you. I've had sufficient

[quote]Two, opening on Dec 1st. You're competing against too many other shows AND Christmas-time events (Rockettes). It's more of a family month.

Not true. December is the biggest month to draw in tourists and crowds to Manhattan, and especially Broadway. There are those people not travelling with families, and the last place they want to be is in a theater filled with children ('Aladdin', 'Lion King', 'Wicked', etc). They want to see 'adult fare' - and this should fit the bill. But they don't want to be lectured at, nor do they want to be at a play in which the playwright is telling white people 'not to come' in different interviews (most recently, this week on "Morning Joe"). And then he turns around and lectures the white audiences who did not see the show yet that they are being racist. These tourists are in NY this month - and opting for something else instead.

Cooper said no such thing on Morning Joe., r299. He said the production hadn’t been able to market properly, and that the target audience was different than Bette Midler in Hello Dolly (though he said he personally was in both markets). It’s quite telling that you interpret this as asking white people not to attend. As the saying goes, “when you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression."

R299 - yes, because the city is FILLED with childless couples and singles visiting between Dec. 1 and Dec 24th. Please.

And DreamGirls opened on Dec 20th - after a lot of buzz and hype. Plus it was Diana's life story afterall. Someone with a massive following from all races and ages.

You can't compare the two.

It's good to create new shows and a more diverse cast and all that jazz but in the end you need to put people in the seats.

KPOP writers and producers accused the NYT critic of being racist after a bad review. Sorry but that's not the way to react (and explains why crappy novels as Such a fun age or The sweetness of water had great reviews).

On twitter some people suggested that maybe this kind of show worked better on Off Broadway and others have an extremely bad reaction to that because black storied need a big stage, and i agree, but you need the right stories to connect with a big audience

R302 - it doesn't mean this show can't be successful on the road. But to fill 1,000 seats, 8 shows a week for months and months at a time - that's not easy. Particularly with a lot of other competition in NYC and not much pre-launch hype.

Secondly, it sounds like they were a victim of the pandemic. It showed well in 2019 and they probably used that to start a Broadway production, which got derailed for a couple of years.

That momentum was lost - most likely.

I can go to Disney World for an entire day for about $100. Why pay $250 to see Beanie?

I tell my friends visiting NYC to just see a show when in tours in their cities. Prices are way cheaper for the same show.

Or go to London’s West End. Center Orchestra is about $100

[quote] I can go to Disney World for an entire day for about $100. Why pay $250 to see Beanie?

What world do you live in. You can't even pay for parking and get a ticket for one for less than $150, if you have a reservation. And, that is with no frills.

^^^ And, only one park. With a park hopper, you are over $200 with no frills.

[R300] Cooper said he did not write this for those who went to see 'Hello Dolly' with Bette Midler (white people). He also said they should have put up billboards and ads in black neighborhoods, but they didn't have the budget. Why not say they should have done this marketing in ALL neighborhoods ? Don't be so naive with Cooper's message (and he has said similar things in other interviews).

[R301] There are plenty of childless couples and singles - especially older retired people - who visit NYC in December. They are the ones with disposable incomes, and have money for top Broadway tickets (where they are not going to go broke buying tix for a family of four or more). They are not going to go and see a Disney musical, or anything else which appeals to families and be surrounded by kids. They will go and see more adult fare (they are the ones which made the SJP / MB revival of 'Plaza Suite' a box office hit this past Spring, buying tix at top dollar). I'n part of that group and would love to go see 'Ani't No Mo' - but won't after the "white people are racist" tour Cooper has decided to take.

R309, it’s sad that you are so intransigent. And so determined to make the black guy a racist! Watch the interview. He literally says that he is an audience for both Hello Dolly and Ain’t No Mo.

As for your “All Lives Matter” approach to sales, I can only hope that you are retired. Who doesn’t understand the concept of targeting your marketing?

R309 - if you think the market slants towards childless couples and singles during the December holiday season, you're out of your damn mind.

Second, they could have done a lot more digital marketing with more reach and effectiveness than expensive, stupid billboards. This again shows a lack of business sense.

R308, but with Disney, you get an entire day, not two hours and an intermission

R312 - an entire day of what? Screaming kids, massive crowds, long lines for lackluster rides, extremely overpriced and bad food? All this can be yours for just under $200 a day!

No thanks.

[quote] I thought Midler was terrible. Her voice was shot, she mugged relentlessly and gave no performance at all.

