Post by vampire on Feb 9, 2009 20:00:31 GMT
Hey to everyone still reading this forum. This was quoted in a different forum I'm on. I don't know the original website that this was from, so it may be false.
"Puppets, Please"; CALENDAR GIRLS reports some of the poorest pre bookings the West End has seen in over a decade as AVENUE Q's closing night looms closer.
Delfont Mackintosh Theaters Marketing Department have released its sales figures to date for Cameron's production of "Calendar Girls" (due to open at the Noel Coward Theater on April 4th) with a lump in their throat. With over 70% of its opening night tickets still available in the public domain, the chances of what's being advertised as its "initial 12 week run" managing to run its course are looking bleak; unsurprising, when you look at what London's losing to make room for it.
AVENUE Q opened to rave reviews in London in June 2006, and has made it through thick and thin to provide the West End with something truly unique; creators Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx say they wrote the musical "for our friends, and people who hated musicals." Luckily for them, they've managed to take this idea past their social connections, as it continues to thrive on Broadway and London.
Nevertheless, the announcement that "Muppets for Grownups" would be making it's final performance at the end of March, a month ahead of the end of its planned bookings, came towards the end of last year, and with close to nightly sell outs, it really came as quite a shock to the West End community, with Cameron Mackintosh Ltd making no official comments on the reasons behind the show's closure.
Tim Firth's stage adaption of CALENDAR GIRLS has been touring the UK for over a year, and whilst their tour was "the fastest selling out tour in history" (though we later found this statistic only encompasses non musical touring plays produced by Cameron Mackintosh Ltd, for which only three other productions fit the bill), it certainly hasn't been making much of an impression amongst theatregoers in London; whilst any show should be expecting to be filling most of its seats in day sales, the box office flop of this show is the worst any West End show has seen in over twelve years, with only one of over 100 performances currently sold out, and three quarters of their performances currently not expecting to open doors at all with not a single ticket holding patron.
To ticketing and marketing experts on the London theatre scene, this has hardly come as a shock. Andy Hammond, head of marketing at TKTS London and Official Society of London Theatre, says that "CALENDAR GIRLS simply doesn't fill any gaps or tick any boxes, to be frank. A quirky little British play which has already been presented as a book, a television series and a film isn't something anyone is going to have any inclination to pay bordering on £50 for, especially with the situation we're in at the moment." That said, Mr Hammond also added that, "Even if they were to drop their ticket prices to those similar of the production's predecessor, AVENUE Q, it would be my guess that it wouldn't get half as much interest.
AVENUE Q is really filling a void, and using the credit crunch to its advantage. It's something that's going to be sorely missed on the West End; there's really nothing waiting in the wings to serve the same purpose.
With the big handover from puppets to pensioners getting ever closer (AVENUE Q closes March 28th, and CALENDAR GIRLS gives its first performance on April 4th), it's questionable how long something with such little demand is going to last. The reviews from the tour may be flooding the patrons with positive words, but when one of the smallest mainstream West End theatres can't shift almost three quarters of opening night seats that have been on sale for almost three months, you know thing's are looking grim.
- Richard Price, Community and Entertainment Editor.
"Puppets, Please"; CALENDAR GIRLS reports some of the poorest pre bookings the West End has seen in over a decade as AVENUE Q's closing night looms closer.
Delfont Mackintosh Theaters Marketing Department have released its sales figures to date for Cameron's production of "Calendar Girls" (due to open at the Noel Coward Theater on April 4th) with a lump in their throat. With over 70% of its opening night tickets still available in the public domain, the chances of what's being advertised as its "initial 12 week run" managing to run its course are looking bleak; unsurprising, when you look at what London's losing to make room for it.
AVENUE Q opened to rave reviews in London in June 2006, and has made it through thick and thin to provide the West End with something truly unique; creators Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx say they wrote the musical "for our friends, and people who hated musicals." Luckily for them, they've managed to take this idea past their social connections, as it continues to thrive on Broadway and London.
Nevertheless, the announcement that "Muppets for Grownups" would be making it's final performance at the end of March, a month ahead of the end of its planned bookings, came towards the end of last year, and with close to nightly sell outs, it really came as quite a shock to the West End community, with Cameron Mackintosh Ltd making no official comments on the reasons behind the show's closure.
Tim Firth's stage adaption of CALENDAR GIRLS has been touring the UK for over a year, and whilst their tour was "the fastest selling out tour in history" (though we later found this statistic only encompasses non musical touring plays produced by Cameron Mackintosh Ltd, for which only three other productions fit the bill), it certainly hasn't been making much of an impression amongst theatregoers in London; whilst any show should be expecting to be filling most of its seats in day sales, the box office flop of this show is the worst any West End show has seen in over twelve years, with only one of over 100 performances currently sold out, and three quarters of their performances currently not expecting to open doors at all with not a single ticket holding patron.
To ticketing and marketing experts on the London theatre scene, this has hardly come as a shock. Andy Hammond, head of marketing at TKTS London and Official Society of London Theatre, says that "CALENDAR GIRLS simply doesn't fill any gaps or tick any boxes, to be frank. A quirky little British play which has already been presented as a book, a television series and a film isn't something anyone is going to have any inclination to pay bordering on £50 for, especially with the situation we're in at the moment." That said, Mr Hammond also added that, "Even if they were to drop their ticket prices to those similar of the production's predecessor, AVENUE Q, it would be my guess that it wouldn't get half as much interest.
AVENUE Q is really filling a void, and using the credit crunch to its advantage. It's something that's going to be sorely missed on the West End; there's really nothing waiting in the wings to serve the same purpose.
With the big handover from puppets to pensioners getting ever closer (AVENUE Q closes March 28th, and CALENDAR GIRLS gives its first performance on April 4th), it's questionable how long something with such little demand is going to last. The reviews from the tour may be flooding the patrons with positive words, but when one of the smallest mainstream West End theatres can't shift almost three quarters of opening night seats that have been on sale for almost three months, you know thing's are looking grim.
- Richard Price, Community and Entertainment Editor.