Bette made the show! "Hello Dolly" is an old-fashioned yawn. Bette lit up the theater and carried the whole show on her shoulders. I saw her at the end of her run.

I hope "Ain't No Mo" can hold on through NYE. Broadway audiences will see anything during the holidays.

[quote] I saw her at the end of her run.

Did they put the old girl down peacefully afterwards?

I believe they sent her upstate to the country where she can romp and play with her fellow divas r316.

[quote]What s weird production - almost everything was good but the two leads.

And me. Everyone hated me.

Who cares about Hugh and Sutton? I went to see the MM to see Aydin Eyikan dance in the chorus.

r302 seems obsessed with those two novels. She brings them up A LOT.

R319 - For the $200 you spent on that ticket, you could have rented him for half an hour.

Except he probably put all his heart into the dancing. A paid fuck would be joyless.

It's shocking to me that The Music Man is only going to break even when it's all said and done. Why did they even bother?

I don't know how any Broadway show makes money unless it's a blockbuster musical that runs for years and years. Joe Mantello has made around $75 million so far just from directing Wicked, but most of these shows don't make a penny. How is that possible?

R323 - They use accountants from Hollywood

Why 'KPOP,' the first Broadway show to tell a Korean story, closed in just two weeks:

R325 cause it was shit?

R325, did they try to get some popular K-Pop bands to give them a shout out on social media? If they didn't then that is their fault.

These shows need to stop blaming white theatregoers for their failure to identify and to reach out to people who might be interested in coming to see their productions.

[quote]The problem is with MM - like 'Funny Girl' - it's not a particularly good musical in itself...

Nonsense.

"The Music Man" is considered a very well-constructed musical with a fantastic score. For some reason it remains under-regarded by critics, yet beloved by audiences, and it is beloved even 65 years after its debut. The original Broadway run was about four years which at the time was a sensational run.

[quote]NYT piece linked above made it clear. Producers felt Jackman and Foster had created a unique on stage chemistry. It just wasn't felt any other two actors could create same sort of magic.

[quote]Show hasn't recouped all costs yet, but will by time it closes 15 January 2023

Oh, brother.

"Don't believe everything you read, Girly girl!"

Thank you Dr. Mengele at R330.

Sorry bitch r331 that's just history

Paul McCartney once said "Till There was You" was the most perfect love song he had ever heard.

R331 That poster stated facts.

Was it the costuming?

The producers refused Jackman's demands for major changes. He wanted to recast Sutton with Gavin Creel, and rename the show The Fluid Man. It coulda run for years!

[quote] I'n [sic] part of that group and would love to go see 'Ani't No Mo' - but won't after the "white people are racist" tour Cooper has decided to take.

[R309] Tell me you're a racist piece of resentful, delusional white trash without telling me you're a racist piece of resentful, delusional white trash.

Yes yes yes, R330 - All that Euro-centric advancement, and yet here you are, proudly upholding your white lineage, as you sit in the dark in your yellowed BVDs, the elastic waist outstretched by your extended belly and back fat, in a rickety 90s office chair, surrounded by Cheetos, Cornnuts, and Coke cans, while the sad bluish screen glows on your aging, pallid, sagging face, as you furiously type your racial rage on an anonymous message board before rolling over to contemplate how no one will ever truly love you, just as your mommy never did.

If Plato could see you, he'd be so proud.

Did Viola buy one out yet?

r338 nailed it. Thread closed.

So, unless everyone supports everything black, everyone is racist? What a lazy and boring argument. Apparently no one wanted to see the show, but the racist writer screams about white racism causing his show to be rejected and, all of a sudden, the theater SJWs erupt in support. Why didn't they buy tickets in the first place?

R341, could you provide a link to where “the racist writer screams about white racism causing his show to be rejected”? I honestly think this is your imagination because I can’t find any place he said that.

Yes, of course you've built an ideal, tony, virtual world in the Second Life of your mind.

R343-It's Sunday. Wouldn't that be brunch?

[quote] So, unless everyone supports everything black, everyone is racist? What a lazy and boring argument. Apparently no one wanted to see the show, but the racist writer screams about white racism causing his show to be rejected and, all of a sudden, the theater SJWs erupt in support. Why didn't they buy tickets in the first place?

Exactly. I wonder how many of the Broadway SJWs on this forum have actually supported Cooper and bought tickets to his play, or even sent him a sizeable donation to keep this production going ? I'll wager to bet 'none to nearly none'.